Japan used to revere the Sun Godess and was also known to be the country "where the sun rises", and in such respect, the "rising sun" is an appropriate design that symbolizes Japan. Although the origin is not validated, it was used as a war flag by feudal warlords and was also used on shogunal war ships during the Edo period. The year after Perry arrived in 1854, it was decided that Japanese ship flags would use a white based rising sun design so that one could separate Japanese ships for foreign ones. Thus, the rising sun became a symbol of Japan, and in 1870 was acknowledged as the national flag.