秋田県 (Akita)
Flag
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Flag
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Prefecture
Akita Prefecture (秋田県, Akita-ken) flies a vermillion-red flag bearing a white emblem: a dynamic, stylised rendering of the katakana character ア (a), the first sound of “Akita”, adopted in 1959. The design was chosen through a public competition — and its winning entrant remained anonymous for nearly half a century. Note that this page covers the prefecture’s emblem; Akita City, the prefectural capital, is a separate municipality with its own distinct city crest.
| Prefecture | Akita (秋田県, Akita-ken) |
|---|---|
| Type | Ken (県) — ordinary prefecture |
| Region | Tōhoku |
| Capital | Akita City (Akita-shi) — a distinct municipality with its own separate emblem |
| Established | 14 July 1871 (haihan-chiken), from the former Kubota/Akita domain and neighbouring domains |
| Emblem (kenshō) | Stylised katakana ア, white on vermillion; adopted 3 November 1959 (Announcement No. 380) |
| Flag colours | Vermillion-brown (朱茶, shucha) field, white emblem; ratio 7:10 |
| Official flower | Fukinotō (Japanese butterbur flower bud), designated 1954 |
| Official tree | Akita sugi (regional cedar variety), designated 1966 |
| Official bird | Yamadori (copper pheasant, Syrmaticus soemmerringii), designated 1964 |
Flag of Akita Prefecture — Vermillion field, white ア emblem, adopted 1959
The flag of Akita Prefecture is a vermillion-red field (officially described as 朱茶, shucha, a reddish-brown vermillion) bearing the prefecture’s white emblem (県章, kenshō) at its centre. The emblem is a dynamic, angular stylisation of the katakana character ア — the first sound of the name “Akita” — rendered with sweeping, forward-leaning strokes. The Akita prefectural government describes the design as expressing the prefecture’s “vigorous leap and development” (県勢の飛躍、発展する姿). The flag itself measures 140 cm by 200 cm, a 7:10 ratio.
The emblem was formally adopted on 3 November 1959 by Prefectural Announcement No. 380, following a public design competition that drew 690 submissions. A selection committee that included the noted Akita-born painter and folk-craft researcher Tokushi Katsuhira chose the winning design.
Unusually, the entrant who submitted the winning design used a pseudonym and never came forward to claim credit; the address given was in Gunma Prefecture, far from Akita itself. The designer’s true identity remained unknown for almost 50 years. In 2005, during a memorial and homecoming event organised for former residents of a Hansen’s disease (leprosy) recovery community, a fellow member recalled that one of their late colleagues had created the Akita prefectural emblem — the first testimony to surface linking the design to its actual author, who had by then already died. The full circumstances of the pseudonymous entry have not been exhaustively documented in English-language sources, and some biographical details remain uncertain.
Akita City (秋田市), the prefectural capital and seat of the prefectural government, is administratively distinct from Akita Prefecture and maintains its own separate municipal crest and flag, adopted independently of the prefectural emblem shown on this page. The two should not be confused: this page describes only the emblem and flag of Akita Prefecture as a whole.
A vermillion-red field (朱茶, shucha) with a white emblem: a dynamic, stylised rendering of the katakana character ア (a), the first sound of “Akita”, symbolising the prefecture’s vigorous growth and development.
No. Akita Prefecture is one of Japan’s 47 prefectures, located in the Tōhoku region. Akita City is its capital — a single municipality within the prefecture, with its own distinct city crest separate from the prefectural emblem described on this page.
The emblem was adopted on 3 November 1959 (Prefectural Announcement No. 380), selected from 690 public entries by a committee including artist Tokushi Katsuhira. The winning designer submitted under a pseudonym and was not publicly identified until a 2005 testimony linked the work to a deceased member of a Hansen’s disease recovery community.
The fukinotō (Japanese butterbur flower bud, designated 1954), the Akita sugi cedar (designated 1966), and the yamadori or copper pheasant (Syrmaticus soemmerringii, designated 1964).
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 2026-07-04.