Japanese Blue and Green #11 Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory

Japanese Blue and Green #11

I took a detour to write articles about 'Aka' and "Chinu", but I'm now back to "青" (Ao).

Up until the Kojiki, plant colors were mainly described as 'Ao,' which had the meaning of: 　
'Ao' = greenish (blue to green) + grayish tones
However, from this point forward, we will examine color perception from the Kofun period onward and explore the evolution of the concept of 'Ao.'

◆ Introduction of Color Names in Chinese Characters from Baekje

According to the Nihon Shoki, during the reigns of Emperor Keitai (r. 507-531) and Emperor Kinmei (r. 539-571), several scholars came to Japan from Baekje to teach Chinese classics. This brought Confucianism to Japan, and along with it, Yin-Yang and Five Elements philosophy/ thoery is believed to have been transmitted.

Yin-Yang and Five Elements philosophy originated separately during China's Warring States period (5th century BCE to 221 BCE), with Yin-Yang thought and Five Elements theory combining during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE).

The Five Elements theory is strongly related to colors, based on the concept that all things consist of five basic elements: 火(fire), 水(water), 木(wood), 金(metal), and 土(earth).

These five elements each correspond to seasons, colors, and other aspects.
木(Wood) = Spring = 青(Blue)
火(Fire) = Summer = 赤(Red)
土(Earth) = Doyō* = 黄(Yellow)
金(Metal) = Autumn = 白(White)
水(Water) = Winter = 黒(Black)
 *Doyō: earth days= The 18 days just before the beginning of summer, autumn, winter, and spring

These colors - 青(blue), 赤(red), 黄(yellow), 白(white), and 黒(black) - are known as the Five Colors (五色, Goshiki) and form a color combination frequently encountered in Japan, such as in five-colored paper strips or carp streamers. In some contexts, like temple banners, 青(blue) appears as green and black may be represented as purple.

These diagrams are often used to explain the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory. 相生(Sōsei) represents a positive yang relationship where one element creates another, while 相剋(Sōkoku) represents a negative yin relationship where one element negates another.

In Japan, while the order in which the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory spread is unclear, I believe the acquisition of Chinese characters and understanding of color perception happened simultaneously. But could people accurately grasp these colors immediately after being taught?

It can be assumed they would have received explanations like "this color is 青(blue)," and then had to determine that "'Ao' = 青(blue)." I believe there must have been considerable overlap between what the Baekje people called "青(blue)" and the traditional Japanese 'Ao.'

I'm also curious about what happened to 'Ao' derived from 漠(Baku), but since we're discussing the Kofun period, there's no direct way to verify the discrepancies in perception from that time. We can only imagine based on later usage examples.

◆冠位十二階(Kan'i Jūni Kai): The Twelve Level Cap and Rank System

In the Asuka period, color perception likely developed further, and when we think of "Asuka period, colors," for us Japanese people, the 冠位十二階(Kan'i Jūni Kai) (established in 603 CE) comes to mind.
This was Japan's first formal court rank system, established by Prince Shōtoku in 603 CE. The system consisted of twelve ranks divided into two groups (Greater and Lesser), with each rank identified by a specific color cap worn by officials. This hierarchical structure was heavily influenced by Chinese concepts and was a significant step in organizing Japan's imperial bureaucracy.

There are two sources that describe the Kan'i Jūni Kai: the Nihon Shoki and the Sui Shu Wo Guo Zhuan (History of Japan in the Book of Sui). While these sources mention that the caps and garments were of the same color, unfortunately, they do not specify the color names.

However, there is a prominent theory that has existed since the Edo period suggesting the colors were based on "6 colors" (the Five Elements' colors plus purple) × "2 shades" (light and dark/deep) = 12 colors. Explanations like the diagram below are commonly seen.

The Nihon Shoki records that the cap ranks were named using combinations of "Greater/Lesser" × "徳(Toku), 仁(Jin), 礼(Rei), 信(Shin), 義(Gi), 智(Chi)" for a total of 12 types. The five elements "仁(Jin), 礼(Rei), 信(Shin), 義(Gi), 智(Chi)" (excluding "徳(Toku)") are known as the Five Constants (五常, Gojō), which represent the five core virtues in Confucian morality.

I'll translate the meanings of these virtues:
徳(Toku): Virtue - The general concept of moral excellence and goodness
仁(Jin): Benevolence - Compassion and kindness toward others
礼(Rei): Propriety/Ritual - Proper social behavior and ceremonial observance
信(Shin): Integrity/Faith - Trustworthiness and honesty in one's actions and words
義(Gi): Righteousness - Moral uprightness and justice
智(Chi): Wisdom - Intelligence and knowledge applied with good judgment

In the Five Elements theory, all things correspond to 火(fire), 水(water), 木(wood), 金(metal), and 土(earth), so various sets of five elements exist. Since they are arranged in the "order of mutual generation" (相生, Sōsei), their sequence cannot be altered.

As you can see from the columns of the Five Constants and Five Colors, the prominent theory about the Kan'i Jūni Kai simply adds "徳(Toku)-Purple" to this arrangement. It does indeed seem to fit well.

However, the concept of "Light white" seems forced, and it should be difficult to make intuitive distinctions without having colors arranged in a sequence like white → light gray → dark gray → black. Considering the risk of color fading, I think the actual system probably wasn't as described in the earlier chart.

Also, since 青(blue) corresponds to "spring and wood," I think green would be more natural, but what was it actually like? The issue of blue and green always follows us.



◆Chinese "青" and Japanese "青"

In ancient China, it is believed that there was no clear conceptual distinction between blue and green colors, and similar to ancient Japan, all of these colors were apparently referred to as "青".

In modern times, the "wood" element in the Five Elements theory would probably be represented by "緑" instead of "青," but if only "青" was used when this philosophy was established, there's no helping it.

Indeed, the "青" in the Five Elements theory refers to green. While they likely already understood "緑(green)," the scholars from Baekje would have pointed to forests and leaves while writing the character "青" to explain the "青 of the Five Colors."

Naturally, I think it made sense for them to initially interpret "青" with the reading 'Ao.' After all, in Japan too, this color encompassed the spectrum ranging from blue to green.

However, later the character "緑" also arrived. We don't know exactly when this happened, but if it came shortly after defining "Ao = 青," it would have caused considerable confusion.


Here, I'll organize our reasoning using English color terms as well. I've imagined the transition in color perception from the introduction of the Five Elements theory to the present.

In China, "藍(indigo)" was also established as a color from ancient times, so it is believed that the perception of colors was similar to what is shown above at that time. The color "青" is used to describe a clear sky. However, I've heard that in classical literature, there are many examples where 'almost black' is referred to as "青," so the color on the far right of the table might have been "青."

While we don't know exactly how the Baekje scholars explained it, the result was simply that the character "青" was assigned to the traditional 'Ao,' as shown in the table below. This preserved the traditional Japanese 'Ao.'

While we are unsure about the exact timing, I believe that blue and green were classified in this way sometime during the 7th century, before the 8th century began. However, since people had been calling the entire range 'Ao' since ancient times, I don't think they could immediately abandon this habit just because "緑" appeared. More fundamentally, how many people could even read Chinese characters? Regardless of how colors were officially defined, it was irrelevant to those who couldn't access this information.

Therefore, the traditional 'Ao' must have remained for a long time after the introduction of color perception concepts, independent of those new definitions. Terms like "青野菜(Ao vegetables)" are remnants of this. The "漠(Baku) Ao" might have also persisted among common people. Even if the court, powerful clans, and nobility were using the redefined "青," I believe it had little impact on everyday people unless they were involved in dyeing.

I believe the current understanding of color perception in both Japan and China looks something like this:

In Chinese, expressions often change based on meaning rather than color, which makes it complicated, but it feels like blue and green basically cover the same range.

Nevertheless, despite having learned from China, Japan developed quite a different perception. While Japanese "青" continues to become more subdivided, "青" as a color category name still lives on. I think most people would feel comfortable considering "藍/紺" as part of the "blue family." You could say the traditional 'Ao' still survives.


Nevertheless, the Chinese character "青" is difficult to understand. Chinjao rosu is written as "青椒肉絲", but "青椒" refers to green bell peppers. Stir-fried Chinese greens is "炒青菜", where "青菜" mainly refers to bok choy. It seems like "green for plants" is the pattern, but when translating from Japanese to Chinese, translation software converts "青野菜" to "绿色蔬菜(green vegetables)." It feels as though Japan has actually preserved more of the traditional "plant blue" concept than China has.

青椒肉絲	炒青菜

◆Summary

In this article, we explored the prominent theory about the Kan'i Jūni Kai colors.

While the outcome depends on the color perception of the Baekje scholars, I'm taking the position that "the '青' in the Five Elements theory was green, and the Baekje scholars presented it as such" and "the caps described as '青' in the Kan'i Jūni Kai must have been green."

Although we don't know how quickly the Five Colors came into widespread use, the introduction of the Five Elements theory undoubtedly influenced subsequent Japanese culture. The appearance of "黄" (yellow), which hadn't existed before, is a symbolic event of this influence.


In the next article, let's examine the subsequent cap rank systems. From this period onward, many more color names begin to appear, so please look forward to it.