Japanese Blue and Green #14 _ The latter part of the Nihon Shoki

Japanese Blue and Green #14

In my previous post, I introduced Kofun Murals, but when it comes to analyzing color names, we must rely on historical documents. However, from the Asuka period onward, the appearance of new colors tends to be biased toward descriptions found in the color ranking system

Since I covered up to the nineteen court cap ranks in posts #11 and #12, I will now examine the final entries in the Nihon Shoki to further explore the color ranking systems that followed.


◆ Color Ranking Systems of the 7th Century

First, I have organized the color ranking systems of the 7th century, beginning with the Twelve-Level Cap and Rank System.
They evolved as follows:

The Twelve-Level Cap and Rank System (603) → The Seven-Colored Thirteen-Tier Crown (647) → The Nineteen-Tier Crown System (649) → The Twenty-six Court Cap Ranks (664) → The Forty-eight Court Cap Ranks (685) → Empress Jitō's Edict (690)

Unfortunately, the description of the twenty-six court cap ranks does not include color names, but the forty-eight court cap ranks established by the 40th Emperor Tenmu do mention color names. Furthermore, although there is no official name for it, Empress Jitō issued an edict that appeared to revise the colors of the forty-eight court cap ranks, and this also contains color names. Let us examine the colors used in these two systems.

Let's look at the colors used in these two systems.


The Forty-eight Court Cap Ranks (Twelve Ranks for Royal Princes and Forty-eight Ranks for Court Officials)

This system established twelve ranks for royal princes above the regular forty-eight ranks for court officials. Let me list the colors starting from the highest ranks.

Royal Princes: 朱花 (yellowish light red)
Court Officials: 深紫 (deep purple), 浅紫 (light purple), 深緑 (deep green), 浅緑 (light green), 深蒲萄 (deep grape), 浅蒲萄 (light grape)

朱花 is pronounced 'Hanezu.' It is also written as 朱華 or 唐棣色.
This means that this color ranked higher than purple, but in the Nara period, a color called '黄丹(Ōni)' came to be used for the crown prince's garments. This color is still used today.

The recipe is basically the same for both colors - kuchinashi (gardenia) with benibana (safflower).

safflower	gardenia

Even today, the Japanese crown prince wears the "黄丹袍" (Ōni-no-hō: robe colored with 黄丹).

Wedding ceremony between Crown Prince Naruhito (His Majesty the Emperor) and Crown Princess Masako (Her Majesty the Empress) June 9, 1993

(Image: Ministry of Foreign Affairs website )


蒲萄 is pronounced "Ebisome" or "Ebizome" and represents the color of wild grapes. It is a reddish purple color. Also, 蒲萄 is the same as 葡萄 (grape). "Ebi" means shrimp. Because grape vines curl like shrimp whiskers, grapes were called "ebi." This results in such a color.

Empress Jitō's Edict

The system established by Emperor Tenmu was revised by the 41st Emperor, Empress Jitō.

Royal Princes: 黒紫 (black purple), 赤紫 (red purple)
Court Officials: 赤紫 (red purple), 緋 (scarlet), 深緑 (deep green), 浅緑 (light green), 深縹 (deep hanada), 浅縹 (light hanada)

The hierarchy of "purple, scarlet, green, hanada" - meaning "purple-red-green-blue" - appears to have returned to the order of The Nineteen-Tier Crown System. It seems that Empress Jitō felt there was some rationality in the color system of The Nineteen-Tier Crown System and followed it. Since purple and grape color during Emperor Tenmu's time were similar and must have been very difficult to distinguish, she may have secretly harbored dissatisfaction with this as his wife.

Note that this description marks the first appearance of "縹" (hanada_see here) in historical literature.

I have introduced two systems, but neither includes the designations "赤" (red) or "青" (blue). This trend has continued since The Nineteen-Tier Crown System.

In modern times, as long as no other similar colors are used, the places where "緋" (scarlet) or "朱" (vermillion) appear would likely be designated as "赤" (red), and the places where "縹" (hanada) appears would certainly become "青" (blue). This fact demonstrates that the nature of "赤" (red) and "青" (blue) as color group names was extremely strong.

Considering that both 緑 (green) and 縹 (hanada) were classified as 青 (blue) at that time, this would have been extremely natural. Neither 赤 (red) nor 青 (blue) were words that could be used when giving specific color instructions.

◆ "青" (Blue) in the 7th Century

Here I will introduce the instances of "青" (blue) from the 7th century that appear in the Nihon Shoki. The Nihon Shoki ends with the Chronicle of Empress Jitō.

青霧 ＿ Chronicle of Empress Kōgyoku (reign: 642-645)
青油笠 ＿ Chronicle of Empress Saimei (reign: 655-661)
御青飯 ＿ Chronicle of Empress Jitō (reign: 690-697)

青霧 (aokiri)

"青霧" (aokiri) literally means "blue fog" and appears to have been considered an ominous sign.

It is written that "blue fog was rising up all over the ground." Could this be something like Rayleigh scattering, which is known as the reason why the sky appears blue? Air molecules scatter short-wavelength blue and violet light, which is why distant mountains appear blue.

Fog cannot be completely blue, so it was probably something like this. When humidity is high, even with Rayleigh scattering, it should appear somewhat white.

Even in the 7th century, was this sense of '漠' (baku) still considered 青 (blue)?

In the descriptions following the 35th Emperor, Empress Kōgyoku's accession to the throne, nothing but bad events are listed one after another - bad weather, solar eclipses, massive insect outbreaks, fires, and turmoil in Baekje and Goguryeo - creating an atmosphere of unrest.

After that, in the second year of her reign, Prince Yamashiro no Ōe (son of Prince Shōtoku) committed suicide due to Soga no Iruka's conspiracy, and seven months later the Isshi Incident occurred, leading to the destruction of the main Soga family.

青油笠 (aoki aburaginu no kasa)

While it's not entirely clear what kind of item this was, 青油笠 (blue oil hat) is said to have been rain gear.

In the record for 655, when the 37th Emperor, Empress Saimei ascended to the throne, there suddenly appears a story about a person with Chinese-like features flying on a dragon while wearing this rain gear. An oil hat (aburagasa) appears to be a hat coated with oil, and it is said that in Tang China, waterproofing techniques using paulownia oil were well developed.

Empress Saimei was the same person as the aforementioned Empress Kōgyoku, who abdicated once following the Isshi Incident and then ascended to the throne again.

Empress Kōgyoku (Emperor Saimei)

San'ei-sha "御歴代百廿一天皇御尊影" PD

It's not clear what made this rain gear blue. It might have been a hat made from blue-dyed fabric, or perhaps the oil coating created a blue sheen.

This fantasy seems to have served as foreshadowing for Empress Saimei's death six years later. In 661, Empress Saimei herself traveled to present-day Fukuoka Prefecture to prepare for the war to restore Baekje, but she died just a few months later.

In the end, she had moved to a place called 朝倉橘広庭宮 (Asakura no Tachibana no Hironiwa no Miya), but it is written that "This palace was built by cutting down the trees of the Asakura shrine. Because of this, the gods became angry and destroyed the palace buildings with lightning. Also, ghostly fires appeared in the palace, and many people in the surrounding area died of illness."

Empress Saimei died the following month, and it is written that "a demon appeared on Mount Asakura, wearing a large hat and watching the funeral." This seems to be related to the "青油笠" (blue oil hat).

The Asakura shrine refers to the present-day 麻氐良布神社 (Materafu Jinja) in Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and it was probably wrong to cut down the trees of 麻氐良山 (Mount Madera), which serves as the shrine's sacred object. The text is using the mysterious demon to indicate that disturbing the sacred land was the cause of death.

Materafu Jinja (Kamimiya)	Mount Madera

The main deity of Materafu Jinja, which sits quietly at the mountain peak, is 伊弉諾尊 (Izanagi no Mikoto). Though it may not look it, this is a shrine listed in the Engishiki, but the current shrine buildings date from the Edo period.

During the Warring States period, 麻氐良城 (Madera Castle) was built here and became the front line of battle. Later, when the castle lord 秋月種実 (Akizuki Tanezane) surrendered to 豊臣秀吉 (Toyotomi Hideyoshi), the shrine grounds were confiscated and fell into ruin.

In the Nihon Shoki, there are also critical descriptions of Empress Saimei's successive palace constructions and massive canal construction projects. Negative descriptions regarding emperors are quite rare, but the chroniclers probably wanted to express their objection to involving so many citizens in these projects.

However, recent evaluations of Empress Saimei differ, and many researchers now view her as imaginative and far-sighted. The attribution of her cause of death is also questionable, and it seems there was a gender gap.

御青飯

This is pronounced "hijiki obono" and was one of the offerings presented at the 殯宮 (mogari no miya), the temporary palace where the emperor's body was placed after death.

The 40th Emperor Tenmu died in September 686, but until his burial in November 688, his body was kept in the mogari no miya, where ceremonial mourning rituals were regularly performed. The mention of 御青飯 (hijiki obono) appears in the record for August 687.

"hijiki obono" was probably something like "green vegetable rice." There is also a theory that it was rice served in blue dishes, but since celadon pottery is said to have been introduced around the 11th century, I think it's safe to consider this "青" as referring to the green of plants.

Emperor Tenmu was buried in the "大内陵" (Ōuchi-ryō), and Empress Jitō, who died in 702, was interred there with him the following year.

The tomb of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō Hinokuma no Ouchi no Misasagi

Asuka Village, Takaichi District, Nara Prefecture

Summary

This time I have traced the colors from the latter part of the Nihon Shoki. With this, "A Medley of Colors" has now covered most instances of blue up to the 7th century.

While the word 縹 (hanada) is hardly used today, I believe that hanada is closest to modern 青 (blue) as a color name.

Also, "青" (blue) in the 7th century felt more like a color group name rather than a specific color name. Since it does not appear in descriptions of systems that use colors, I think the breadth of the 青 (blue) color range was well understood.

Also, I felt that the 7th century term "blue" had more of the characteristics of a color group name than a color name. Since it does not appear in the descriptions of systems that used colors, I think the breadth of the blue color gamut was well understood.

Also, in this installment, "blue things" appeared as a means of suggestion. There existed meanings separate from the color itself, and "青" may have been convenient for expressing unsettling or ominous situations. It seems that the vague feeling of "漠" (baku) was still alive.