Shikon — A Purple with a Distinctive Character, Tinged with Brown

Shikon. One of Japan's three great pigments, alongside indigo and safflower — and today, a color that has become exceedingly rare. A purple that moves between red and brown, carrying a distinctive, quietly compelling character. It lends rich depth to the muted tones of autumn and winter.

Beneath its rarity lies a color that lingers in the memory without demanding attention. That quality, captured through botanical dyeing and brought directly into denim. A dye passed down through centuries, taking new form today. This is BOTANICAL DYED "SHIKON."

FABRIC

What Is Shikon — One of Japan's Three Great Pigments, Alongside Indigo and Safflower

Shikon is a dye extracted from the root of Lithospermum erythrorhizon, a plant in the borage family. It stands as one of Japan's three great pigments, alongside indigo and safflower. But what makes this color truly remarkable goes beyond its rarity.

In the twelve-level cap and rank system established in 604 CE under Empress Suiko, the purple dyed with shikon was designated the highest-ranking color. Throughout the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods, it was treated as a "forbidden color" — kinjiki — reserved for those of the highest standing. A color that was always considered worth the effort to dye.

A Purple Cherished Across the Ages

Through the ages, purple remained a color deeply cherished by people. Kamakura-period warriors used it in the woven cords of their armor — murasaki-odoshi — while the Edo era saw it develop into distinct regional expressions: Kyoto Purple (Kyo-murasaki) and Edo Purple (Edo-murasaki). Costly and labor-intensive, it was precisely that difficulty which kept drawing people toward it.

Among these, "Nanbu Purple" — which flourished in the Kazuno region of Iwate and Akita, formerly part of the Nanbu domain — stands alongside Kyo-murasaki and Edo-murasaki as one of Japan's three great purples. A color handed down, place by place, through human hands.

A Rare Color, Brought into Today's Denim

After the Meiji era, as convenient synthetic dyes spread, the labor-intensive practice of shikon dyeing rapidly faded. The wild Lithospermum plant that provides the raw material has also declined in number, and is now listed as an endangered species on Japan's Ministry of the Environment Red List. Shikon dyeing — demanding in both skill and effort — remains so scarce that it can rightly be called a lost art.

Purple was always a color reserved for the few, cherished all the more for being out of reach — and passed down across eras precisely because of it. To dye with shikon, the artisan must engage with temperature and time again and again, working toward the intended hue. To ensure the color endures, no step is spared — the ground is laid carefully, layer upon layer from the very beginning.

Through that accumulated effort, the artisan works a rare color into denim. A different expression from the deep indigo of 特濃 TOKUNO BLUE — another color entirely. This is BOTANICAL DYED "SHIKON."

Three Styles in BOTANICAL DYED "SHIKON"

The SHIKON collection, botanically dyed with shikon, is offered in one denim jacket and two styles of jeans. A purple that is calm yet quietly memorable — in forms that suit today's sensibility, from an outer layer to an everyday staple to a relaxed fit.