Last modified: 2014-09-20 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: okinawa | japan | ryu-kyu | disc (red) | letter: o | neyagawa | urasoe |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
image by Zachary Harden, 8 September 2009
White O letter in red disc on white field. O is the prefecture initial
letter. The inner small red disc stands for progress of Okinawa and outer red
circle for sea surrounding Okinawa. Adopted 1972-10-13.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 06 May 1998
The construction sheet of the Okinawa Prefecture flag is on the
The ratio is 2x3, and the drawing is given at 14x21. The
emblem of the prefecture is 10 by 10 units and it is centered on the flag. The
giant circle is 10x10, the middle circle is 7x7 and the smallest circle is
4.5x4.5. On the height of the flag, the top of the middle circle is placed at
2.5 and the top of the smallest circle is at 3. The red color of the flag is
Munsell 3.5R 4/16. Attached is my drawing of the flag.
Zachary Harden, 8 September 2009
The symbol on the Okinawan flag of today brought out a great deal of
discussion and even threats of law suits while it was being formulated. The
initial colors used blue as the outer disk. As such, if placed on its side,
disks towards the hoist, it would have been identical with the the Mon used by
the most prominent Okinawan martial arts organization. This quite possibly
reflects that that organization was really the only native organization which
received equal status with organizations throughout Japan.
From 1879 until 1945, the Japanese had strived to squelch the Okinawan culture, and to impose their own. This was especially true through education, where children would be severely punished if they used the Okinawan language in school, even among themselves. The colors were changed to Red on White on Red, but the significance to the Okinawans remains clear -- if they are to be a part of Japan, then they are equal to any other prefecture in the nation.
Bruce Ward - 06 May 1996
Original Okinawa flag design
by Antonio Martins
It seemed that this was to be the preferred logo on the prefecture flag just prior to "reversion" to Japan. However, a threatened lawsuit by a martial arts organization over the design forced the selected logo to be only in red and white.
Martial Arts logo
by Antonio Martins
Logo of the premier martial arts organization in Okinawa, and indeed all of
Japan, in the early 1970s. The organization threatened suit to prevent the new
prefecture government from using the red-white-blue logo for itself. The
government backed down and used red-white-red.
Bruce Ward - 1996-12-07