A white bird formed from the to syllable of the Japanese syllabary on a dark blue ground: the flag of Tottori plays with words since 1968.
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 dark blue field with a 2:3 ratio with a white bird in the centre.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Tottori is dark blue with a white bird in the centre. But it is not only a bird: looked at closely, its shape is the to sign (と) of hiragana, the first syllable of Tottori. Like all Japanese prefectural flags, it is built on a mon, an emblem drawn like a modern logo.
The emblem and the flag were approved on 23 October 1968 to celebrate a hundred years of the Meiji era, the start of modern Japan. It was a year of flags: Shimane also launched its own for that anniversary.
The flag has not changed since 1968.
White bird
the to sign drawn as a bird in flight. For the prefecture it represents freedom, peace and progress towards the future.
The bird in the name
in Japanese, Tottori contains tori, which means bird. A Japanese reader sees both ideas in the same drawing.
Blue ground
the prescribed dark blue is called konjo. Tottori’s famous sand dunes do not appear: the official reading of the emblem is the bird.
In 2023 it was discovered that a Hong Kong company was selling some 200 food products online with a drawing almost identical to the emblem of Tottori. The prefecture announced in November 2023 that it would require them to stop using it.
Alongside the flag the prefectural anthem Wakiagaru Chikara was approved, which means the strength that springs up. Both are legacies of the 1968 Meiji centenary.
Test what you have read about the flag of Tottori.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Guilherme Paula, Mike Rohsopht Insignia This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. The use of such symbols is restricted in many countries. These restrictions are independent of the copyright status. Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This work is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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