November 29th Color Calendar Black Oak (Kuro Tsurubami)

November 29th, Color Calendar

Black Oak – Kurotsurubami

"Memories of the deep forest live quietly here."

Kuro-oak is a bluish black dye made by crushing and decoctioning the nuts of the oak tree (Tsurubami = Kunugi) and dyeing them with iron mordant.
In ancient times, it was used in the clothing of common people, but from the Heian period onwards it was also used in the mourning clothes of nobles, and has been passed down as a color symbolizing dignity and tranquility.
It is a historic color that appears in the Manyoshu and the Tale of Utsubo.

November 29th is when the winter forest quietly deepens.
Oak nuts resting beneath fallen leaves, the shadows of trees enveloped in the cold air.
Black oak is a color that reflects the memories of such forests.
This is also the depth that WABISUKE values, the "poetry of silence" and "layers of time."

Black oak in everyday life

• The inside of a well-used wooden box • The lingering presence of ink-dyed hakama • The deep shadows in the winter forest

Black oak teaches us the weight and silence that lies within the unspoken.
It is a color that establishes one's identity, but also a color that embodies the aesthetics of mourning.

References

• "Traditional Colors of Japan" Shikosha • Black Oak – The ABCs of Traditional Colors