熊本県 (Kumamoto)
Flag
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Flag
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Prefecture
Kumamoto Prefecture (熊本県, Kumamoto-ken) flies a maroon flag bearing a white crest that stylises the katakana letter “ku” (ク), the first sound of its name, shaped to suggest the island of Kyūshū with the prefecture at its centre. Both crest and flag were adopted in 1966. Note that this page describes the prefecture’s own emblem — a distinct administrative entity from its capital, Kumamoto City, which is officially named identically but uses its own separate civic emblem.
| Prefecture | Kumamoto (熊本県, Kumamoto-ken) |
|---|---|
| Type | Ken (県) — ordinary prefecture |
| Region | Kyūshū, historically Higo Province |
| Capital | Kumamoto City (a separate administrative entity from the prefecture, sharing its name) |
| Established | 1871 haihan-chiken reform; boundaries consolidated into the modern prefecture by 1876 |
| Crest (ken-shō) | White stylised katakana “ku” evoking Kyūshū’s outline, with a central circle for Kumamoto; adopted 31 March 1966 (Notice No. 210-6) |
| Flag | Maroon (ebi-cha) field, white crest; adopted 23 July 1966 (Notice No. 491); ratio 2:3 |
| Official tree | Camphor tree (kusunoki), designated 1966 |
| Official flower | Gentian (rindō), designated October 1953 |
| Official bird | Eurasian skylark (hibari), designated 1966 |
Flag of Kumamoto Prefecture — Maroon field, white ku-shaped crest, adopted 1966
The flag of Kumamoto Prefecture is a maroon field (a dark reddish-brown shade known in Japanese as ebi-cha) bearing the prefecture’s white crest (県章, ken-shō). The crest stylises the katakana character “ku” (ク) — the opening sound of “Kumamoto” — drawn so that its outline also suggests the shape of the island of Kyūshū. A small circle sits at the centre of the design, representing Kumamoto Prefecture’s geographic position at the heart of Kyūshū.
Unlike crests that descend from a feudal-era mon or a 19th-century municipal mark, Kumamoto’s prefectural emblem is a mid-20th-century creation. The design was chosen through a public competition and formally adopted by Prefectural Notice No. 210-6 on 31 March 1966. The flag displaying the new crest on its maroon field followed a few months later, adopted by Prefectural Notice No. 491 on 23 July 1966, with a standard proportion of 2:3.
The prefecture’s other official natural symbols were fixed around the same period: the camphor tree and the Eurasian skylark were both designated in 1966, alongside the crest and flag, while the gentian flower had already been chosen somewhat earlier, in October 1953, as part of a nationwide NHK campaign inviting each prefecture to select a representative “local flower.”
The region has a much older heraldic history that the modern crest does not directly draw on: as historic Higo Province, it was ruled from Kumamoto Castle, built up by the daimyō Katō Kiyomasa in the early 1600s and later held by the Hosokawa clan through the Edo period. Those clans’ own family mon are historical heraldry in their own right, distinct from the 1966 civic crest discussed here.
Because the prefecture and its capital share the same name, it is easy to conflate their symbols. Kumamoto City (熊本市), the prefectural capital, is a separate municipal government with its own distinct emblem, different from the prefectural crest described on this page. Likewise, the enormously popular black bear character Kumamon, created in 2010 for a tourism promotion campaign, is a marketing mascot licensed by the prefectural government — not a replacement for, or variant of, the official 1966 crest and flag.
A maroon field with a white crest: a stylised katakana “ku” (ク) shaped to evoke the outline of Kyūshū, with a small central circle marking the prefecture’s position at the island’s centre.
No. Kumamoto Prefecture (the ken) and Kumamoto City (its capital, the shi) are two separate administrative bodies, each with its own official emblem. This page covers only the prefectural crest and flag, adopted in 1966.
No. Kumamon is a promotional mascot created in 2010 for a tourism campaign. It is not the prefecture’s official crest or flag — that remains the 1966 white “ku” crest on a maroon field, which Kumamon appears alongside rather than replaces.
The crest was adopted on 31 March 1966 (Notice No. 210-6), chosen through a public design competition. The flag bearing that crest followed on 23 July 1966 (Notice No. 491).
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 2026-07-04.