Blaublitz Akita (ブラウブリッツ秋田) is a Japanese professional football club based in Akita Prefecture, competing in the J2 League. The club’s visual identity is built around a shield-shaped crest that carries forward the shape and colors of its predecessor, the TDK Soccer Club, while incorporating local Akita symbolism. The club’s official color is blue, and its name combines the German words for “blue” and “lightning.”[1]
Design and History
The club was founded in 1965 as TDK Soccer Club, the corporate team of electronics manufacturer TDK. In 2010, the team was reorganized as an independent club under the name Blaublitz Akita.[1] The new name was selected through a public contest and combines the German “blau” (blue) with “blitz” (lightning), a reference to the bright blue uniforms the amateur TDK side had long worn.[2]
When the club rebranded in 2010, the emblem retained the shape and colors of the TDK-era crest to preserve that tradition, but the interior was updated to include the Namahage, a folk figure from the Oga Peninsula in Akita, along with lightning bolts.[1][3] The lightning motif directly echoes the “blitz” in the club’s new name.[1]
In December 2013, the club’s operating company changed its name from Akita Football Club Co., Ltd. to Blaublitz Akita Co., Ltd. in preparation for J3 League entry. Along with this corporate change, the emblem was updated: the letters “AFC” that had appeared at the top of the crest were replaced with “AKITA.” The club stated that the shape remained unchanged to carry on the spirit of the TDK Soccer Club, and that the new lettering expressed the club’s commitment to representing and promoting Akita.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crest’s central element is the Namahage, a traditional demon-like figure from Akita’s Oga Peninsula that is among the region’s best-known symbols. The J3 League’s official club profile notes that the Namahage appears on the club emblem.[5] The Japan Football Association’s team introduction for the club similarly describes the emblem as incorporating the Namahage and lightning, both symbols of Akita.[3]
The club’s official color is blue, as listed in its J.League profile.[1] Gold is also used as an accent color in the club’s visual applications; for example, the club’s wrapped team bus features the Namahage design from the emblem rendered in gold against a blue base.[6]
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