FFM-4 JS Mikuma's Ship Crest : Legend Of The Sun And The Hawk

FFM-4 JS Mikuma's Logo Mark. Image : JMSDF

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had just unveiled the ship emblem of its fourth Mogami-class multi-mission stealth frigate the JS Mikuma ( FFM-4 ). It was the result of a design competition which was open to the public from 6th Jun to 5th Jul 2022. Out of a total of 157 submissions, the winning piece was selected by the pre-commissioning ship crew themselves and it featured a mythical hawk known as the Hitaka, the sun, the moon, a star ( Polaris ) and the Big Dipper. 

Apart from Polaris and the Big Dipper, all the above entities are key characters in the Legend of the Sun and Hawk ( 日と鷹神話 ) recorded in the ancient text known as Toyonishi Manuscript ( 豊西記 ). It is the story of the creation of the Mikuma river and the three hills around it.

In Japanese, the ship's crest or emblem is known as the logo mark ( ロゴマーク rogo maku ). My previous articles on the JS Mogami and the JS Kumano's logo mark can be found here, JS Noshiro's here and that of the JS Ise's possibly plagiarised logo mark here. 　

Manga rendition of the Legend of the Sun and the Hawk
 by Kuze Mizuki. Image : yamataikoku9.web.fc2.com

Sun and Hawk Legend

The Mikuma River ( 三隈川 mikumagawa ), namesake of the multi-mission frigate JS Mikuma , refers to the section of the Chikugo River that flows westward through the city of Hita right in the heart of Kyushu. The Hita Basin ( 日田盆地 Hita Bonchi ) is located just north of one of Kyushu's most active volcano Mt Aso and it is surrounded by mountains. It lies within the boundaries of Oita Prefecture, an area known in the past as Bungonokuni ( 豊後国 ).

Legend had it that a long long time ago there was a gigantic lake in the Hita Basin. One day, a humongous bird known as the Sun Hawk ( 日鷹 Hitaka ) flew across the lake from the east, dipped the feathers of its wings into the water and then flew north as the sun rises and disappeared. That immediately triggered off terrifying earth tremors and suddenly turned day into night.

The huge whirlpools formed and monstrous waves battered the cliffs on the western banks of the lake for three days and three nights. The cliffs eventually collapsed and the water gushed out and formed the westward flowing Mikuma River. As a result of the outflow, the lake was completely drained. The torrent also created three knolls which are known as the Hill of the Sun ( 日隈 Hinokuma ) to the south, Hill of the Moon  ( 月隈 Tsukikuma ) to the north and the Hill of the Star (星隈 Hoshikuma ) to the west. 

Collectively these hills are known as the Three Hills of Mikuma ( 三隈三山 Mikuma Sanzan ) or the Three Knolls of Hita ( 日田三丘 Hita Mitsuo ). These geological features still define the terrain where the Mikuma river flows through today.

Hita City, Mikuma River and the three hills

Could this ancient foklore have a possible scientific explanation? Absolutely! Japan has numerous active and dormant volcanos and many of these have caldera lakes. The rims of these crater lakes are subjected to weathering and erosion and can obviously be destroyed by subsequent seismic activities or even an eruption. Mt Aso, located just south of Hita City, has a caldera with a circumference of 120km, one of the biggest in the world, and that could have once been filled with water. Satellite imagery even showed a breach over its western rim from which a river flowed.

Aso Caldera NS 25km, EW 17km. Circumference 120km. Wikipedia

JS Mikuma's Logo Mark

The ship's crest of the JS Mikama takes a pentagonal shape with the silhouette of the mythical Sun Hawk in black prominantly featured at its centre. Its wings are spread and stretched right across the entire crest with the wingtips extending a little beyond the geometry of the crest. Superimposed on the hawk are the silhouettes of water in light blue and that of the warship in grey. They signify that the JS Mikuma will have the power of the water to move forcefully forwards.

Above the hawk is the sun, which represents Hinokuma, the hill of the sun. It is positioned above all perhaps because in Shintoism the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Okami is regarded as the supreme deity.

The moon at the lower left represents the Tsukikuma, the hill of the moon. According to JMSDF, the star at the lower right of the crest is Polaris ( 北極星 Hokkyokusei ), the north star. It represents the Hoshikuma, the hill of the star. Next to it is the asterism known as the Big Dipper ( 北斗七星 Hokutoshichisei ) with its seven stars in its familiar inverted ladle configuration. Interestingly, these stars are orientated in the correct position as they would in the night sky, with the two stars of the Big Dipper's bowl pointing towards Polaris. Kudos to the designer for getting this right! Together, Polaris and the Big Dipper would herald safe navigation on the high seas.

The crest is framed by a perimeter of dark grey within which the words Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is written at the top and FFM-4 JS Mikuma is written at the bottom. Lastly, the words みくま, the ship's name in hiragana, is placed in front of the silhouettes of the hawk, water and warship. 

JS Mikuma's ship crest was designed by Sasaki Ruri ( 佐々木留理 ) from Nara Prefecture.

Stars of the Big Dipper's bowl points towards Polaris ( top right )
Image : Miguel Claro via Space.com

Note : The Japanese kanji character 三 ( mi ) means three while 隈 ( kuma ) means corner or nook. In combination 三隈 ( Mikuma ) literally means three corners or three nooks. However, in this case we know that it means the three hills of Hita.　

Shachihoko : FFM-3 JS Noshiro Selects Mythical Tiger Fish For Ship's Emblem

 

JS Noshiro's ship crest or logo mark. Image : JMSDF

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had just unveiled the ship emblem of its third Mogami-class multi-mission stealth frigate the JS Noshiro ( FFM-3 ). It was the result of a design competition which was open to the public from 24th Feb to 25th Mar 2022. The winning piece was selected by the pre-commissioning ship crew themselves and it featured a mythical creature known as the shachihoko which has the head of a tiger and the body of a fish. 

The shachihoko is a well known cultural entity in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture. It is found adorning the top of gigantic castle floats which are lighted up at night and paraded in the streets to celebrate the Tanabata Festival which is usually held in early August every year.

In Japanese, the ship's crest or emblem is known as the logo mark ( ロゴマーク rogo maku ). My previous articles on the JS Mogami and the JS Kumano's logo mark can be found here and that of the JS Ise's possibly plagiarised logo mark here. 　

Noshiro

The JS Noshiro was named after the Noshiro River ( 能代川 noshirogawa ) in Akita Prefecture. For most of its 136km course, this Class A river is actually known as the Yoneshiro River ( 米代川 yoneshirogawa ). It has its source in the Ou Mountains of the Hachimantai Plateau and flows westwards to the Sea of Japan. 

At the end of its journey to the sea, the Yoneshiro River reaches the city of Noshiro and that last section near the river mouth is commonly known as the Noshiro River.

Noshiro City has a population of just under 50000 and is most famously known for the way its people celebrated the Tanabata Festival with giant lantern castle floats that seemed to reach up to the summer night sky. These humongous structures are assembled with the help of construction cranes and the biggest ever built measured 24.1m in height. Their sides would be painted with pictures depicting anything from fauna to flora, folks going through their daily chores such as fishing, farming and wood cutting, battlefield scenes and the top of the structures would invariably be adorned with several prominent pairs of shachihokos - the fearsome looking Japanese tiger fish that is commonly found on the roof top of a castle's main keep. 

Noshiro City's Lantern Castle with Shachihoko.
Photo : Noshiro City Official WP

Tanabata has its origins from the ancient Chinese Cowherd and Weaver Girl folk tale. It is said that a long time ago, on the eastern bank of the Celestial River lived Orihime ( 織姫 ) a talented weaver girl who was the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor. She would create colourful fabric for the clouds in the skies day in and day out. However, she eventually got tired of this monotonous life and the Emperor, having taken pity on her, married her to Hikoboshi ( 彦星 ) the cowherd from the western bank.

The cowhead and the weaver girl loved each other and lived a blissful marriage life. With their new found happiness Orihime subsequently neglected her weaving duties and Hikoboshi stopped tending his herd. That angered the Heavenly Emperor. He separated the couple and confined them to the opposite sides of the Celestial River and only allowed them to meet once a year on the seven day of the seventh month. It is said that the magpies are so touched by the loving bond between the cowherd and the weaver girl that they would form a bridge across the Celestial River on that evening for the annual reunion of the couple over the river.

Tanabata : Orihime and Hikoboshi on magpie bridge.
Image : Anhellica

Today, we can still see the characters of this ancient legend immortalised in the summer night sky. The Celestial River is the Milkyway Galaxy which stretches across the sky like a silvery flow of water. The cowherd is represented by the bright star Altair in the constellation of Aquila on one side of the Milkyway while on the other side lies the even brighter weaver star Vega in the constellation of Lyra. The Chinese believed that if a woman prayed to the Weaver Star on that night, she would receive wisdom and also agility and dexterity, characteristics that could go a long way in maintaining a blissful marriage.

Vega and Altair and the Milkyway ( light blue zone ) in the
 summer night sky. Image : In-the-sky.org

In Japan, Tanabata ( 七夕 ) which literally means the evening of the seventh, is at times celebrated on the 7th of July ( Gregorian calendar ) but traditionally it would be the seventh day of the seventh month on the Japanese lunisolar calender which meant that day would be some time in August. It is also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り hoshi matsuri ) and is observed not just in Noshiro City alone but everywhere across the country. However each region has its own way of celebrating this festival, like Sendai City with its Tanabata decorations made from paper and bamboo hanging in the streets and fireworks show. 

Tanabata decorations of Sendai City. Photo : Rakuten Travel

Noshiro's unique towering lantern castles was an age old tradition that dated back to the Edo period. During the Tenpo era ( 1830 -1844 ), a lantern float was made in the image of the Nagoya Castle and it proved to be popular. It had been created almost every year since then. There is photographic proof that during the Meiji era, there existed a lantern that measured 17.6m in height and 5.4m in width. However with the rapid industrialisation and electrification of Japan, street level electric cables limited the height of the lantern castles to about 7 to 8m. In recent years, the electric cables along Noshiro City's Route 101 were buried underground and the city started on a project to restore the gigantic castle floats to their original size in 2012 with the aim to promote tourism.

The following year, a castle float measuring exactly 17.6m was crafted based on the Meiji era photo and was named Karoku, in the memory of an Edo period carpenter Miyakoshi Karoku ( 宮腰嘉六 ) who had worked on the lanterns, thus reviving a century-old tradition. In 2014, an even taller record breaking castle float was created measuring 24.1m in height. It was named Chikasue, after the Sengoku era warlord Ando Chikasue ( 安東愛季 ) who ruled northern Dewa Province from the Hiyama Castle located at Noshiro.

Revived after more than a century :
Lantern Castle "Karoku" 17.6m
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

Tallest in Japan : Lantern Castle " Chikasue " 24.1m
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

When night fell, the lantern castles were lit and paraded in the streets and the people chanted, danced and sang amidst the sound of taiko drums, cymbals and flutes as they pulled the floats around the city. These visually stunning illuminated floats are known as the Sky Castle That Never Sleeps ( 天空の不夜城 tenku no fuyajo ).

You can watch Noshiro's 2015 Tanabata Festival from demonstration footage used on Sharp's Aquos 4K TVs here or below.

This video here or below by Akita Shirakami Tourism shows the entire assembly process of castle floats " Chikasue " and " Karoku " in time lapse.

The Shachihoko

The shachihoko is a mythical animal that has the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. It is almost always depicted facing the sky with its tail curled above its head. It is believed to have the power to cause the rain to fall and is therefore frequently found as a roof ornament on top of temples and castles which are mainly constructed of wood to protect them from fire. 

The kanji or Chinese-styled character for the shachihoko is 鯱. It is made up of two distinct components 魚 ( fish ) and 虎 ( tiger ). So even in kanji it means tiger fish. We also frequently encounter it written in katagana form as シャチホコ. 

Shachihokos are found all over Japan and not just in Noshiro City alone. Some shachihoko installed on a castle's tenshukaku or main keep can be huge, like those of the Nagoya Castle in Aichi Prefecture which inspired Noshiro's lantern floats. The shachihoko on top of the Chikasue lantern castle has a length of 5m while that of the Karoku measured 3m which means they are absolutely massive, making them instantly recognisable motifs of Noshiro City.

Multiple shachihokos on top of lantern float Chikasue's tenshukaku.
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

Four days ago a life-sized replica of Nagoya Castle's golden shachihoko or kin shachihoko was displayed at the central plaza of Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport Terminal 2 ( domestic terminal ) in a publicity blitz for tourism. It stands at more than 3m in height and is covered with more than 1800 pieces of gold foil! You can have an idea of its size when you compare it with the cabin attendents standing next to it. The kin shachihoko will be on display until 19th Aug 2022. 

Life-size replica : Nagoya Castle's Golden Shachikiko at
Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport T2. Photo : Kyodoshi

JS Noshiro's Logo Mark

According to JMSDF, the sachihoko is undoubtedly the guardian deity of Noshiro City's lantern castles. By incorporating it in the emblem of JS Noshiro, it is hoped that the shachihoko will similarly watch over the safety of the frigate and by extension be the protector of the entire Japanese nation and its people as well.

The rim of the emblem is supposed to represent " team effort " as the multi-mission frigates go on a crew-based manning system. JMSDF plans to rotate four teams of crew for every three frigates.

It was designed by Tadokoro Toshitake ( 田所俊威 ) of Saitama Prefecture.

4th Japanese Multi-Mission Frigate JS Mikuma Launched + Glimpse Of JS Mogami Close-up

FFM-4 JS Mikuma prior to being launched. Photo : JMSDF

 

The fourth Mogami-class multi-mission frigate built for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has been launched at Mitsubishi Heavy Industry's Nagasaki Shipyard on 10th Dec 2021. It is named the JS Mikuma ( みくま ) and has the pennant number FFM-4. In kanji characters mikuma would be written as 三隈.

The name is derived from the Mikuma River of Kyushu's Oita Prefecture, which is consistent with Japanese MOD's policy of naming destroyers and frigates after natural phenomena, mountains, rivers and localities. The source of the Mikuma River could be traced to the northern slopes of the active volcano Mt Aso and it would continue as the Chikugo River as it flows westwards all the way to the Ariake Sea.

It would be the third Japanese ship to bear that name, the first being the WWII era heavy cruiser IJNS Mikuma and the second being the Cold War era destroyer escort JS Mikuma ( DE-217 ).

A total of 22 multi-mission frigates had been planned for the JMSDF in order to increase the number of escort vessels in its surface fleet from the current 47 to 54. They will be constructed at a rate of two per year and so far the shipyards have been keeping to their schedule. JS Kumano, the first frigate to be launched, is now undergoing sea trials and would be commissioned in Mar 2022.

The naming and launching ceremony of the JS Mikuma was officiated by Vice Admiral Deguchi Katsuto, Commander Sasebo Naval District. The guest of honor was Oniki Makoto, the deputy Minister for Defense.

More on the multi-mission frigate here.

JS Mikuma at launch. Photo : JMSDF

JS Mikuma at launch. Photo : Oniki Makoto

JS Mikuma name revealed. Photo : Sasebo Regional HQ

Minister Oniki Makoto. Photo : JMSDF

JS Mikuma naming document. Photo : Oniki Makoto

JS Mikuma prior to launch. Photo : JMSDF

Silver axe for launching ship. Image : JMSDF

JS Mikuma prior to launch. Photo : Sasebo Regional HQ

Celebrating the launch of JS Mikuma by @ginntokii.
Map of Mikuma and Chikugo River at top right.

                                                                       Launch of JS Mikuma FFM-4. Video : JMSDF

Inspection Of JS Mogami

As deputy Defense Minister Oniki launched the JS Mikuma, he also took the opportunity to inspect the first-in-class JS Mogami which was being fitted at the same shipyard. These are probably the first official close-up photos of the frigates. Of course we can expect more in another two months when the JS Kumano and JS Mogami are commissioned.

Oniki and entourage in front of the JS Mogami's main gun. Photo : ATLA

Notice the extreme inclination of the side window panels of the bridge, almost like an extension of the sloping ship superstructure. Yet the front panels are inclined from the vertical plane top out like most conventional bridge windows, as evident from the reflection of the man standing in the background in the extreme right of the image.

On the upper deck behind the main gun. Photo : ATLA

Inspecting the bridge. Photo ATLA

The sloping starboard side window panels can be clearly seen in the above photo. Just like the half completed mast, the bridge is also still under construction. 

Minister Oniki being briefed. Photo : ATLA