Colours in Vatican City and Japan

Cardinals wear scarlet. The colour means that they must be ready to shed their blood for the faith.

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.

The flag is yellow and white, for the gold and silver keys of Saint Peter. It is one of only two square national flags.

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.

Bishops wear a red-purple shade called amaranth. Priests wear violet vestments in Advent and Lent, the seasons of waiting and penance.

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.

The pope wears a white cassock. When cardinals elect a new pope, white smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel chimney, and black smoke means no decision.

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.