Heian era
Royal Purple & Silver— 紫と銀
Imperial purple set against lunar silver — Heian courtly luxury at its quietest.
20 named colors · 4 combinations
Purple Color Combinations.
Imperial purples and lavender from the Wada tradition. Murasaki (violet) was the rarest and most prestigious dye in ancient Japan — restricted to the imperial family and high court nobility. The full spectrum from pale fuji (wisteria) to deep eggplant.
Named colors
20 purple colors in the archive.
- Aconite Violet #a36aa5 11 palettes
- Red Violet #59256a 8 palettes
- Cotinga Purple #501345 7 palettes
- Light Mauve #9a72aa 7 palettes
- Taupe Brown #7a4456 7 palettes
- Dusky Madder Violet #4e1d4c 6 palettes
- Rosolanc Purple #b73f74 6 palettes
- Lilac #b984af 4 palettes
- Veronia Purple #8c4c62 4 palettes
- Eupatorium Purple #bf5892 3 palettes
- Dark Slate Purple #704357 2 palettes
- Dull Blue Violet #80719e 2 palettes
- Indian Lake #c53c69 2 palettes
- Pansy Purple #7d133a 2 palettes
- Pomegranite Purple #b71f57 2 palettes
- Red #a72144 2 palettes
- Fuji 藤 #B5A6C9
- Murasaki 紫 #7A4E8F
- Violet Carmine #713b4c
- Violet Red #642d5e
Colours that go with Purple
From a standard colour wheel, Purple anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#5A2A7A #4A7A2A
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#5A2A7A #322A7A #7A2A72
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#5A2A7A #7A5A2A #2A7A5A
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#5A2A7A #727A2A #2A7A32
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Purple
Purple is a deep, muted tone (HSL 276°, 49%, 32%), which makes it a grounding background or strong accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a light background (10.3:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#4A7A2A) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#322A7A and #7A2A72) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Pairing guides
What goes with each purple shade?
Pick a shade to see the colors it pairs with, room by room and outfit by outfit, with hex codes.
Combinations
4 purple-dominant color combinations.
Every palette in the archive where purple is the dominant hue — from Sanzo Wada's 348 historical plates plus editorial deep-dives.
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 SVG plates (348 Wada + 30 editorial) — print-ready at any size
- Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues
See what's inside
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Library
Colour books worth owning
Colour theory, history and the references designers keep close — recommended on Amazon.
Book links are Amazon Associates affiliate links. Your price is unchanged; a small commission supports the archive. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Book links are Amazon Associates affiliate links. Your price is unchanged; a small commission supports the archive. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.