A Dictionary of Color Combinations – Sanzo Wada

A Dictionary of Color Combinations brings together 348 color combinations created by Japanese artist and color researcher Sanzo Wada (1883–1967). The book is based on Wada's landmark Haishoku Soukan (配色總鑑), originally published in Japan between 1933 and 1934 as a multi-volume reference on color harmony. At a time when industrial production, printing, fashion, advertising and modern design were rapidly developing in Japan, Wada approached color not simply as decoration but as something that could be studied, classified and applied systematically.

Sanzo Wada and the Study of Color

Sanzo Wada worked across painting, education, kimono and fashion design, stage and film production, and color research. His interest in creating a more systematic language for color led him to establish the Japan Standard Color Association in 1927, the organization that later became the Japan Color Research Institute. Its early work focused on establishing color standards, organizing color names and producing practical color references for education and industry.

Wada's approach developed during a period when Japanese artists and designers were increasingly encountering Western theories of color while continuing to work with Japan's own long-established color traditions. Rather than separating these influences, his color studies brought together combinations that could be used as practical working references across different creative disciplines.

From the 1930s Original to the Modern Edition

The original Haishoku Soukan was published by Hakubisha in 1933–1934 in multiple volumes, accompanied by explanatory material on the use of color combinations. These publications became an important historical record of early twentieth-century Japanese color research.

In 2010, Japanese publisher Seigensha revisited Wada's work and condensed selections from the original publications into the compact book now known as A Dictionary of Color Combinations. Measuring only 148 × 105 mm, the modern edition places 348 combinations in a single portable volume, making material originally spread across historical publications accessible as a practical reference for contemporary designers, illustrators, artists and anyone working with color.

The combinations use two, three and four colors and demonstrate how changes in hue, saturation, value and proportion can create very different visual relationships. Nearly a century after their original publication, they remain useful not because they prescribe fixed rules, but because they provide a large visual vocabulary for studying how colors behave together.

• Author: Sanzo Wada
• 348 color combinations
• 352 pages
• Softcover
• Size: 148 × 105 × 20 mm
• Weight: approx. 240 g
• ISBN: 978-4-86152-247-5
• Modern edition first published in 2010
• Published by Seigensha

Explore Wada Sanzo Colors Digitally

Your Wada Sanzo color reference can also be explored digitally with the independent Wada Sanzo Colors website and mobile app.

With these digital tools, you can:

• Browse Wada's classic two-, three- and four-color combinations.
• Use the Color Picker to find the closest Wada Sanzo color to a color you select and see combinations that use it.
• View and copy HEX, RGB and LAB values for use in graphic design, illustration, web design and other digital projects.
• Save favorite colors and combinations for future reference.
• Use the mobile app's Color Scanner to scan a real-world color with your phone camera and find the closest match in the collection.

The mobile app is available for iOS and Android.

Explore Wada Sanzo Colors:
https://www.wada-sanzo-colors.com/

Wada Sanzo Colors is an independent digital resource and is not operated by Galen Leather.