A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium without flagella, designated SCIV07T, was isolated from soya bean rhizosphere soil collected from Bazhong, Sichuan Province, PR China and characterized by using polyphasic taxonomy. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SCIV07T belonged to the genus Flavobacterium and most closely related to the type strains Flavobacterium chungangense LMG 26729T (97.91 %), Flavobacterium reichenbachii LMG 25512T (97.77 %), Flavobacterium oncorhynchi CCUG 59446T (97.7 %), Flavobacterium chilense LMG 26360T (97.7 %) and Flavobacterium plurextorum CCUG 60112T (97.63 %). The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain SCIV07T and closely related Flavobacterium species were lower than thresholds of 95 and 70 %, respectively, for species delineation. Catalase and oxidase were positive. Strain SCIV07T produced flexirubin-type pigments. Menaquinone-6 was the sole respiratory quinone. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified lipids. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3OH and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω6c/C16 : 1 ω7c). Physiological and biochemical features differentiated strain SCIV07T from the closely related Flavobacterium species. Based on the polyphasic taxonomic data, strain SCIV07T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium , for which the name Flavobacterium soyae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SCIV07T (=GDMCC 1.2481T=JCM 34673T).