Furukara

Furukara is an iPhone app that catalogues colours measured directly from scans of Sanzo Wada's 配色総鑑 (Haishoku Sōkan), a colour reference published in Tokyo between 1933 and 1935. Each plate pairs a Japanese colour name with an English name drawn from Ridgway's earlier colour nomenclature system, and the app preserves both as printed, including original misspellings, while noting any changes made. The project traces the historical link between Sanzo Wada's work and Robert Ridgway's 1912 colour standards, offering a way to explore colour naming across time, language and culture. It is aimed at anyone interested in colour history, design reference or Japanese typography.