White mouse and plain mouseAijiro (indigo white), Shironezumi (white mouse), Ginnezumi (silver-grey), Sunezumi (plain mouse), Kokushoku (black).
How this list was compiled: Every color name, English meaning and hex code on this list is from English Wikipedia, Traditional colors of Japan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_colors_of_Japan (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), read and checked on 2026-10-08: each romanized name stands once in the article's table with the code printed here, and each meaning is the article's English translation, shortened (Yamabuki-iro, golden yellow; Kōbai-iro, red plum). From the same article: Japan's traditional colors are a set of colors long used in Japanese art, in literature and textiles such as kimono; most of the names come from plants, flowers and animals; and because the system has been in use for a long time, some variations in color and names exist, so another list may give a name a slightly different code. Colors that the article names after a person or a family, and colors whose name stands twice in its table, are left out. Which five colors make a palette, the four groups and the name of each palette are our own: at least three of the five come from the series of the article that the group is named for (the red and red-violet series; the blue and blue-violet series; the yellow-green and green series; the yellow-red, yellow and achromatic series), and each strip runs from the lightest color to the darkest by WCAG relative luminance. Checked on 2026-10-08: no two colors of a palette are closer than 8 in CIE Lab, no two palettes share four codes, no palette or name repeats, and no palette is on another palette list of this site or of its sister sites. The hex codes are for a screen; with paint or pencils, take the nearest color. Licence: names, meanings and codes from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); the palettes are own work
How it works
Each Japanese color palette here gives every color its Japanese name, the meaning in English and the hex code. Names, meanings and codes are from Wikipedia's table; which five go together is our choice.
Read the full guide
Where the names come from
Most of the traditional colors of Japan are named after a plant, a flower or an animal: Sakura-iro is cherry blossom, Fuji-iro is wisteria, Uguisu-iro is the bush warbler. Lists vary a little, so another source may give a name another code.
Four groups of Japanese color palettes
The menu under the button keeps to reds and pinks, blues and indigos, greens, or browns, grays and golds. At least three of the five colors belong to the group; the others are there for contrast, such as Shu-iro, cinnabar, among the blues.
Questions and answers
What are the traditional colors of Japan?
Named colors long used in Japanese art, literature and textiles. Wikipedia's table sorts them into nine series: eight by hue, from red-violet through red, yellow, green and blue to violet, and an achromatic series of off-whites, grays and black.
Which Japanese colors go together?
Every five here were picked to sit apart on the strip, from a light to a dark. Try Cherry blossom and cochineal red: Sakura-iro, Momo-iro, Kōbai-iro and Enji-iro, with Sumi-iro, ink, as the dark.
Does a Japanese colour palette here give hex or RGB?
Hex. Under each palette stand the six-digit codes that Wikipedia's table prints beside the names, in the order of the strip. The table also gives red, green and blue values, which say the same thing in another form.