A white “ku” with the silhouette of the island of Kyushu on a wine-coloured ground: the flag of Kumamoto was approved on 23 July 1966.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio in wine colour, with the emblem in white and centred.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
Six years before the official flag, Kumamoto already had one, but only for one event: the 1960…
The emblem was born from a competition open to the public: the prefecture asked for designs…
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of the prefecture of Kumamoto (Japan) is a wine-coloured field with a white shape in the centre: the sign ku of the katakana script, drawn in the silhouette of the island of Kyushu. It inverts the most common formula in Japan —a coloured emblem on a white ground—: here the colour is in the ground and the emblem goes in white.
The emblem was born from a competition open to the public: the prefecture asked for designs and approved the winner on 31 March 1966. The flag came months later, on 23 July 1966, with a 2:3 ratio: the emblem in white on a ground of the colour called “eba-cha”, a reddish brown tone. The idea of the design was simple: take “ku”, the first syllable of Kumamoto, and give it the shape of Kyushu, the island where it lives.
Six years before the official flag, Kumamoto already had one, but only for one event: the 1960 National Games (Kokutai).
1960-1966
Flag created by the organising committee of the 1960 Games: the erupting volcano Aso in cobalt blue, with the Games’ torch over the motif of the arms of Kato Kiyomasa, first lord of Kumamoto, and the name in hiragana in the lower band. It was withdrawn when the Games closed.
1966
Current design, adopted on 23 July 1966.
The first two clues are the official interpretation of the emblem:
White ku (ク)
the first syllable of Kumamoto, with the silhouette of the island of Kyushu.
Inner circle
it represents the prefecture, situated in the centre of Kyushu.
Wine colour
there is no documented official meaning; in Japan that tone is called “eba-cha”.
Coloured ground with white emblem
a design decision of the 1966 rule, with no published symbolic explanation.
The 1960 flag was made by the Games committee and was withdrawn when the event closed: the prefecture went six years longer without an official flag.
The same committee that made the 1960 flag approved the song of the citizens of Kumamoto, which the prefecture still keeps and performs today.
It was not designed by a commissioned artist: the prefecture called a public collection of ideas before approving it in March 1966.
Test what you have read about the flag of Kumamoto.
Flag image: Kzaral, Xeror, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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