Edo era
Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶
Autumn persimmon against scorched cedar — harvest colors from the countryside.
#D66B37
orange · 1 palette
Kaki
柿
Persimmon
About Kaki
Kaki (柿) is a mid-tone, vivid orange tone. Its hex value is #D66B37 — that is
RGB 214, 107, 55, or HSL 20°, 66%, 53%.
Persimmon.
It holds 6.0:1 contrast against dark, so Kaki works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 3.5:1; on black 6.0:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Kaki appears in 1 combination — most often paired with Kogecha and Kinuta.
The story of Kaki
Kaki (柿) takes its name from the Japanese persimmon fruit — and refers specifically to the colour of a ripe persimmon, between burnt orange and warm terracotta. It's a saturated warm without the aggression of pure orange. Historically: Edo-period merchant signage, autumn kimonos, traditional pottery glazes.
In a Japandi palette kaki is one of the few colours that serves as a 'controlled warm accent' — the punctuation mark against a cool field. A single kaki object in a celadon-and-cream room is the visual definition of the register. Used at low coverage; used at high coverage it pulls the palette out of Japandi into a warmer tradition.
See Kaki in the Japanese Color Glossary →
How often colors like this recur across the 348 plates — the data analysis →
Colours that go with Kaki
From a standard colour wheel, Kaki anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#D66B37 #37A2D6
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#D66B37 #D63753 #D6BA37
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#D66B37 #37D66B #6B37D6
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#D66B37 #37D6BB #3753D6
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Kaki
Kaki is a mid-tone, vivid tone (HSL 20°, 66%, 53%), 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 (6.0:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#37A2D6) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#D63753 and #D6BA37) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Kaki
Kaki 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
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