Flag of Japan
The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner with a red circle at its center. The flag is officially called the but is more commonly known in Japan as the. It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising Sun.
The flag is designated as the national flag in the Act on National Flag and Anthem, which was promulgated and became effective on 13 August 1999. Although no earlier legislation had specified a national flag, the sun-disc flag had already become the de facto national flag of Japan. Two proclamations issued in 1870 by the Daijō-kan, the governmental body of the early Meiji period, each had a provision for a design of the national flag. A sun-disc flag was adopted as the national flag for merchant ships under Proclamation No. 57 of Meiji 3, and as the national flag used by the Navy under Proclamation No. 651 of Meiji 3. Use of the was severely restricted during the early years of the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II; these restrictions were later relaxed.
The sun plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion, as the Emperor is said to be the direct descendant of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu, and the legitimacy of the ruling house rested on this divine appointment. The name of the country as well as the design of the flag reflect this central importance of the sun. The ancient history says that Emperor Monmu used a flag representing the sun in his court in 701, the first recorded use of a sun-motif flag in Japan. The oldest existing flag is preserved in Unpō-ji temple, Kōshū, Yamanashi, which is older than the 16th century, and an ancient legend says that the flag was given to the temple by Emperor Go-Reizei in the 11th century. During the Meiji Restoration, the sun disc and the Rising Sun Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army became major symbols in the emerging Japanese Empire. Propaganda posters, textbooks, and films depicted the flag as a source of pride and patriotism. In Japanese homes, citizens were required to display the flag during national holidays, celebrations and other occasions as decreed by the government. Different tokens of devotion to Japan and its Emperor featuring the motif became popular among the public during the Second Sino-Japanese War and other conflicts. These tokens ranged from slogans written on the flag to clothing items and dishes that resembled the flag.
Public perception of the national flag varies. Historically, both Western and Japanese sources have described the flag as a powerful and enduring symbol to the Japanese. Since the end of World War II, the use of the flag and the national anthem has been a contentious issue for Japan's public schools, and disputes about their use have led to protests and lawsuits. Several military banners of Japan are based on the, including the sunrayed naval ensign. The also serves as a template for other Japanese flags in public and private use.
History
Ancient to medieval
The exact origin of the is unknown, but the rising sun has carried symbolic meaning since the early 7th century. Japan is often referred to as "the land of the rising sun". The Japanese archipelago is east of the Asian mainland, and is thus where the sun "rises". In 607, an official correspondence that began with "from the Emperor of the rising sun" was sent to the Chinese Emperor Yang of Sui.The sun is closely related to the Imperial family, as legend states the imperial throne was descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu. The religion, which is categorized as the ancient Ko-Shintō religion of the Japanese people, includes nature worship and animism, and the faith has been worshiping the sun, especially in agriculture and fishing. The Imperial God, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is the sun goddess. From the Yayoi period to the Kofun period , the, a large bronze mirror with patterns like a flower-petal, was used as a celebration of the shape of the shining sun and there is a theory that one of the Three Sacred Treasures, Yata no Kagami, is used like this mirror.
During the Eastern expedition, Emperor Jimmu's brother Itsuse no Mikoto was killed in a battle against the local chieftain Nagasunehiko in Naniwa. Emperor Jimmu realized, as a descendant of the sun, that he did not want to fight towards the sun, but to fight from the sun. The Emperor's clan therefore went to the east side of Kii Peninsula to battle westward. They reached Kumano and went towards Yamato. They were victorious at the second battle with Nagasunehiko and conquered the Kinki region.
The use of the sun-shaped flag was thought to have taken place since the emperor's direct imperial rule was established after the Isshi Incident in 645.
The Japanese history text, completed in 797, has the first recorded use of the sun-motif flag by Emperor Monmu's in 701. For the decoration of the ceremony hall on New Year's Day the was raised.
One prominent theory is influenced by the results of the Genpei War. Until the Heian period, the Nishiki flag, a symbol of the Imperial Court, had a golden sun circle and a silver moon circle on a red background. At the end of the Heian era, the Taira clan called themselves a government army and used the red flag with a gold circle as per the Imperial Court. The Genji were in opposition so they used a white flag with a red circle when they fought the Genpei War. When the Taira clan was defeated, the samurai government was formed by the Genji. The warlords who came after such as Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu realized they were successors of Genji, and so raised the flag in battle.
In the 12th-century work The Tale of the Heike, it was written that different samurai carried drawings of the sun on their fans. One legend related to the national flag is attributed to the Buddhist priest Nichiren. Supposedly, during a 13th-century Mongolian invasion of Japan, Nichiren gave a sun banner to the to carry into battle.
During the Battle of Nagashino, Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu's allied forces fought Takeda Katsuyori. Both Nobunaga and Ieyasu had their own flags with family crests, but they also held the. On the other hand, the Takeda clan side also raised the. Therefore, the was used as a national symbol.
One of Japan's oldest flags is housed at the Unpo-ji temple in Kōshū city, Yamanashi Prefecture. Legend states it was given by Emperor Go-Reizei to Minamoto no Yoshimitsu and has been treated as a family treasure by the Takeda clan for the past 1,000 years, and is at least older than 16th century.
In the 16th century unification period, each had flags that were used primarily in battle. Most of the flags were long banners usually charged with the of the lord. Members of the same family would have had different flags to carry into battle. The flags served as identification and were displayed by soldiers on their backs and horses. Generals also had their own flags, most of which differed from soldiers' flags due to their square shape.
In 1854, during the Tokugawa shogunate, Japanese ships were ordered to hoist the to distinguish themselves from foreign ships. Before then, different types of flags were used on vessels that were trading with the U.S. and Russia. The was decreed the merchant flag of Japan in 1870 and was the legal national flag from 1870 to 1885, making it the first national flag Japan adopted.
While the idea of national symbols was strange to the Japanese, the Meiji Government needed them to communicate with the outside world. This became especially important after the landing of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry in Yokohama Bay. Further Meiji Government implementations gave more identifications to Japan, including the anthem and the imperial seal. In 1885, all previous laws not published in the Official Gazette of Japan were abolished. Because of this ruling by the new cabinet of Japan, the was the de facto national flag since no law was in place after the Meiji Restoration.
Early conflicts and the Pacific War
The use of the national flag grew as Japan sought to develop an empire, and the was present at celebrations after victories in the First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. The flag was also used in war efforts throughout the country. A Japanese propaganda film in 1934 portrayed foreign national flags as incomplete or defective with their designs, while portraying the Japanese flag as perfect in all forms. In 1937, a group of girls from Hiroshima Prefecture showed solidarity with Japanese soldiers fighting in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, by eating "flag meals" that consisted of an umeboshi in the middle of a bed of rice. The became the main symbol of Japan's war mobilization and solidarity with its soldiers until the 1940s.Japan's early victories in the Sino-Japanese War resulted in the again being used for celebrations. It was seen in the hands of every Japanese during parades.
Textbooks during this period also had the printed with various slogans expressing devotion to the Emperor and the country. Patriotism was taught as a virtue to Japanese children. Expressions of patriotism, such as displaying the flag or worshiping the Emperor daily, were all part of being a "good Japanese".
The flag was a tool of Japanese imperialism in the occupied Southeast Asian areas during the Second World War: people had to use the flag, and schoolchildren sang in morning flag raising ceremonies. Local flags were allowed for some areas such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Manchukuo. In Korea which was part of the Empire of Japan, the and other symbols were used to declare that the Koreans were subjects of the empire.
During the Pacific War, Americans coined the derogatory term "meatballs" for the and Japanese military aircraft insignia. To the Japanese, the was the "Rising Sun flag that would light the darkness of the entire world". To Westerners, it was one of the Japanese military's most powerful symbols.