Edo era
Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶
Autumn persimmon against scorched cedar — harvest colors from the countryside.
#4B2E20
brown · 2 palettes
Kogecha
焦茶
Burnt brown
About Kogecha
Kogecha (焦茶) is a deep, muted brown tone. Its hex value is #4B2E20 — that is
RGB 75, 46, 32, or HSL 20°, 40%, 21%.
Burnt brown.
It holds 12.3:1 contrast against white, so Kogecha works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 12.3:1; on black 1.7:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Kogecha appears in 2 combinations — most often paired with Kaki, Kinuta and Kogecha.
The story of Kogecha
Kogecha (焦茶) — literally 'burnt tea' — is the deep brown of over-brewed hojicha, of cedar weathered to near-black, of coffee grounds. It's a structural warm: the colour you place at the bottom of a composition to ground it, the trim colour around a wabi-sabi interior, the binding cloth on a hand-bound book.
Where tobi reads as warm-ink brown with red undertones, kogecha pulls cooler and darker — closer to a true black-brown. Both belong to the wabi-sabi register but kogecha is the more architectural choice: it reads as gravitas where tobi reads as warmth.
See Kogecha in the Japanese Color Glossary →
How often colors like this recur across the 348 plates — the data analysis →
Colours that go with Kogecha
From a standard colour wheel, Kogecha anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#4B2E20 #203D4B
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#4B2E20 #4B2028 #4B4420
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#4B2E20 #204B2E #2E204B
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#4B2E20 #204B43 #20284B
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Kogecha
Kogecha is a deep, muted tone (HSL 20°, 40%, 21%), which makes it a grounding background or strong accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a light background (12.3:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#203D4B) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#4B2028 and #4B4420) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Kogecha
Kogecha appears in 2 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.
From the archive
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