Japanese Colors
Colors / Pink in Japan

Pink in Japan

Japanese pinks are botanical: cherry blossom, peach, plum, dianthus. Most are dilutions of safflower dye, and their names read like a spring calendar. Sakura-iro, the palest, was already a poetic cliché a thousand years ago.

Kawazu cherry trees in full pink bloom along the river
The Hitome Senbonzakura cherry rows along the Shiroishi river
Red plum blossoms against Mount Fuji
Pink in Japan

14 named colors, dark to light:

葡萄色/海老色 Ebiiro 紅赤 Beniaka 薔薇色 Barairo 唐棣色 Hanezuiro 薄色 Usu-iro 桃色 Momo-iro 鴇色 Tokiiro 撫子色 Nadeshikoiro 退紅 Arazome 灰桜 Haizakura 石竹色 Sekichikuiro 白練 Shironeri 一斤染 Ikkonzome 桜色 Sakura-iro