One Flame was lit at the Light of Hope monument in Rikuzentakata, in Iwate, one of the prefectures hit worst the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

It was lit by 21-year-old Miu Takahashi, a nursing home worker born with cerebral palsy.

The monument contains a Flame which in turn was transferred from a monument erected in Kobe after an earthquake known as the Great Hanshin disaster.

"It was a great honour to pass the fire as the Paralympic Flame," Takahashi told Kyodo News after kindling the Flame lantern using a taper.

"It has a long history since the Great Hanshin earthquake. 

Local residents' group leader Naomi Fujiwara added: "When people see the Flame, I hope they will remember that it contains our prayers for the souls of the victims and our wishes for reconstruction."

Meanwhile a small ceremony in Tono, also in Iwate, was open to the public public.

"We wanted to have a diverse group of people, young and old, non-Japanese nationals and those with disabilities, to take part in the event," an official said.

Flames from all 47 prefectures are to be united in Tokyo next week with one specially lit at Stoke Mandeville in Britain, which is considered the spiritual home of the Paralympics.

It was here that surgeon Sir Ludwig Guttmann first conceived the Paralympics to help the rehabilitation of those who had suffered physical disability during the Second World War.

A cauldron designed by local students and Festive Road, an outdoor arts company, will be used for the ceremony on August 19.

"This specially commissioned piece of work has now been completed and the cauldron will be an integral part of the ceremony and wider heritage celebration event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Torch Relay and future Paralympic Torch Relays," Buckinghamshire County Council cabinet member Clive Harriss said.

"It’s fantastic that we are able to recognise and celebrate Buckinghamshire as the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement with another Paralympic Heritage Flame lighting ceremony."

Although the Torch Relay for the Paralympic Games is of much shorter duration, the state of emergency and anti-coronavirus measures have prompted Tokyo city authorities to conduct it off-road in similar fashion to the Olympic Torch Relay.

"We had planned to hold the Paralympic Torch Relay in Tokyo with some 700 torchbearers," Tokyo Metropolitan Government official Koichi Osakabe told Agence France Presse.

"Because of the state of emergency, we decided not to do the relay on public roads."

The relay is set to take place from August 17 to 24 and will take place through the areas set to stage events at the Games.