A Dictionary of Color Combinations – Study Notes

Overview of the Source

• 1920-40’s Japanese colour-study notebook republished as “A Dictionary of Color Combinations”.
• Purpose → catalogue harmonious palettes for printing, textile, advertising & interior work during the Taishō & early Shōwa periods.
• Format → monotone index, followed by double-, triple- and quadruple-swatch plates; each plate numbered & captioned with:
‣ Japanese traditional name (kana)
‣ Phonetic transcription (romaji)
‣ Literal/approximate English name
‣ In two-sheet sets a left/right or top/bottom pairing; in 3- or 4-sheet sets a clockwise sequence.
• Rough page map captured in the PDF transcript
‣ p. 27 “２色の配色” – start of two-colour section
‣ p. 89 “３色の配色帖” – start of three-colour section
‣ p. 151 “４色の配色帖” – start of four-colour section
‣ Final 40 pages = loose colour chips, grids & blank tables for personal experiments.

Historical & Practical Context

• Taishō modernism (1912-26) → rise of mass-print lithography, department-store catalogues, poster art; demanded quick-reference hue guides.
• The notebook’s anonymous author (probably an in-house designer) arranged palettes to reflect:
‣ Seasonal imagery (e.g. 淡卵色\text{淡卵色} = “pale egg-shell” → spring palettes).
‣ Kimono–dye traditions (e.g. 檜皮色\text{檜皮色}, raw-sienna tone linked to temple‐roof cedar bark).
‣ Western pigment imports (e.g. “Helvetia Blue”, “Antwerp Blue”, “Cobalt Green”).
• Publication resurfaced in 2009 (Seigensha); present Internet-Archive scan dated 2024.

Naming Conventions

• Japanese names often metaphorical: plants, minerals, clothing dyes, foods.
– Examples:
淡卵色 (うす たまご いろ) “pale lemon-yellow” ≈ #FFF4BC
檜皮色 (ひわだ いろ) “raw sienna / cedar-bark brown” ≈ #965042
菖蒲色 (あやめ いろ) “red-violet iris” ≈ #8F3C6C
• English names occasionally direct pigment labels: “Burnt Sienna”, “Vandyke Red”, “Spectrum Red”.
• System contains NO numeric codes (e.g. Munsell or Pantone); matching today requires visual sampling.

Book Structure

• Intro (p.1-26) ➜ title pages, blank grids, pre-printed reference squares.
• Part 1 Single-chips (p.27-26)
– Chips numbered 001-?? (exact end lost in garbled OCR).
– Each page lists 4 hues.
• Part 2 Two-colour “２色の配色” (p.27–88)
– 003-028 inclusive glimpsed in transcript.
– Each plate: vertical rectangles or horizontal bars.
– Purpose → background ↔ lettering, accent ↔ field.
• Part 3 Three-colour “３色の配色帖” (p.89–150)
– 131-178 and 215-240 visible; suggests ≈ 100 triple-palettes.
– Compositions: L-shape, triad triangle or staircase strips.
• Part 4 Four-colour “４色の配色帖” (p.151–214)
– 242-334 enumerated.
– Common layout: 2×2 square grid.
• Appendices (p.215–355)
– Loose chips, blank ruled sheets labelled “色票” (colour ticket) for user swatches.
– Index-like blocks (but OCR mostly unreadable).

Palette Samples (verbatim captures)

Two-colour plates

• 003 淡卵色 / 菖蒲色
→ spring card stock + headline highlight.
• 004 檜皮色 / 落葉色
→ wooden architecture brochure & autumn motif.
• 007 裏葉色 (Glaucous Green) / 代赭色 (Cinnamon-Rufous)
• 008 橙色 (Orange) / 藤色 (Grayish Lavender)
• 011 鼠色 (Mineral Gray) / 納戸鼠 (Green-blue slate)

Three-colour plates (examples)

• 131 蒲色 + 浅葱色 + 檜皮色
• 132 青朽葉 + 金茶 + 蒸栗色
– subtle earthy kimono blend.
• 158 藍鼠 + 油色 + 灰汁色
– modernist poster background (dark slate + olive + ecru).

Four-colour plates (examples)

• 242 常磐色 + 浅紅 + 黒色 + 栗梅
– deep evergreen, pale pink, black, burnt-sienna.
– Recommended in captions for interior wall + beam + screen + accent textile.
• 251 常磐色 + 茜色 + 黄色 + 石板色
– contrasting warm/cool, mimics early lithograph posters.
• 257 赤色 + 青色 + 山吹色 + 半色
– primary triad + muted violet → firework advertisement.

Design Insights Extracted

• Most pairings rely on value (light/dark) contrasts more than hue oppositions.
– e.g.淡卵色 (very light) vs 菖蒲色 (deep mid-tone).
• Triads often: 1 light, 1 mid saturated, 1 dark neutral.
– provides readability & print economy (dark linework, light paper left un-inked).
• Four-colour plates mimic process printing CMYK prototypes before CMYK standardised.
• Many palettes group analogous warm browns & olives, reflecting limited natural dyes of era.

Connecting to Modern Colour Usage

• Translate hue samples into RGB / HEX by manual eyedrop from high-res scan or by reference books (e.g. “Nihon-no-shikisai: Traditional Japanese Colour Names”).
• Tool workflow suggestion:

  1. Screenshot plate ➜ import into Photoshop/GIMP.
  2. Dropper sample mid area, record sRGB.
  3. Build digital palettes (.ase or CSS variables) named by kana.
    • Pedagogical Exercise:
    – Give students plates 003-010 and ask to design modern UI themes preserving proportion & contrast ratio ≥4.5\ge 4.5 (WCAG).

Ethical & Cultural Notes

• Respect cultural specificity: do not over-Westernise names; cite kanji/kana to retain heritage.
• Colours like “Flesh / 肌色” historically mapped only to pale skin; in modern usage replace with precise tint description (e.g. “light peach”).

Quick Reference: Frequent Hue Names

• 暗系 (dark): 鳶色, 憲法色, 黒紫, 半色.
• 中間 (muted mid): 納戸色, 山鳩色, 海松茶, 千草鼠.
• 明系 (light): 淡卵色, 蒸栗色, 浅紅, 水浅葱.
• 高彩度 (vivid): 桔梗色, 橙色, 赤色, 花色.

Study Recommendations

• Memorise ~30 foundational Japanese hue terms & their English equivalents to navigate the index quickly.
• Practise reconstructing palettes by:

  1. Converting two selected kana names to HEX.
  2. Creating A6-size layout and checking contrast.
  3. Swapping dominant/accent roles and observing perception change.
    • Compare Taishō palettes to Bauhaus (same era) to notice convergent modernist taste in limited pigment sets.