February 27 1870 – Japan adopts its current national flag, to designate merchant ships Rate this post Rate this post

The national flag of Japan, officially known as the Nisshoki or the Sun–mark flag was adopted on February 27, 1870. At the time, however, it was meant to be the flag to identify the Japanese nationality of the merchant ships and not the flag that represents the nation itself.

Japan’s association with the Hinomaru or the Sun Disc is a very ancient one. Japan is called “the land of the rising sun”, perhaps due to its location in the Far East. Not surprisingly, the Imperial family of Japan is believed to have descended from Amaterasu, the sun goddess. The Hinomaru motif seems to have been associated with the country’s regent even as far back as the 7th century. Various forms of the sun disc were carried by samurais in the 12th century. In the next century, Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period and is the famed teacher of the Lotus Sutra, is believed to have presented the ensign to a shogun. In the 16th century, each Daimyo feudal lord fashioned out his own ensign to be carried into battle. By the 19th century, during the dominance of the Tokugawa shogunate, it was decreed that a unification of some sort is necessary, especially to identify Japanese ships at sea. …(Read more)