To provide a light emitting element that can extract substantially all the light emitted from a luminous layer structure to the outside, a GaN substrate and a luminous layer structure are formed by growing III nitride compound semiconductor on a sapphire substrate that is a growth substrate. Thereafter, the sapphire substrate is lifted off and minute irregularities are formed on the exposed GaN substrate. The pitch of irregularities is shorter than the wavelength of light emitted from the luminous layer structure.