Shikon (Gromwell root) - right (235 R)

Normal

Museum number	235
Uemera number / title	一; 櫨染 廿五 "Haze-some 25"
Folder location	4th shelf
Sample location	right (235 R)
Fiber type	silk
Color	dark purple
Dyestuff (Japanese common name)	紫根 : Shikon (?)
Dye (English common name)	Gromwell root
Dyestuff (botanical name)	Lithospermum erythrorhizon Siebold et Zucc. (L. officinale L. subsp. erythrorhizon (Siebold et Zucc.) Hand.-Mazz.)
Plant part	root / dried (?)
Dyestuff extraction	boiled in water, and dyed in warm bath
Auxiliary agent in dye bath	-
Mordant	ash water (larger quantity)
Other auxiliary agent	-
Uemera's notes	It is common to use ash water as mordant for this dyeing. Without using the mordant, it would be difficult to make the resultant color purple. Though larger quantity of ash water was used for dyeing the right sample, the resultant color should not be what was called "Kuromurasaki (黒紫)" in the Nihon shoki (日本書紀), the early 8th century AD. Japan. The plant was also read in a Japanese classic poem in the Manyōshū (万葉集), volume 4, fromthe 7th -8th century AD: 韓人の衣染むとふ紫のこころに染みて念ほゆるかも
Uemera's date	Kyoto