Flag of Japan

What the flag means

The red disc is the sun. The official name, Nisshōki, means 'flag of the sun', and the common name, Hinomaru, means 'circle of the sun'. In Shinto tradition the sun is linked to the goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial line traces its descent.

History

The chronicle Shoku Nihongi records a sun flag at Emperor Monmu's New Year ceremony in 701. In 1854 the shogunate ordered Japanese ships to fly the Hinomaru so they could be told apart from foreign ships, and a proclamation of 1870 made it the flag of merchant ships. It was used as the national flag by custom until the Act on National Flag and Anthem of 13 August 1999, which set the ratio at 2:3 and placed the disc exactly in the centre.

Under the 1870 rules, a merchant ship that failed to fly the flag could be treated as a pirate.

Earlier flags of Japan

1. 1870–19997:10 version with the disc set slightly towards the hoist

Flags that look like this one

JapanBangladeshPalau

Japan is a red disc on white. Bangladesh is a red disc on green, set slightly toward the flagpole. Palau is a yellow disc on light blue.