November 19th Color Calendar Light Ink Color
November 19th Color Calendar
Light ink color
"Memories emerge from the vagueness."
Usuzumi-iro is a pale gray that resembles ink diluted with water. It embodies the stillness and ambiguity of the white space in an ink painting, the blurred brushstrokes on Japanese paper, and the cloudy color of a winter sky.
Yosano Akiko superimposed this color on a snow-covered landscape in her poem. A colorless wind, a soundless town, a mountain trail covered with falling leaves. Light ink color reflects such "colorless scenery." Within the "sabi" of wabi-sabi, it is particularly close to the "bleeding" and "white space."
November 19th is the second half of Shimotsuki. The leaves have finished changing color and the air is beginning to turn white. The signs of people are quieting down, and the autumn in our memories is slowly fading away. Light ink color reflects this "premonition of the end" of the season.
"The beauty of ambiguity" is an important theme in WABISUKE's philosophy. It is the lack of clarity that allows the imagination to flourish. It is the lack of words that leaves a lasting impression. Light ink color creates a poetic space. It is a color that quietly and deeply penetrates the heart.
References
• "Traditional Japanese Colors" by Shikosha • "Japanese Color Handbook" edited by the Kusakizome Research Association • Usui Ink Colors – The ABCs of Traditional Colors • Calendar Life: The Cultural Background of Usui Ink Colors