Colors à la Carte: Japanese Blue and Green #5 'Aka' in the Kojiki (Part 1)

Japanese Blue and Green #5

While I have introduced most instances of 'Ao' appearing in the Kojiki in previous discussions, before moving on to a different era, I would like to examine the 'Aka' family as well.

In the Kojiki, three types of 'Aka' appear: 赤(red), 紅(crimson), and 丹(vermillion).
Since both 紅(crimson) and 丹(ni, vermillion) can be read as 'Aka' in Japanese reading (kunyomi), it's possible that in the pre-writing era, these colors were passed down in oral tradition simply as 'Aka', and different Chinese characters were assigned to them according to context during compilation. Therefore, I would like to examine how these color terms were used while paying attention to their readings as well.

◆赤(red/Aka)

First, let's look at several instances of 赤(red) that appear in the Kojiki. Examples where 赤(red) is used purely as a color are as follows:

  ●赤加賀智(Akakagachi)..."Hozuki" (Japanese lantern plant)
  ●赤海鯽魚(Akachinu)...referring to red-colored fish of the sea bream family (primarily understood as Pagrus major)
  ●赤色楯矛(Akaironotatehoko)...red shield and spear
  ●赤幡(Akahata)...red banner raised during battle

The colors of "Hozuki" and red seabream are easy to verify.

赤加賀智/赤酸醤(Akakagachi) is referred to as "Hozuki" even with just "kagachi." Therefore, "Akakagachi" means either "red Hozuki" or "ripened red Hozuki."

Since it appears as a metaphor for the eyes of Yamata no Orochi (the eight-headed serpent in the Kojiki mythology), it undoubtedly refers to the "fruit." The prefix 赤(red) was likely added as an explanation since there are periods when the fruit is not yet ripe.

The fruit of the native Japanese "Hozuki" has a red color similar to cherry tomatoes.
The description of it being 赤(red) is entirely accurate.

However, I found a slightly different claim. There is a species called Mejiro-hozuki (Lycianthes biflora), and its fruit is an even deeper crimson color. Unlike the well-known hōzuki, its calyx does not envelop the fruit in that style. It is said to be a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae).

There was an opinion that the reason for adding 赤(red) to "kagachi," despite "kagachi" alone meaning hōzuki, might have been because of Mejiro-hozuki.

Lycianthes biflora

Ah, now that you mention it, I'm starting to think that might be the case.
Those are truly bright red eyes, aren't they?


By the way, was "Madai"(red sea bream) really called "Akachinu"(Aka+chinu, meaning 'red chinu')? Since "chinu" is the Kansai regional name for black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii), this suggests that red seabream was recognized as a red variety of black sea bream. This is quite interesting. It's also surprising to learn that the term "chinu" existed as far back as the Nara period.

Regarding the color of red sea bream, I experimented by randomly extracting colors from the fish body portions of the two images below, avoiding whitish areas, and searched for their color names.

Madai A	Madai B

Among the many color name candidates, I've narrowed them down to 2 names that I felt were the closest match.

Maiden color, Gray cherry blossoms	聴色, 薄紅梅	Washed persimmon, One loaf dyed
Water persimmon,退紅	Red plum color, Light crimson	Pink, Peach Blossom
甚三紅, Begonia	Persimmon color, Carrot color	Shrimp red, Cardinal

Dawn color, Indian red	Peach color, 薄紅梅	Faded scarlet,真赭
Pale scarlet, Begonia	赤蘇芳, Chestnut plum brown	浅蘇芳, Strawberry color
蘇芳, Dark red	Tang tea, henna	Chestnut plum,紅殻色

I've translated traditional Japanese color names into English wherever possible, but those that couldn't be translated remain in their original kanji characters.


The darker colors like Shrimp red, Tang tea, and Chestnut-plum represent the colors near the head area.

The colors of living creatures are complex. These colors together make up the color of a sea bream. Vision is truly fascinating. When lined up, they look like cosmetics.

I researched to see which color names were more prevalent, but there wasn't as much overlap as I expected. However,  紅(crimson) and 蘇芳(suou) appear multiple times.

I'll introduce more about 紅(crimson) later. Meanwhile 蘇芳(suou) was actually a plant name. It is native to India and Malaysia. It was introduced to Japan during the Nara period.

花蘇芳(Cercis chinensis)
 
(Photo courtesy of: 庭木図鑑植木ペディア)

While its flowers are pink, the heartwood contains red components that, when fixed in alkaline conditions, produce the 蘇芳(suou) color. This color is very close to 臙脂(dark brown).

Initially, I couldn't make the connection between fish and 臙脂(dark brown), but if I had looked at this color without any preconceptions, I would have certainly identified it as 臙脂(dark brown).

There's no "ordinary red" among the colors extracted from the image, and if anything, it leans more towards pink, yet we still think of red sea bream as 赤(red).

In this case 赤(red) is still the appropriate descriptor. Since it's "red Chinu" in contrast to "black Chinu," there's no need to include any color information beyond indicating that it belongs to the red spectrum.

Later, as color vocabulary became richer, spawning red sea bream came to be expressed as "sakura-dai" (cherry blossom sea bream). Relatively young spring red sea bream are pink, like Madai A.


Even in modern times, 赤(red) remains as distinctive as 青(blue). And this definition comes from a modern Japanese dictionary, not a classical one - just to be clear.

While all colors naturally have some range within their corresponding hue, the range of 赤(red) is particularly broad. One could say that 赤(red) is more subdivided than other colors. In any case, there seems to be quite a variety of 赤(red) shades.

However, despite this broad range, for most people brown and red are entirely different things. Also, while we recognize pink as belonging to the red family, we rarely perceive a plain pink surface as part of the red spectrum. In other words, while '赤'(red) serves as the name for a large color group, it is simultaneously used as a color name for a somewhat narrower range of colors.

In the era depicted in the Kojiki, not only brown but even yellow belonged to the 'Aka' color group, which could lead to significant misunderstandings. While we need to set aside preconceptions and consider this carefully, it's absolutely certain that both "Akakagachi" and "Akachinu" align with our modern understanding of 赤(red).

Let me highlight one more example of 赤(red): the 赤色楯矛(Akaironotatehoko).
This literally means red shields and spears, and it appears in a story about a pandemic. Let me outline the main narrative, incorporating the account from the Nihon Shoki as well.

During the reign of the 10th Emperor Sujin, who is said to have ascended to the throne in 660 B.C., there was a devastating plague that claimed more than half of the population. One night, as the troubled Emperor Sujin slept, Omonushi-no-Okami appeared in his dream and declared, "I am responsible for this. If you have Otataneko worship me, the disease will cease, and the country will find peace."

The emperor had this Otataneko sought out and asked him, "Who are you?" It was revealed that he was a descendant of Omonushi-no-Okami. The Emperor was extremely pleased and had Otataneko enshrine Omonushi-no-Okami, which is said to be the beginning of Omiwa Jinja (also introduced in Japanese Blue and Green #3).
In other words, Otataneko became the first chief priest of Omiwa Jinja.

Furthermore, the emperor ordered that 赤色楯矛 / 赤盾八枚・赤矛八竿 (red shields eight pieces and red spears eight poles) be dedicated to "Sumisaka-no-Kami," and black shields eight pieces and black spears eight poles be dedicated to "Osaka-no-Kami." It is said that only after these actions were carried out did the plague finally subside. According to the Nihon Shoki, these instructions were also received through the oracle of Omonushi-no-Okami.

"Sumisaka-no-Kami" refers to the present-day Sumisaka Jinja in Uda, while "Osaka-no-Kami" refers to Osaka-Yamaguchi-Jinja located on the border between Nara and Osaka prefectures. These two locations were apparently important traffic checkpoints at the time, which makes this oracle seem very reasonable in terms of preventing the spread of the plague.

In response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Sumisaka Jinja displayed the red shields eight pieces and the red spears eight poles, which have been continuously used and maintained, in the Haiden. They also conducted a "Prayer Ritual for Recovery from Novel Coronavirus."

This shows their sense of responsibility as Japan's oldest Kami of health.

The shields and spears can be seen in the image above. These can also be properly described as 赤(red). Compared to the flags attached to the spears, the red of the shields appears to use a distinctive type of paint.


Incidentally, regarding the 赤幡(Akahata), while there were no hints about their color, they were distinguished as "cords of 丹(ni)" and "flags of 赤(red)." The word 丹(ni) will be introduced in 'Aka' in the Kojiki (Part 2).

 While this word appeared in the previous article , in the phrase "Garment with 'Aozuri', graced with 紅(crimson) cords," this is the only occurrence of 紅(crimson) in the Kojiki.

The source material for 紅(crimson) is the safflower plant benibana(紅花).



From this flower, the red component is extracted and used as a dye.

At the Makimuku ruins in Nara Prefecture, a large amount of safflower pollen has been excavated from a ditch dating to the mid-3rd century. This indicates that safflower, including the extraction method, had been introduced to Japan by at least this period. Since the reign of Emperor Nintoku was from the end of the 4th century to the first half of the 5th century, we can now say that there is no chronological inconsistency in the expression "紅(crimson) cords," as first confirmed by the excavation of the Makimuku site.


First, before discussing the color tone, there is a question of how to read these "紅紐"(crimson cords). While there is no consensus even in modern Japanese translations, "akahimo" seems to be the most common reading.

Since it appears that the word 'Beni' did not exist in this period, the reading of 紅(crimson) would have been either 'Kurenai' or 'Aka.'

As for what 'Benibana' was called then, I found that there was a transition in its name:
呉の藍(kure no ai) - 呉藍(kureai) - くれなゐ(Kurenai)
This shows that this plant was originally called 'Kurenai.'

This 呉(kure) refers to 呉(Wu) of the Wei, Wu, and Shu kingdoms famous in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. Thus, the excavation at the Makimuku ruins conclusively shows that safflower was introduced from Wu in the mid-3rd century.
It is surprising that such diplomatic relations existed long before the reign of Emperor Nintoku, and the research value of the Makimuku ruins is truly remarkable.

From the above, even though the expression 'Akai' may have emerged by the Nara period, it is highly likely that the reading of 紅(crimson) during the reign of Emperor Nintoku was either 'Kureai' or 'Kurenai.'

However, it is unclear whether 紅(crimson) was used as a complete color name meaning "the color 'Kurenai'." It may have simply included information about the dye, meaning "dyed with kureai"(Wu dye).

This suggests that while 紅紐(crimson cord) was intended to be pronounced as 'Akahimo'(= red cord), the character "紅"(crimson) was deliberately chosen (instead of the more common "赤"=red) to convey information about the raw material used for dyeing. There is a significant difference between the color named 'Kurenai' and the color made with 'Kurenai.'

While I think about 70% of evidence points to it being "the color named 'Kurenai'," in either case, there is no problem with reading it as "kurenai no himo" (cords of 'Kurenai').

Below I present three possible color candidates for the 紅(crimson) of 紅紐(crimson cords).

薄紅(Light crimson)	中紅(Medium crimson)	紅(Crimson)

The colors are vivid yet elegant without being gaudy. While it's unclear whether they could produce 紅 (crimson) color like the one on the right in the 4th-5th centuries, they might have been able to achieve something close to 中紅(Medium crimson). I advocated for this in the previous article as well. If used for cords, they would likely have achieved an even, uniform dye.

Incidentally, as safflower dye was precious, the use of these three shades was reportedly forbidden to commoners during the Heian period. This means they became colors exclusive to the nobility.

◆Summary

In this article, we examined 赤(red) and 紅(crimson) in the Kojiki.

For 赤(red/Aka), we found no problematic usages, and there seem to be no cases where yellow or brown colors were described as 赤(red/Aka). Since the words for yellow(黄) and brown(茶) existed in the Nara period, perhaps it was not possible to confuse readers by describing yellow objects as 'Aka.'

While we found no expressions suggesting a concept like "紅(crimson) is a type of red," given that the red sea bream that is predominantly pink was referred to as "red chinu," there must have been some intention to represent a "red family" of colors.

However, while writing this article, I learned that "madai" is called "red sea bream" in English. Given that it's considered red globally, despite having predominantly pink components, when viewed from a distance the combination with brown tones might naturally appear red.

Additionally, this demonstrates the comprehensive expressiveness and flexibility of the word "赤"(red). A similar phenomenon exists with "red" in English, as it appears across quite a broad range of color tones.

Globally, "red" is a color of celebration and the color of blood, which may explain why it receives distinctly different treatment from other colors in every country.


In the next article, I will present my research on "chinu (black sea bream) and tai(red sea bream)."
While this has nothing to do with "Blue and Green," I hope you'll look forward to it.