Edo era
Madder Red & Evergreen— 茜と常磐
The rooted red of madder-dyed cotton set against enduring pine green.
#344E3D
green · 1 palette
Tokiwa
常磐
Evergreen
About Tokiwa
Tokiwa (常磐) is a deep, near-neutral green tone. Its hex value is #344E3D — that is
RGB 52, 78, 61, or HSL 141°, 20%, 25%.
Evergreen.
It holds 9.1:1 contrast against white, so Tokiwa works best for body text, headings, and UI labels. (On white it scores 9.1:1; on black 2.3:1.)
Across Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations, Tokiwa appears in 1 combination — most often paired with Akane, Suna-iro and Sumi.
The story of Tokiwa
Tokiwa (常磐) — literally 'eternal rock' — is the deep evergreen of pine needles and cedar bark, named for the trees that hold their colour through winter. It's a structural green: the colour of an eternal hedge, a temple cypress, a household crest passed through generations. The word carries the connotation of permanence rather than nature.
In palette work tokiwa is the canonical green axis of folk-textile combinations — most famously paired with akane (madder red) in the textbook 'red and green' of Japanese rural clothing, without the Christmas-y connotations of the Western pairing. Reads grounded, warm, and pre-modern.
Working note: Tokiwa + akane is the folk-formal pair; tokiwa + kinari is the everyday wear. Avoid pairing with seiji or asagi — those greens cancel rather than complement.
See Tokiwa in the Japanese Color Glossary →
How often colors like this recur across the 348 plates — the data analysis →
Colours that go with Tokiwa
From a standard colour wheel, Tokiwa anchors these four classic schemes. Each swatch is computed from its exact hue, so every hex is a real, usable pairing.
Complementary
#344E3D #4E3445
the hue directly opposite — the highest-contrast pairing, good for a single bold accent.
Analogous
#344E3D #384E34 #344E4A
the two neighbours on the wheel — a calm, cohesive scheme that feels effortless.
Triadic
#344E3D #3D344E #4E3D34
two hues an even third of the wheel away — balanced and lively without clashing.
Split-complementary
#344E3D #4A344E #4E3438
the two colours either side of the complement — the contrast of a complement, softened.
How to use Tokiwa
Tokiwa is a deep, muted tone (HSL 141°, 20%, 25%), which makes it a grounding background or strong accent. For text it passes WCAG AA for body text against a light background (9.1:1) — safe for paragraphs, buttons and labels. When you do set type on it, use light lettering. Pair it with its complement (#4E3445) for a focal accent, or with its analogous neighbours (#384E34 and #344E4A) for a quieter, harmonious feel.
Palettes with Tokiwa
Tokiwa 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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