Japanese Prefectures

Last modified: 2015-05-02 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: japan | prefectures | islands: japan | mon |
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by Antonio Martins

• Mon symbols
• Karafuto
• Symbol Marks
• Karafuto (former Prefecture)

See also:

• Municipal flags of Japan (Ordered by Prefectures)
• Municipal flags of Japan - Index Page
• National Sports Festival (Kokutai) Prefecture Flags
• Liancourt Rocks (disputed territory)

External link:

• Japan101.com

Mon symbols

The flags of the Japanese prefectures use Mon symbols. I view them as heraldry made modern. The Kanji written by them reflect not only ancient Chinese pictograms, but also alliteration or sound. From a language viewpoint, the Mon of the various prefectures make much more meaning than most of the western world's corporate logos.
Bruce Ward, 5 March 1996

Karafuto

Karafuto is (was) the Japanese name for Sakhalin, or at least for the southern part of it. I think the island was lost to Russia in 1911, but some of it was briefly regained by Japan in WWII. The local name, which is neither Russian nor Japanese, I do not know, but it's aboriginal people -- the Ainu -- name collectively both islands (Sakhalin and Hokkaido) Ainu Moshir, i.e., Ainu Fatherland.
Antonio Martins, 25 November 1996

Symbol Marks

The following prefectures adopted its symbol mark: Tokyo, Aomori, Niigata, Gifu, Wakayama, Shimane, Saga and Kagoshima.
Similarly following prefectures adopted its logo in different name other than official prefectural emblem:
Fukushima: Image Design
Gumma: Mascot
Saitama: Campaign Mark
Kochi: Image Character
Kagawa: Image Up Mark
Tottori: Image of the prefecture
Shiga, Fukui and Ishikawa: Communication Mark
Nagano: Logo Mark of the prefecture
See also: http://members.just-size.net/pflag/list1.html (Please click blue Japanese letters in the rightmost column then you can see images.)
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 April 2014

Karafuto (former Prefecture)

image located by Nozomi Kariyasu, 06 April 2015 from Wikipedia.

The former Prefecture of Karafuto (South Sakhalin) was established on Apr 1st 1907 by Imperial Ordinance No 33 dated Mar 15th 1907. They used the prefecture emblem during 1911-1945 which depicts three leaves and berries of white birch. With the defeat of Japan in WWII Karafuto Prefecture was occupied by Soviet troops and Japan lost the territory.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 06 April 2015