Story of Cohana’s 5 Basic Colors: TSUYUKUSAIRO

Japan’s traditional colors are deeply connected to the changing seasons and everyday life.
Through the changing seasons, we Japanese have long appreciated the many colors found in nature, giving them names and incorporating them into everyday life. 
It is said that there are more than 460 traditional Japanese colors, reflecting the richness of the Japanese sense of color. From among these many traditional Japanese colors, we have selected 5 colors as the basic colors for Cohana, focusing on colors that convey the beauty of Japan. 
For Cohana's products, we use simple color names Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue and Gray, while each color actually has Japanese traditional color names. 

Today, we would like to share the final story in our 5 basic colors series: TSUYUKUSAIRO, a calming blue inspired by the Asiatic dayflower. We would also like to recommend some items in this gentle color.

TSUYUKUSAIRO takes its name from the blue Asiatic dayflower, a small blue wildflower that blooms gently in the early morning dew. In Japanese, “露 (Tsuyu)” means dew, “草 (Kusa)” means grass, and “色 (Iro)” means color.
The flower is said to have been named for the way it blooms in the morning dew and fades within a single day. 

In Japan, Tsuyukusa has long been used as a blue dye.
For over 1,300 years, dating back to the Manyo era, Japanese artisans have extracted this precious blue by crushing the flowers and leaves, making it one of Japan's most ancient dyeing traditions. 
This blue dye has a water-soluble nature and fades easily. Because of this nature, the word “Tsuyukusa” became a symbol of transience and fleeting beauty in classical Japanese poetry. 
Taking advantage of its water-soluble nature, from the mid-Edo period onward, the dye from Tsuyukusa began to be used for preliminary sketches in Yuzen dyeing, contributing to the development of Japanese arts and crafts. 

Tools in TSUYUKUSAIRO bring a refreshing and calming feeling, making your sewing time calm and relaxing.
We hope a TSUYUKUSAIRO tool will bring a gentle and peaceful feeling to your sewing time.

You can also discover the stories behind the other four colors here.