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Japanese Navy Signal Flags

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Japanese Navy Signal Flags are a set of maritime signal flags for conveying messages in the Japanese language.[1] The system generally uses the standard International Signal Flags, assigning both the letter, number and repeater flags to various kana, roughly following Iroha order for the standard letter flags. The system also has several unique flags for some kana, as well as for conveying non-alphabetic messages.

ICS name Japanese Navy name Flag Kana Wabun code
Alfa Gozen い / イ
"I"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Bravo Aka (red) は / ハ
"Ha"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ 
Charlie Sisu に / ニ
"Ni"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Delta Teshiki ほ / ホ
"Ho"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ 
Echo Isuto へ / ヘ
"He"
  ▄ 
Foxtrot Efu ち / チ
"Chi"
  ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Golf Shairo り / リ
"Ri"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Hotel Takaso ぬ / ヌ
"Nu"
  ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ 
India Takuten Dakuten   ▄ ▄ 
Juliet Wabun code "Wo" =
J Morse (  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ )
Kilo Ke わ / ワ
"Wa"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Lima Eru か / カ
"Ka"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ 
Mike よ / ヨ
"Yo"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ 
November Kiroren た / タ
"Ta"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Oscar Oba れ / レ
"Re"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ 
Papa つ / ツ
"Tsu"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Quebec Kina ね / ネ
"Ne"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Romeo Aru な / ナ
"Na"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Sierra Kigan ら / ラ
"Ra"
  ▄ ▄ ▄ 
Tango Tebu む / ム
"Mu"
  ▄▄▄ 
Uniform Yu う / ウ
"U"
  ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Victor But く / ク
"Ku"
  ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Whiskey Tafuryu せ / セ
"Se"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄  Does not match "W" in Morse code.
Morse code "W" = "Ya" in Wabun code.
Xray Etsukusu ま / マ
"Ma"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ 
Yankee Wai け / ケ
"Ke"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ 
Zulu Zetsuto ふ / フ
"Fu"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ 
Repeater 1 Seido ろ / ロ
"Ro"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄  No Morse representation
Repeater 2 Bango ん / ン
"N"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄  No Morse representation
Repeater 3 Sankai さ / サ
"Sa"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄  No Morse representation
None Houku し / シ
"Shi"
  ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
None Jinkei ゆ / ユ
"Yu"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ 
None Undo と / ト
"To"
  ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ 
None Taiban
None Rekkon る / ル
"Ru"
  ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 
Pennant 4 Sentai お / オ
"O"
  ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄  Does not match "4" in Morse code
  1. ^ Dickson, David, Japanese Navy Signal Flags (PDF), retrieved 20 April 2020