Himawarigumi

Himawarigumi (ひまわり組 / Sunflower Group) is a special unit in AKB48 and HKT48. The purpose of Himawarigumi is allow members from different teams of the group to perform in the same theater show.

AKB48

Himawarigumi was first created for AKB48 in May 2007. It was originally proposed at First Concert "Aitakatta ～Hashira wa Naize!～" in Nippon Seinenkan as two different groups, Baragumi and Yurigumi. The two groups were cancelled and made into one Himawarigumi in May 2007.

Himawarigumi would consist of members from Team A and Team K. No Team B members would participate, but 4th Generation Kenkyuusei would fill in as understudies. According to Akimoto Yasushi, the reason for shuffling members of Teams A and K together into one Himawarigumi theater show was to avoid the confrontational structure between teams and encourage members to improve their skills by learning and competing alongside each other. There was also hope of encouraging fans of exclusively Team A or Team K to learn about the other team's members.

AKB48 Himawarigumi debuted in July 2007 with Himawarigumi 1st Stage "Boku no Taiyou". The stage was made for 16 people. Because Team A and Team K had 32 members combined, Himawarigumi had two lineups: a 1st Lineup (main) and a 2nd Lineup (sub). The stage ran from July 2007 to November 2007.
Himawarigumi returned with their second stage Himawarigumi 2nd Stage "Yume wo Shinaseru Wake ni Ikanai". The stage ran from December 2007 to April 2008.

Himawarigumi was never revived after this. However, individual teams of AKB48 have revived the Himawarigumi stage setlists for their own theater shows. For example, see Team 4 1st Stage and Team 4 4th Stage.

HKT48

HKT48 Himawagiumi was created for HKT48 in November 2013. HKT48 Himawarigumi would consist of members from Team H, Team KIV, and Team TII. They debuted in November 2013 with HKT48 Himawarigumi 1st Stage "Pajama Drive". They would go on to be revived three times, holding three more stages.