Heian era
Crimson & Navy— 紅と紺
Deep safflower crimson against navy — the courtly contrast of Heian-era robes and formal Edo textiles.
#F4EEE0
yellow · 8 palettes
Gofun
胡粉
Chalk white
About Gofun
Gofun (胡粉) is a light, muted yellow tone. Its hex value is #F4EEE0 — that is
RGB 244, 238, 224, or HSL 42°, 48%, 92%.
Chalk white.
It holds 18.2:1 contrast against dark, so Gofun works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 1.2:1; on black 18.2:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Gofun appears in 8 combinations — most often paired with Kon, Shu and Sumi.
The story of Gofun
Gofun (胡粉) is the chalk-white pigment made from crushed and aged oyster shells. It's the white of Japanese-style folding screens, the priming layer beneath nihonga paintings, the bright base coat on Hina dolls. Unlike titanium white or zinc white in Western painting, gofun has tooth — a slight matte chalk quality that reads as material rather than as default 'white.'
In a wabi-sabi or japandi palette gofun is the anchor: the warm-cool neutral that everything else rests on. It pulls slightly off pure white, toward the colour of bone or unbleached paper, which is exactly what differentiates a 'Japandi white' from an IKEA-modern white.
See Gofun in the Japanese Color Glossary →
How often colors like this recur across the 348 plates — the data analysis →
Colours that go with Gofun
From a standard colour wheel, Gofun anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#F4EEE0 #E0E6F4
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#F4EEE0 #F4E4E0 #F0F4E0
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#F4EEE0 #E0F4EE #EEE0F4
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#F4EEE0 #E0F0F4 #E4E0F4
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Gofun
Gofun is a light, muted tone (HSL 42°, 48%, 92%), which makes it a soft background or a light accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a dark background (18.2:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use dark lettering. Pair it with its complement (#E0E6F4) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#F4E4E0 and #F0F4E0) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Studio
Taking Gofun off the screen
A hex code is an instruction to a screen, not a colour. Where this one is going decides what it needs next.
-
...onto paper
Start here if the palette gets printed. Screen colour and ink colour are not the same colour, and this is the deck that translates between them.
Listed on Amazon as Pantone Formula Guide – Coated & Uncoated | Professional PMS Color Matching System for Print, Packaging & Graphic Design | GP1601B
View on Amazon -
...onto a screen you can trust
Start here if it stays digital. An uncalibrated monitor is the single most common reason a palette that looked right on your desk looks wrong everywhere else.
Calibrite
ColorChecker Passport Photo 2
Listed on Amazon as Calibrite ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 Portable Color Calibration Kit for Photo and Video, 4 Target Set for White Balance, Exposure and Creative Look
View on Amazon -
...by hand
Start here if you are mixing it. Wada's plates were flat printed colour; gansai pans are the closest everyday medium to them.
Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 24 — Art Nouveau
Listed on Amazon as Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolor Paint Set 24 Colors II - Art Nouveau
View on Amazon
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Palettes with Gofun
Gofun appears in 8 combinations from the archive. Each pairing reveals how the same color shifts character depending on its neighbours. For how usage like this compares across the whole dictionary, see the data analysis of all 348 plates.
Questions about Gofun
- What is the hex code for Gofun?
- Gofun (胡粉) is #F4EEE0. Chalk white It appears in 8 historical color combinations from Sanzo Wada's 1933 "A Dictionary of Color Combinations".
- What does Gofun look like on white and black backgrounds?
- Gofun (#F4EEE0) has a WCAG contrast ratio of 1.16:1 against white (#FFFFFF) and 18.15:1 against black (#000000). WCAG AA requires 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
- Where does the color Gofun come from?
- Gofun is documented in Sanzo Wada's "A Dictionary of Color Combinations" (1933, Seigensha Art Publishing 2010 reprint). Wada catalogued yellow pigments and historical Japanese color terms. The source work is in the public domain.
- Can I use Gofun in my own design or brand?
- Yes. The color name and hex value (#F4EEE0) are factual data — not copyrightable. Our curation and descriptions are CC BY 4.0 licensed.
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
See what's inside
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