石川県 (Ishikawa)
Flag
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Flag
Not available
Prefecture
Ishikawa (石川県, Ishikawa-ken) flies a cerulean-blue flag bearing a white, stylised rendering of its own name in kanji — 石川 — shaped to echo the silhouette of the Noto Peninsula, adopted on 1 October 1972. Unusually among Japan’s 47 prefectures, Ishikawa has never adopted a separate official crest (kensho): the flag’s own design does double duty as the prefecture’s formal emblem.
| Prefecture | Ishikawa (石川県, Ishikawa-ken) |
|---|---|
| Type | Ken (県) — ordinary prefecture |
| Region | Chūbu / Hokuriku, on the Sea of Japan coast |
| Capital | Kanazawa |
| Established | 1872, from the merger of Kaga Province and Noto Province; boundaries reduced in 1881 (Fukui split off) and 1883 (Toyama split off) |
| Flag / emblem | White stylised kanji “石川” on cerulean blue, shaped after the Noto Peninsula; adopted 1 October 1972; ratio 31:44 |
| Official crest (kensho) | None — unique among Japan’s prefectures; the flag design serves as the official “flag emblem” (kenki-hyōshō) instead |
| Official tree | Noto hiba (asunaro cypress), designated 1966 |
| Official flower | Kuro-yuri (black lily), designated 1954 |
| Official bird | Golden eagle (inuwashi), designated 1965 |
Flag of Ishikawa — Cerulean-blue field, white kanji “石川” shaped after the Noto Peninsula, adopted 1972
The flag of Ishikawa is a cerulean-blue field (Munsell tone 5B, value 5, chroma 12) bearing, in white, a graphic rendering of the two kanji that spell the prefecture’s name, 石川 (Ishikawa, literally “stone river”). The characters are stylised so that their combined outline also suggests the elongated shape of the Noto Peninsula, the hook-like landmass that gives the prefecture its distinctive silhouette on the map. According to the prefectural government, the blue ground stands for the Sea of Japan and for the “rich greenery, clean water, and clear air” with which the prefecture is blessed. The flag’s proportions are fixed at a ratio of 31:44.
Nearly every Japanese prefecture maintains two distinct marks: a kensho (crest) used as a formal emblem, and a prefectural flag that often, but not always, incorporates it. Ishikawa is the exception. It has never formally established a separate kensho. Instead, the kanji design created for the 1972 flag was itself designated as the prefecture’s official emblem, known as the kenki-hyōshō (“flag emblem”), with a dedicated usage directive issued by the prefectural government in 1976 governing how and where it may be reproduced — typically in blue or gold when used outside the flag itself.
Modern Ishikawa Prefecture was created in 1872, in the wake of the 1871 haihan-chiken reforms that abolished Japan’s feudal domains, through the merger of the historical provinces of Kaga and Noto. These two provinces had together formed the heartland of the Kaga Domain, ruled for nearly three centuries by the Maeda clan from Kanazawa Castle and, with an assessed value exceeding one million koku, the wealthiest domain in the entire Tokugawa shogunate. The prefectural seat, initially at Mikawa, moved to Kanazawa in 1873. Ishikawa’s borders were later trimmed twice — Fukui Prefecture was carved off in 1881 and Toyama Prefecture in 1883 — following political unrest linked to the 1878 Kioizaka Incident, giving the prefecture roughly its present-day extent.
A cerulean-blue field bearing a white, stylised rendering of the kanji for “Ishikawa” (石川), its outline shaped to echo the silhouette of the Noto Peninsula. The blue represents the Sea of Japan and the prefecture’s clean water, rich greenery, and clear air.
No — uniquely among Japan’s 47 prefectures, Ishikawa never adopted a separate kensho. The flag’s own kanji-based design was instead formally designated as the prefecture’s “flag emblem” (kenki-hyōshō), with usage guidelines issued in 1976.
The flag was officially adopted on 1 October 1972 (Shōwa 47), with a fixed ratio of 31:44 and a specified blue tone (Munsell 5B 5/12).
The Noto hiba (asunaro cypress) is the official tree (designated 1966); the kuro-yuri (black lily), found high on Mount Hakusan, is the official flower (chosen 1954); and the golden eagle (inuwashi), also associated with the Hakusan area, is the official bird (designated 1965).
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 2026-07-04.