[1][2][3] Upon a repeated request from his friend, Bikki Sunazawa eventually designed the flag in 1973 – although he distanced himself from political activism seeking government support.

Nevertheless, an Ainu group displayed the flag when they marched at a May Day celebration in Sapporo in the same year.

[5] In 2020 Bikki's son Jin Sunazawa claimed copyright ownership and requested disuse of the flag.

[6] The flag consists of a cerulean blue field standing for sky and sea, a white figure standing for snow, and a red arrow flying beneath Hokkaido's sky.

[7] The arrow is red because of surku, the aconite poison used in traditional hunting, a way of life that was banned by the Japanese.