Solar flare observations with the Hard X‐ray Telescope (HXT) on boardYohkohare briefly reviewed with an attention to the impulsive phase. Hard X‐rays in the impulsive phase are typically emitted from three sources, namely, two ‘‘footpoint sources’’ and a ‘‘loop‐top source’’, with the former pair usually predominating over the latter. The double footpoint sources vary their fluxes simultaneously to each other with time lags less than a few tenths of a second, and are located in or near the chromosphere at magnetically conjugate footpoints, i.e., at the two ends of a flaring loop seen in soft X‐rays. The loop‐top source is a coronal source, located at an altitude of more than 104km above the photosphere. At least in some cases, this source is located well above the apex of the corresponding soft X‐ray loop; this source may be better named ‘‘above‐the‐loop‐top source’’. Implications of these and related observations are discussed for revealing the site(s) and mechanism(s) of magnetic energy release, particle acceleration, and energy transport in solar flares. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.