In October 1966, it was decided that Sapporo would host the first ever winter Olympic games in Asia. The Organizing Committee of Olympic Games immediately set out to produce the official symbol and conducted a closed competition to select it. Eight persons were selected to take part in the competition: Hiromu Hara, Yusaku Kamekura, Kenichi Kuriyagawa, Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai, Gan Hosoya, Makoto Wada, and Masayoshi Nakajo. The conditions for the symbol were that it must include the five rings Olympics mark and the words “Sapporo 1972,” and that it must symbolize Japan and wintertime or Hokkaido. The review committee was chaired by Masaru Katsumi, and was composed of Takashi Kono, Kiyoshi Seike, Yoshio Hayakawa, Hideo Mukai, and four member from the organizing committee, including the vice chairman and secretary general. As a result of the review, the committee decided to use one of the three designs I had submitted. The selected design was composed of three squares stacked vertically, with one square each containing the Japanese flag, a snowflake, and the five rings mark with “Sapporo ’72.”

From the beginning, I had decided on the Japanese flag to symbolize Japan. The reason was that the Olympics symbol mark which Yusaku Kamekura had designed for the Tokyo Olympics had spread around the world, and with its success it had built up a positive image, and I thought it would be easier for the world to understand if I continued with the same image for both the summer and winter Olympics. However because the Japanese flag is red, the image is precisely opposite that of winter, and deciding how to resolve this was a key point in the design. I think it that a good effect was achieved by separating the Japanese flag and snow and giving equal weight to each. Because gold had been used for the Tokyo Olympics, I decided to use silver here.

For the snowflake which symbolized winter or Hokkaido, I did not use a realistic, sharply-pointed crystal, and instead chose an ancient Japanese crest called hatsuyuki (first snow). I reworked the curves from a modeling perspective to transform it into a sharp design. This is a piece of cultural heritage that could be described as a Japanese hieroglyphic, making it a good match with the Japanese flag and providing a powerful symbol of Japanese beauty.

The most important point was that the mark be variable. Because the items which had to be included in the symbol were many, I organized them into three squares and handled each of the squares as an individual unit, making them suitable for a vertical layout, horizontal layout, or in a variety of three-dimensional arrangements. They could be arranged horizontally on a horizontal banner or vertically on a vertical one, and a square shape could be used for the pins. I also designed the symbol tower. Because each individual unit was powerful, the image did not change no matter how the squares were stacked. I believe it managed to incorporate a sense of modernity by creating a single image that still remained fluid.