What color is "red"?

There may be 100 words for snow in Iceland, and a hundred ways to describe the green of Ireland, but when it comes to red, the world offers more than a thousand choices of names for red. So, when Shuri Castle in Okinawa was ready to be painted red, not any red color would do. It had to be the right red.

The wooden castle built on a stone foundation burned to the ground during WWII. After Japan's southernmost province, Okinawa, was returned to the country in 1972, one of the projects closest to the Okinawan people's hearts was rebuilding the castle as a symbol of Okinawan pride and as a focal point around which to build a tourist industry.

There were many, many problems to overcome, and one of them was choosing the color. Everyone knew it should be red, but which red?

In the end, four shades were chosen: one for the columns, one for the walls, one for the frames around the windows, and one for the roof tiles.

To me, the most interesting choice was the color for the window frames. Remember, this castle was built ages ago, when every kind of paint came from the earth--not Dutch Boy or Sherwin Williams or even Martha Stewart.

The ancestors of the Okinawan kings came from the island of Kume. So, from a certain cliffside deep in the heart of Kume, red earth was dug up, powdered, and used to make paint.

From ancient times until today, when you look out a window in Shuri Castle, your eye will register the earth-red color of the home island.


*This information is from the NHK hit documentary series, Project X.

PS Please go to the July 7 post to see a picture of the red castle, Shuri.