Black is the color of mourning in Japan. While in the recent years dark blue and dark gray is becoming more acceptable, black is still preferred over all other colors.
Unlucky numbers
Traditionally, 4 is unlucky because it is sometimes pronounced shi, which is the word for death. Sometimes levels or rooms with 4 don't exist in hospitals or hotels.
Black in Japanese Culture
Black is commonly associated with formality (or formal events), elegance, and mourning. It may also represent unhappiness, fear, evil, bad luck, or misfortune.
Purple. As in the West, purple stands for royalty in Japanese culture. It is also considered the color of warriors, symbolizing strength. Purple flowers are very popular too.
In Japan, yellow symbolises nature and sunshine and is considered a sacred colour in the Far East.
Koki-murasaki (Purple)
It was reserved for the kimonos worn by Japan's highest-ranking individuals and denied to lower classes.
In Japan, ordinary people were forbidden to wear purple clothes for a long time. The color purple, murasaki (紫) in Japanese, used to be very rarely seen because it was difficult and time-consuming to make.
Kimono for a young woman, 1800-1850, Khalili Collection. In Edo period Japan, the colour red signified youth and glamour. The benibana dye faded quickly, so the colour became symbolic of mad, passionate love that is all consuming but fleeting.
red dress expresses happy and flashy
Being Japanese, I've never heard that red or red ink implies bad luck or death in Japan. In fact, as far as fabrics are concerned, red is considered in Japan as the happiest color you can get.
Japan, a nation surrounded by blue water, the colour blue symbolises purity, cleanliness, passivity and fidelity. It is considered a lucky colour and is a popular colour in Japanese clothing, such as kimonos.
Noticed Japanese are into neutral colors. They have a great sense of simplicity style. Their simple rule is don`t wear lots of flashy colors together, it's not classy. In most Asian countries, red is the lucky color.
Besides this history, it is said that Japan selected blue to avoid confusion with the many other teams in Asia that adopt red jerseys, including South Korea and China.
A bride's dress and head covering for the traditional Shinto wedding is white. However, in Buddhism, the color white also means death, and white attributes have been used for the ritual samurai suicide called 'seppuku'.
Japanese camellia
The striking red camellia (tsubaki) historically symbolized a noble death among Japanese warriors and samurai. It also represents love. A white camellia means waiting, while the yellow camellia conveys longing.
Higanbana - The Flower of the Dead.
Can foreigners wear kimono? To get straight to the point: As long as a kimono is worn out of respect and appreciation of the Japanese culture, it's perfectly fine to wear a kimono as a foreigner.
For the Japanese, yellow is the colour of light, and the warmth of the sun is soothing and the benefit of light is most felt. Therefore, the yellow kimono has the meaning of "warm", "active", and "gorgeous" that the light has. It also means "youth," "hope," and "change."
Symbol of good luck and happiness, red is the ultimate color. The wagasa - traditional Japanese umbrella made from bamboo, cord and washi paper (a type common throughout the archipelago) - had up to the 16th century the status of luxury object, thought to ward off evil spirits.
Ao Oni-kun (“Blue Oni” in Japanese) is considered a model of kind friendship for helping his friend.
The Black Oni God of Darkness was the God and creator of all the Oni and the four gods.
Once associated with the “dark side,” an Oni mask now gives its users strength and power, protecting them from danger. These masks depict red-faced Japanese demons, typically featuring two horns and an angry expression. These scary Oni demons ward off evil spirits and protect their users from bad luck and harm.
Black Japan was a bitumous solvent stain used to stain lighter timber to a dark, almost black, colour. You will find Black Japan stained timber in older houses on floors and skirting, architraves and doors and it was often over coated with shellac to give a gloss finish.
Red-green and yellow-blue are the so-called "forbidden colors." Composed of pairs of hues whose light frequencies automatically cancel each other out in the human eye, they're supposed to be impossible to see simultaneously.