Colours in Nepal and Japan

Crimson is the national colour. It fills the flag, the only national flag that is not a rectangle, and it is the colour of the rhododendron, the national flower.

Married Hindu women wear red saris, red glass bangles and strings of red or green pote beads. At the Teej festival they dress in red, fast, sing and dance, and pray for their husbands' long lives.

At Dashain, elders press tika, a paste of rice, yoghurt and red vermilion, on the foreheads of younger relatives as a blessing.

The torii gates of Shinto shrines are often painted vermilion, a bright orange-red. The colour is held to keep evil away, and the long tunnels of gates at Fushimi Inari are the best known.

At Tihar, the festival of lights, doors and windows are hung with garlands of orange and yellow marigolds, and dogs and cows are garlanded too.

Strings of Buddhist prayer flags come in five colours in a fixed order: blue for sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water and yellow for earth.

The blue border of the flag stands for peace. The crimson inside it is read as the bravery of the Nepali people.

Indigo dyeing, called aizome, clothed ordinary people in deep blue through the Edo period. The men's national football team plays in blue and is nicknamed Samurai Blue.

Purple dye from the murasaki plant was costly and hard to make. In the court rank system set up under Prince Shotoku, the highest officials wore purple caps.

Pale pink is the colour of cherry blossom. In spring people picnic under the trees for hanami, flower viewing, and the short bloom is a common image for how brief life is.

After a parent dies, a Hindu son traditionally shaves his head and wears only white for a year. Widows also wore white in many communities.

A bride at a Shinto wedding may wear the shiromuku, a kimono that is white from head to foot. White is also the colour of the paper streamers that mark sacred places.

Red and white together, called kohaku, mark happy occasions. Curtains at ceremonies are striped red and white, and the New Year's Eve song contest sets a Red team against a White team.

Mourners wear plain black, called mofuku, to funerals, and men add a black tie. Condolence money goes in an envelope tied with black and white cord.