Collection · 24 palettes

Vintage Color Palettes

The muted beauty of aged lacquer, worn cloth, and faded woodblock prints.

Vintage in the Japanese color tradition is what time does to pigment: the persimmon-orange of aged kaki lacquerware, the warm brown of kogecha tea cloth washed a hundred times, the ochre of old paper yellowed at the edges. These are not colors that looked old when they were made — they earned their patina. Wada documented them at the moment of their tradition: just before synthetic dyes made the natural ones obsolete. Use them for heritage brands, print-inspired editorial layouts, food and beverage with provenance, and anything that benefits from the credibility that only time can give.

Muromachi era

Scorched Brown & Unbleached— 焦茶と生成

The dark brown of scorched wood against unbleached hemp — quiet materials.

Edo era

Kite Brown & Gold— 鳶と黄金

The warm brown of a kite's wing lit by afternoon gold.

Edo era

Kerria Gold & Chestnut— 山吹と栗

The bright gold of the kerria flower against the warm brown of roasted chestnut.

Edo era

Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶

Autumn persimmon against scorched cedar — harvest colors from the countryside.

Edo era

Light Pink & Tea— 薄紅と茶

A whisper of pink against tea brown — the tone of an Edo-period lacquer sweet box.

Edo era

Turmeric & Indigo— 鬱金と藍

Warm turmeric yellow against true indigo — the everyday textile of Japanese farm life.

Muromachi era

Grass Yellow & Rikyū Grey— 刈安と利休鼠

Wild grass yellow tempered by the muted grey favored by the tea master Sen no Rikyū.

Edo era

Bitter Orange & Navy— 橙と紺

The sharp orange of the daidai citrus set off by deep indigo navy.

Showa era

English Red & Cerulian Blue

Plate 1 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — English Red, Cerulian Blue.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Pale Lemon Yellow

Plate 3 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Pale Lemon Yellow.

Showa era

Orange & Glaucous Green

Plate 7 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Orange, Glaucous Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Grayish Lavender - A

Plate 8 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Grayish Lavender - A.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Dark Citrine

Plate 10 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Dark Citrine.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Veronia Purple

Plate 13 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Mars Brown Tobacco & Night Green

Plate 19 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Mars Brown Tobacco, Night Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Buff & Light Mauve

Plate 23 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Buff, Light Mauve.

Showa era

Sepia & Veronia Purple

Plate 24 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Sepia, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Golden Yellow & Pale Raw Umber

Plate 26 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Golden Yellow, Pale Raw Umber.

Showa era

Ochraceous Salmon & Night Green

Plate 32 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Ochraceous Salmon, Night Green.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Slate Color

Plate 33 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Slate Color.

Showa era

Vinaceous Tawny & Citron Yellow

Plate 40 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vinaceous Tawny, Citron Yellow.

Showa era

Seashell Pink & Lemon Yellow

Plate 45 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Seashell Pink, Lemon Yellow.

Showa era

Orange & Black

Plate 46 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Orange, Black.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Lincoln Green

Plate 70 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Lincoln Green.

From the archive

Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.

All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues

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