were the most common of war banners used on the medieval Japanese battlefield. The term could be translated to literally mean symbol flag, marker banner or the like. Unlike the later nobori

Nobori

', literally meaning 'banner', had a more specific meaning on the battlefields of feudal Japan. It referred to a particular type of banner denoting units within an army; nobori became much more common in the Sengoku period, coming into use alongside the earlier hata-jirushi...

, which were stiffened, these banners were simple streamers attached to a shaft by a horizontal cross-piece.

Hata-jirushi served much the same purpose as the nobori which replaced them, identifying and distinguishing regiments or sections of an army.