Gromwell-root purple, the top of the court color hierarchy.
In the 603 cap-rank system purple sat above all other colors, and 'forbidden colors' (kinjiki) rules kept deep murasaki off unauthorized shoulders for centuries. The dye plant murasaki (gromwell) is so difficult that the medieval technique was lost and revived more than once; the novelist we call Murasaki Shikibu took her name from the color's prestige — and from her heroine.
The Engishiki — the court regulations completed in 927 — records exactly what the palace dyehouse was allotted to dye this color. Quantities are per bolt of cloth; units are left in the original (1 kin ≈ 600 g, 1 shō ≈ 0.7 L in later standards — Heian equivalents are debated).
The Engishiki also gives scaled quantities for: 1 bolt of plain silk · 1 bolt of ra gauze · 1 bolt of twisted sha gauze · 1 bolt of silk for resist-dyeing · 1 skein of silk thread · 1 bolt of fine hemp cloth · 1 bolt of kudzu cloth.
浅紫綾一疋、〈綿紬・糸紬・東絁亦同、〉紫草五斤、酢二升、灰五斗、薪六十斤、帛一疋、紫草五斤、酢一升五合、灰五斗、薪六十斤、羅一疋、〈用度同帛、〉絞紗一疋、紫草五斤、酢六合、灰一斗二升、薪六十斤、纈帛一疋、紫草五斤、酢一升、灰二斗五升、薪六十斤、糸一絇、紫草五斤、酢三合、灰一斗、薪三十斤、貲布一端、紫草七斤、酢八合、灰一斗八升、薪六十斤、葛布一端、紫草七斤、酢六合、灰一斗五升、薪六十斤、
Text: 『デジタル延喜式』校訂文（縫殿寮）, National Museum of Japanese History · 1900 printed edition (NDL)
Complementary and triadic companions, chosen from real traditional colors — not computed values.
ムラサキ 紫草 — what the name literally points to.
