Showa era
Mars Brown Tobacco & Night Green
Plate 19 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Mars Brown Tobacco, Night Green.
#87c540
green · 4 palettes
Night Green
Night Green is one of the colors Sanzo Wada used in his 1933 book. Get Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary on Amazon → Affiliate link; your price is unchanged. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
About Night Green
Night Green is a mid-tone, muted green tone. Its hex value is #87c540 — that is
RGB 135, 197, 64, or HSL 88°, 53%, 51%.
It holds 10.1:1 contrast against dark, so Night Green works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 2.1:1; on black 10.1:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Night Green appears in 4 combinations — most often paired with Mars Brown Tobacco, Ochraceous Salmon and Lemon Yellow.
Colours that go with Night Green
From a standard colour wheel, Night Green anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#87c540 #7E40C5
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#87c540 #C5C040 #45C540
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#87c540 #4087C5 #C54087
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#87c540 #4045C5 #C040C5
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Night Green
Night Green is a mid-tone, muted tone (HSL 88°, 53%, 51%), which makes it a versatile mid-tone for accents, buttons or blocks. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a dark background (10.1:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use dark lettering. Pair it with its complement (#7E40C5) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#C5C040 and #45C540) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Studio
Taking Night Green 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.
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-
...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 GP6102B Color Bridge Guide Set Coated & Uncoated, Multi-Colour
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...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 Studio spectrophotometer
Listed on Amazon as Calibrite ColorChecker Studio Spectrophotometer for Complete Color Management for Display, Projector, Printer and Scanner Profiling
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...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.
Pentel
Fude Touch brush sign pen
Listed on Amazon as Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pen, Black, Felt Pen Like Brush Stroke (SES15C-A) 3 Pieces
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Palettes with Night Green
Night Green appears in 4 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 Night Green
- What is the hex code for Night Green?
- Night Green is #87c540. It appears in 4 historical color combinations from Sanzo Wada's 1933 "A Dictionary of Color Combinations".
- What does Night Green look like on white and black backgrounds?
- Night Green (#87c540) has a WCAG contrast ratio of 2.08:1 against white (#FFFFFF) and 10.09:1 against black (#000000). WCAG AA requires 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
- Where does the color Night Green come from?
- Night Green is documented in Sanzo Wada's "A Dictionary of Color Combinations" (1933, Seigensha Art Publishing 2010 reprint). Wada catalogued green pigments and historical Japanese color terms. The source work is in the public domain.
- Can I use Night Green in my own design or brand?
- Yes. The color name and hex value (#87c540) 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
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- 378 SVG plates (348 Wada + 30 editorial) — print-ready at any size
- Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues
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