[Explanation of a color]

The Kenpouzome is a dark blackish brown color with reddish yellow tints. It refers to a blackish brown dye color said to have been invented by “Yoshioka Kenpou,” an early Edo period military strategist and swordsman. Also called “Yoshiokazome,” “Kenbouzome,” and “Kenpoukuro.

In Ihara Saikaku’s “Nihon eitaigura” (Japan Eitaigura, 1688), it is described as “a variety of weave of aburaya silk with a crest of kenpou, and three layers with a cuff of light cotton.

This is the earliest example of a dye or color name bearing the name of an individual, and according to some, may have been Japan’s first designer brand.

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