korozen

黄欸染 · /koː.ɾo.zeɴ/ · noun

1. 1 A deep reddish yellow, near to ochre, held to be the colour of the sun at noon. The name reads literally as sumac-dyed.
2. 2 court usage. An absolute forbidden colour. By edict of Emperor Saga in 820 it was reserved to the reigning emperor alone, and the ceremonial robe cut for each new reign, the kōrozen no gohō, is dyed in it still.
3. 3 The dye itself. The Engishiki sets it down as wax tree bark worked under the heartwood of sappanwood, but the method did not survive intact, and the reconstructions disagree with one another rather than converging.

Note Dyers who have set out to revive it describe a colour that will not hold one value: redder at either end of the day, and turning gold as the light comes up overhead. Whether the court dye behaved this way or only the modern reading of it does is not settled.

Kōrozen  ·  #592B1F