Far be it from me to tell someone what they should put on their flag but where did the Japanese get the idea that a rising sun is red?
It usually looks white or yellow to me. The only time I’ve seen a red sun is during sunset after a huge fire (like the ones we have in Malibu or Laguna).
BTW-If the rising sun always looks red in Japan does that mean Japanese sailors should take warning EVERY day?
Come on, guys! Is it a dumb question or is everybody just stumped?
I’ve heard two theories:
a) Red stands for enthusiasm, and white for patriotism. (Got this in a flag book.) Not much of a theory.
b) Around 1200, there was a war between two rival families in Japan. One of the families’ colour was red, and the other family’s colour was white. After the war was over both colours were combined in the flag. (I could perhaps find the name of the families involved if you want.)
Major
What does the setting sun look like to you? Is it ever red? You’re on the other side of the Pacific, remember.
rocks
It’s red in LA, California. Rising or Setting.
Anyway, flag colors are usually symbolic not reflective of real stuff.
The USA flag, every color, every line, every detail has symbolic meaning of some sort.
Huh? I live here. Granted, I am mildly colorblind, but you’re wrong. Sometimes if the smog has been bad, the sky might appear red, but never the Sun (unless, like I said, there has been some horrific fires).
Symbolism is all well and good when it makes sense. I can hardly imagine the Lebanese putting a red tree on their flag or the Canadians putting a blue maple leaf on their’s.
The sun never appears red to you? You must not get out much. I thought California was an outdoorsy place.
rocks
As an evening surfer, I can safely say I’ve seen more sunsets than most people. The sun has always appeared white or pale yellow to me. I’m sure if I took the time to give it a good five second observation I’d see plenty of odd colors before going blind, but from my many brief glances I’m fairly confident that the sun is not red.
I can’t believe the rising sun isn’t usually pretty red around L. A. About the only time I ever rise with the sun is when camping in the Sierra. I recall the last time, on viewing the sun rising over the desert, as seen through a gap in the Middle Sierra near Parker Pass on the eastern edge of Yosemite N. P., it was quite reddish, though tending toward orange, yellow and white. I admit that, during brush fires last year in Sonoma County, the rising sun near Vallejo was far redder and also “larger”.
But hey, we didn’t hear how those two Japanese families decided which one of them, the red one or the white one, would get the sun, and which the sky behind, within which to display their respective colors on the Japanese flag. And someone on this MB, the other day, claimed the Chinese associated white with death, so if perhaps the Japanese did also, at least at one time, you wouldn’t expect them to make the center of their flag white – for hara kiri – would you?
Ray (genuine white-blooded American)
What we need is a
Vexillologist.