Sep 18, 2021
Striking houmongi (irotomesode?) with a majestic swirling dragon.
This dark ground color called kurobeni is a red based purplish black. It’s made by first dying kimono red (in the past beni/safflower was used), then darkening tone with several dye baths (of iron oxide, horse chestnut etc) until desired depth. This method don’t give “true” hard black but soft dark thanks to the red undertones.
Blueish black on the other side uses a blue base (in the past made from ai/indigo). Binroujikuro is an example of those colors.