The Diet enacted controversial legislation Monday that legally recognizes the Hinomaru as Japan's national flag and "Kimigayo" as its anthem.

The flag-anthem bill was first endorsed by a House of Councilors special committee in the early afternoon after a public hearing in the morning.

The bill was then immediately put before a plenary session of the Upper House, where it was passed with the support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its junior coalition partner, the Liberal Party, and New Komeito, according to Diet officials.

A total of 166 votes out of 237 were cast in favor of the bill, and 71 against, giving it the support of 70 percent of the chamber.

The Democratic Party of Japan submitted an alternative bill at the special committee session that would officially recognize only the Hinomaru, but it was voted down.

Afterward, the DPJ allowed its members to vote freely in the session. More than one-third of them voted for the bill.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said he hopes the new law will help Japanese citizens deepen their understanding of the two symbols.

Official recognition of the flag and anthem "will not pose new obligations on the people," Obuchi said in a statement. "But I hope people will take the enactment of the law as an opportunity to deepen their understanding about (them)."

The LDP-sponsored bill was passed by the House of Representatives on July 22 with the support of over 80 percent of the chamber.

The question of whether to legally recognize the Hinomaru and "Kimigayo," unofficially translated as "His Majesty's Reign," has been a sensitive issue because of the symbols' links to Japan's Imperial system and past militarism.

The LDP began the push to legally recognize the two symbols earlier this year after a high school principal in Hiroshima Prefecture committed suicide in the middle of a dispute with teachers after he was ordered by superiors to ensure that the flag was hoisted during the school's graduation ceremonies.

The law has no clauses obliging the public to respect the flag and anthem, or to stipulate punishment for not respecting them, although some conservative politicians called for such clauses.

Appendixes to the bill passed Monday state that the diameter of the sun on the flag shall be three-fifths of the flag's length and that the center of the sun shall be the center of the flag. The sun will be red on a white background, the bill states.

The lyrics and score of "Kimigayo" are also set out in the appendixes. A well-known translation of the lyrics, which are in ancient Japanese, is: "Thousands of years of happy reign be thine/ Rule on, my lord, till what are pebbles now/ By ages united to mighty rocks shall grow/ Whose venerable sides the moss doth line."

There is no official translation for the title or lyrics of the anthem, or for the name of the flag.