Edo era
Edo Purple & Mouse Grey— 江戸紫と鼠
The cool Edo purple worn by kabuki actors against mouse grey — theatrical understatement.
#5E4A8C
blue · 1 palette
Edo-murasaki
江戸紫
Edo purple
About Edo-murasaki
Edo-murasaki (江戸紫) is a mid-tone, muted blue tone. Its hex value is #5E4A8C — that is
RGB 94, 74, 140, or HSL 258°, 31%, 42%.
Edo purple.
It holds 7.4:1 contrast against white, so Edo-murasaki works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 7.4:1; on black 2.8:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Edo-murasaki appears in 1 combination — most often paired with Nezumi, Sumi and Kinari.
Colours that go with Edo-murasaki
From a standard colour wheel, Edo-murasaki anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#5E4A8C #788C4A
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#5E4A8C #4A578C #7F4A8C
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#5E4A8C #8C5E4A #4A8C5E
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#5E4A8C #8C7F4A #578C4A
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Edo-murasaki
Edo-murasaki is a mid-tone, muted tone (HSL 258°, 31%, 42%), which makes it a versatile mid-tone for accents, buttons or blocks. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a light background (7.4:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#788C4A) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#4A578C and #7F4A8C) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Edo-murasaki
Edo-murasaki appears in 1 combination from the archive. For how usage like this compares across the whole dictionary, see the data analysis of all 348 plates.
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
Launching soon. The free archive stays free, always.