Japanese Blue and Green #24_ The Edo Period (Part 3)

Japanese Blue and Green #24

In the previous article, we examined the conception of "青 (Ao)" through the mid-Edo period. Its usage remained much as before: the term still centered on the green range, showing no inclination to drift toward blue.

This article turns to "Ao" in the late Edo period. It was originally planned as a single article, but the material expanded considerably. During this period, the same Dutch word surfaced simultaneously in two utterly different domains, and this convergence would profoundly shape the conception of "Ao" that followed. The matter deserves careful examination.

The Trajectory of "緑 (Midori)"

Although green-range colors had appeared frequently in our discussion, we have not addressed the usage of "緑 (Midori)" itself since our article on the Heian period. Here, we will first consider what "Midori" meant during the Edo period. Most occurrences of "Midori" refer not to a color but to vegetation — to grass and trees — and this tendency became even more pronounced in the Edo period. It is the same usage we find today in expressions like "this area has plenty of Midori."

Meanwhile, color names within the green range proliferated: "萌黄色 (Moegi-iro)," "草色 (Kusa-iro)," "柳色 (Yanagi-iro)," "若草色 (Wakakusa-iro)," "苗色 (Nae-iro)," "鶯色 (Uguisu-iro)," "木賊色 (Tokusa-iro)," "山葵色 (Wasabi-iro)," and many more. Yet color names actually containing the character 緑 remained few — only a handful, such as "若緑 (Waka-midori)," born in the Heian period, and "千歳緑 (Senzai-midori)," born in the Edo period.

In these names, "緑 (Midori)" functions as a modifier, and its meaning leans more toward "leaves" than toward "green." In the case of "若緑 (Waka-midori)," this is straightforward: "若" means "young." As for "千歳緑 (Senzai-midori)," it denotes the color of the evergreen pine, and likely carries both senses at once: "leaves that persist over a long span" and "a green that endures over a long span." The pine, uniquely, is consistently described in terms of "Midori," and the expression "the color of the pine is '青 (Ao)'" is rarely used. Perhaps because its green is so deep.

As we noted in our discussion of Izumi Shikibu's Midori, there is no doubt that "Midori" had already become a color term as well. Even so, it seems to have been treated somewhat differently from how it is today.

Many of the green-range color names from the Edo period appear in writings produced by professionals who worked with color — pottery, textiles, painting. Moreover, most of them appear in compound forms like "若緑 (waka-midori)." Outside of "本草書 (Honzōsho: encyclopedic texts)," it is difficult to find any instance where the standalone term "Midori" unambiguously designates a color. Nor does it seem to function as a color-group term that gathers various shades under the heading of "the green range."

More than twenty dyeing manuals survive from the Edo period, yet only eight green-range color names appear among them: "鶸色 (Hiwa-iro)," "鶸萌黄 (Hiwa-moegi)," "花萌葱 (Hana-moegi)," "萌黄 (Moegi)," "木賊 (Tokusa)," "草柳 (Kusa-yanagi)," "浦和柳 (Urawa-yanagi)," and "鶯色 (Uguisu-iro)." There may well have been an awareness of these as members of the green family, yet the character "緑" itself does not appear. Perhaps its recognition as a color name was too thin to make it useful for description.

In Honzōsho such as "大和本草 (Yamato Honzō)" and "本草綱目啓蒙 (Honzō Kōmoku Keimō)," there are cases where plants and animals are described as "緑色 (Midori-iro)." However, these are notations drawn from Chinese sources, and likely do not reflect the authors' own perception.

For instance, in the entry on "katabami (wood sorrel)" in the Yamato Honzō, we find: "葉ノ色青ト紫ト二種アリ" — "There are two kinds, distinguished by leaf color: "青 (Ao)" and "紫 (Murasaki: purple)."

wood sorrel

Indeed, two such varieties can be observed. One might wish for "緑 (Midori)" to be used here, yet in the author's own expression, "青 (Ao)" is what appears.

Meanwhile, in the entry on "ingen-mame (kidney bean)" in the Edo-period dictionary "Wakun no Shiori" (compiled by Tanigawa Kotosuga), we find the description "あをみどり大きし (Ao-Midori ōkishi)" — "the 'Ao-Midori' ones are large." To indicate the color of the kidney bean, the author does not use "Midori" alone, but rather the compound form "Ao-Midori." This, I believe, differs in meaning from the modern "青緑 (Ao-midori)" that denotes "an intermediate between blue and green."

kidney bean

Looking at this, "Midori" alone should clearly have sufficed. Perhaps the author felt that "Midori" by itself could not adequately specify the hue, or even that it would fail to come across as a color description at all. Since the dictionary contains no entry for "Ao-midori," this is most likely a case of apposition or qualification. In Honzōsho, when describing colors, we frequently encounter constructions such as "青くして碧なり (ao kushite heki nari)" or "青にしてやや蒼し (ao ni shite yaya sō shi)," where the broader color domain of "青 (Ao)" is first established, and then the specific variety is qualified within it. This is precisely a concrete illustration: "ao kushite heki nari" means "碧 (Heki/ Midori), a specific color within the broader color group of 青 (Ao)," and "ao ni shite yaya sō shi" means "a slightly 蒼 (Sou/ Ao)-tinted color within the broader color group of 青 (Ao)."

Also, looking up "みどり (Midori)" in this dictionary, we find: "緑翠をよめり" — meaning that both the characters "緑" and "翠" are read as "midori." This is clearly not a case of apposition or qualification, but simply a note that both characters share the same reading. The entry continues: "緑色の紅毛語ぐろうんといふ" — "the term for '緑色 (Midori-iro)' in '紅毛語 (kōmōgo)' is 'guroun.'" "紅毛語" here refers to Dutch. Since "groen" corresponds to the English "green," the description as a color is accurate.

Furthermore, the explanation that "the term for '緑色 (Midori-iro)' in '紅毛語 (kōmōgo)' is 'guroun'" suggests that the author recognized a distinction between "緑" and "翠." In explaining "みどり (midori)," the author did not write "the term for 'midori' is 'green,'" but deliberately wrote "緑色 = green." This implies that he must have known "翠" was not "green." "翠" is the color of the kingfisher, named after "翡翠 (hisui: jadeite)," and its hue ranges from blue-green to green. In other words, the author held the knowledge that "while the kingfisher's color is conventionally called 'Midori,' it does not appear to be 'green.'" This means that, in a certain sense, the definition of "緑 (Midori)" had been established.

It is still difficult to say that "Midori" had fully taken root as a complete color name in general usage. Even so, with the arrival of color perception from a language other than Chinese, one can say that its hue range had become defined to a certain degree.

"ベロ藍 (Prussian Blue)"

In the eighteenth century, a vivid blue pigment was imported into Japan from Europe — Prussian Blue, known in Japanese as "ベロ藍 (bero-ai)." For the first time, the Japanese encountered a brilliant, transparent blue unlike anything they had seen before. Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) used it abundantly in his "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," as did Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) in his "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō," and through these works the vivid blue reached the eyes of ordinary people directly. Single-color prints in bero-ai became enormously popular. "奢侈禁止令 (The sumptuary laws)," which restricted the colors permitted in nishiki-e prints, also seem to have given this trend an additional push.

"Kyōto: Sanjō Ōhashi," from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō"

(Image: Tokyo Fuji Art Museum)

This synthetic blue pigment was accidentally discovered by a German alchemist in 1704, and was introduced to Japan by 平賀源内 (Hiraga Gennai). In his "物類品隲 (Butsurui Hinshitsu)" (1763), Hiraga Gennai introduced this pigment under the name "Beirenburāu," derived from the Dutch "Berlijns blaauw" (meaning "Berlin blue"). From this, names such as "Beroriin," "Beru," and "Bero" became established among print publishers and printers. The earliest documented use in Japan dates to 1763, in 伊藤若冲 (Itō Jakuchū)'s painting of a "ruri-hata (whitespotted grouper)." Its use in ukiyo-e prints is said to have begun around 1830.

Initially imported from both the Netherlands and China, this blue pigment came to be supplied largely from China once domestic production began there. Goods from China were labeled with terms such as "唐口紺青 (tōguchi konjō)." Subsequently, the equation "紺青 (konjō) = Prussian Blue" took hold in Japan, and "紺青" remains the pigment name for bero-ai to this day.


葛飾北斎 (Katsushika Hokusai) wrote in "絵本彩色通 (Ehon Saishikitsū)" (1848): "There are various kinds of 'Bero' — Koi-Bero (deep Bero), Sora-iro Bero (sky-blue Bero), and Asagi Bero (light blue-green Bero)." It is striking that he expressed gradations of Bero-ai using existing color names such as "空色 (Sora-iro)" and "浅葱 (Asagi)." This book introduces painting techniques, and the color names that catch the eye are "赤 (Aka)," "紅 (Kurenai)," "藍 (Ai)," "緑 (Midori)," "そらいろ (Sora-iro)," and "紺 (Kon)." The character "青" rarely appears. The instances of "青" that I could confirm number only four: "岩紺青 (Iwa-konjō)," "石青ベロ (Sekisei-Bero)," "緑青 (Rokushō)," and "青毛 (Ao-ge)."

"Iwa-konjō" refers to the traditional pigment "金青 (Konjō / 藍銅鉱: azurite)." With the arrival of Prussian Blue, "Konjō" or "花紺青 (Hana-konjō)" came to denote Bero-ai, while the natural pigment azurite was distinguished as "Iwa-konjō." "Sekisei-Bero" is said to be a slightly paler shade of Bero-ai, of an Asagi tone. "Rokushō" is itself a pigment material. None of these, then, offer useful reference for our purposes.

As for "Ao-ge," it referred to the fur of the karajishi (the Chinese mythical lion).

Katsushika Hokusai, "絵本彩色通 (Ehon Saishikitsū)"

(Image: National Diet Library Digital Collections)

The book explains how to paint images such as the one shown below. The lion on the right is by Hokusai himself.

Kanō Eitoku, "唐獅子図 (Karajishi-zu)" (detail)	Katsushika Hokusai, "唐獅子図 (Karajishi-zu)"

The bluish coat of the lion on the left in "唐獅子図 (Karajishi-zu)" by 狩野永徳 (Kanō Eitoku) is what was called "Ao-ge." This sense recalls Oguri Cap, which we introduced in "青馬 (Ao-uma), 青駒 (Ao-koma)." The accompanying instructions mention applying white and Midori, and using Bero, but here too the character "青" does not appear.


Even in the popular advertisements issued by the publisher of "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," the expression used was "藍摺一枚 (ai-zuri ichi-mai: a single sheet of indigo print)," and the works were not described in terms of "青." Following this trend, it seems likely that "Bero-ai" would eventually have reached even the common people under that name.

Katsushika Hokusai, "冨嶽三十六景 神奈川沖浪裏 (Fugaku Sanjūrokkei: Kanagawa-oki Nami-ura)"
(Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Was there no one who looked at it and thought, "Now this is 'Ao'"? Hiraga Gennai had introduced it as "Berlin Blue," and goods labeled with the characters "紺青" had spread under the name "Bero-ai." Given this, it seems that many people did indeed perceive it not as "青" but as "藍."

In the 1830 edition of "Wakun no Shiori," the explanation of "あを (ao)" presents only the following examples:

桃花襲 (tōka-gasane) — a "kasane no irome (layered color scheme based on plants)"
青梅 (ao-ume) — unripe green plum
松葉紙 (matsuba-gami) — the color of pine needles, that is, green
青草 (ao-kusa) — literally green grass
青草束 (ao-kusa-taba), from the "神代紀 (Jindai-ki)" — the same as above

Only the colors of plants appear here. This represents the conception of color at precisely the time of ukiyo-e prints, and yet the blue range is entirely absent.

Even the pigment name "Konjō" suggests this: since the core of "Ao" still lay in the green range, one had to shift toward "紺 (Kon, dark indigo)" in order to indicate blue. After all, "青" was never going to follow the same path as "緑."
With blue being "藍" and green being "青," this state of affairs resembles the color perception of present-day Chinese people. (See "Japanese Blue and Green #11.")
It is genuinely complex that, during the very period when foreign languages other than Chinese were entering Japan, the perception nonetheless drew closer to the Chinese one. The evolution of words is truly intricate.

Summery

In the dictionaries of the time, we have been able to confirm the existence of the equation "緑色 (Midori-iro)= groen." When this correspondence was first established remains unclear, but it was likely the natural result of straightforward research — pointing at actual plants and trees in the presence of the Dutch residents in Nagasaki. Even so, "Midori" still carried "leaves" as its primary sense in general usage, and had yet to take root as a hue term.

What dramatically transformed the color experience of ordinary people was Bero-ai. The vivid "blaauw" pigment arrived and swept the age, yet it does not seem to have been called "青" on its own. As the entry for "あを (ao)" in "Wakun no Shiori" makes clear, people's "青" still had its core firmly in the green range.

And yet, during this very same period, "blaauw" was making its appearance in an entirely different domain as well. "The Edo Period (Part 4)" will follow that development. Stay tuned.