About iro

Why this site exists

Japanese traditional colors — nippon no dentō-shoku — have been named, dyed, and painted for more than a thousand years. Every color carries a specific origin: a plant, a bird, a mineral, a landscape, a social convention. English-language references usually give you the hex value but skip the story, and Japanese references assume you can read the kanji. iro tries to close that gap: hex, RGB, HSL, and CMYK for design work, side by side with the cultural note that gives each color its meaning.

Editorial policy & data sources

Each of the 60 colors on this site includes: kanji, romanized reading, English name, hex value, and a short origin note written for readers unfamiliar with Japan. The origin notes are our own writing — no third-party text has been copied.

Hex values follow the most widely accepted digital equivalents from established Japanese color references. Because these colors originated as natural dyes and mineral pigments, exact digital matches are approximations; where sources disagree we chose the most common variant. We treat the hex as a good screen-readable stand-in, not a canonical spec.

If you find a factual mistake in an origin note or a hex value that seems off, we would like to hear about it — a contact route will be added to this page once verified.

What runs where

All color codes, filters, copy actions, and harmony palettes run as JavaScript inside your browser. Nothing you copy or search is transmitted or stored on our servers. The site is a set of static files served through a global CDN.

Scope

This first release covers 60 named traditional colors and 10 curated palettes drawn from Japanese seasons, aesthetic traditions, and specific places. Historic Japanese color culture holds many more — the Heian court kasane color schemes alone name hundreds of layered combinations — and we plan to expand carefully.

How the site is funded

iro is free to use and is funded by advertising served through Google AdSense. Ads are clearly distinguishable from editorial content. We do not sell products and do not charge for any feature. See the privacy policy for what ad cookies involve.

Operation

iro is a small, independently operated reference site. It is not affiliated with the Government of Japan, the Nippon Color & Design Research Institute, or any official body.