Why is the national flag of Japan marked by the sun?

Japanese people call their national flag "Maruko Flag" or "Rizhangqi." The so-called "Pill of the Sun" and "Ri Zhang" both represent the image of the sun. It is natural that the Japanese people, who worship the God of the Sky as the God of the Sun and call their country "the place where the sun rises", have special feelings for the image of the sun since ancient times. According to "Continuation of Japanese History", on New Year's Day in the first year of Dabao (AD 71), when Emperor Wenwu walked in the Taiji Hall, he was "shaped like a black tree at the main entrance, like a green dragon suzaku banner on the left and a Xuanwu white tiger banner on the right". There is a golden round wheel symbolizing the sun in the middle of the so-called "sun-like banner", and a crow with three feet is painted on the round wheel. Since then, it is said that military commanders in the Warring States period, such as Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Qianxin, used "Rimaru" (that is, the shape of the sun) as a symbol of the flag; In the battle of Wenlu and Jiaqing for many years (1592-1598), Toyotomi Hideyoshi also ordered to erect a flag marked with Japanese maruko on warships; The Edo shogunate also used the Japanese pill shape as the symbol of ships from the Kuanyong period (1624-1644). By the end of the shogunate, with the arrival of Perry's fleet, the frightened shogunate adopted Shimadzu Jibin's suggestion in 1853 (November 6th year of Jiayong), allowed the construction of large ships, and set the Japanese maruko shape as a symbol representing the country, stipulating that "in order to prevent confusion with foreign ships, the unified symbol of Japanese ships is the Japanese maruko flag". On July 9 of the following year, the shogunate informed Omufu (the central administrative supervisor) of this decision in the name of Masahiro Abe, who is directly under the general and the highest official in government affairs. On the 11th of the same month, this decision was announced to the vassals. In 1863 (August 7, Wen Jiu 3 years), it was also stipulated that the White Day Maru flag symbolizing the country should be hung in naval ceremonies. At this point, the Japanese pill shape has become a symbol of Japan's foreign affairs. When the Meiji government established relations with other countries, it was faced with the problem that it was necessary to formulate a national flag. In 187 (January 27, Meiji 3), Taisho issued the No.57 notice, explicitly stating that all Japanese merchant ships would fly the Nishimura flag as the national flag, and at the same time announced the specifications of the national flag. In this way, the Nippon Maru Flag was widely adopted as the national flag of Japan.

Japan's national flag is rectangular, and the ratio of length to width is ten to seven, with the same gap above and below the "sun". The diameter of the "sun" is three fifths of the length of the flag, and the center of the "sun" is slightly biased towards the flag pole. Its distance from the center point of the flag surface is about 1% of the width of the flag. On October 3 of the same year, the Taizheng official issued the No.651 notice, stipulating the navy flag, national flag and other flags. Compared with the previous notice No.57, the size of the flag in the notice No.651 is somewhat unexpected, which caused controversy later. The difference is that according to the notice No.651, the ratio of length to width is three to two (ten to seven before), the diameter of the "sun" is three fifths of the length of the flag (the same as the notice No.57), and the center of the "sun" overlaps with the center of the flag surface.

as a national flag, Nishimaru Flag has always been loved by the Japanese people. After the Second World War, the Allies once banned the hanging of the Japanese Maru flag. Since 1947, this situation has gradually eased. After January 1949, any Japanese can freely hang the Japanese Maruko flag where he thinks it is appropriate.