Ancient yellow as a lower color, but why did the emperor wear yellow robes?

Ming Guangzong dressed in yellow twelve groups of twelve chapters embroidered gun dragon robe Tang Yi De Prince tomb mural dressed in purple, scarlet, green, green, yellow regular round neck robes of the chamberlain Wen/Yangmei Sword Dance Drawing/Yan Wang to dress to reflect the rank, in ancient times is a particularly important means of distinguishing between the social classes of status, rank and official high and low. After the founding of the country, successive generations have continued to define them in detail over and over again, in order to "identify the nobility and the inferiority and make clear the dignity of the people", forming a well-developed and complicated system of dress. Clothing level can be distinguished by style, accessories, patterns of different, since the Northern Dynasties, clothing color has gradually become an important method of differentiation, forming a complete standardized "color clothing" system, the basic sequence from top to bottom is purple, scarlet, green, green, yellow, white. In addition, there is a later overriding all the colors of the emperor "yellow". So the question is, why did the emperor wear yellow robes? This is a topic worth exploring. We have always heard a lot of sayings, such as the earth virtue in the center of the Shang yellow and so on. But to really answer this question, may still have to start from the formation process of the color order of this kind of clothing. The traditional Han Jin dress before the Northern Dynasties, there is no strict sense of color arrangement system, more through the crown, seal, ribbon, wear and other parts of the difference to distinguish. Northern Zhou for the first time in the guards dress, "color clothes" reference, "the book of the Zhou - Xuan Di Ji": "Da Xiang two years of the edict Tiantai guards of the officials, are wearing five colors and red, purple and green clothes, to the edge of the miscellaneous colors, the name of the product color clothes. In the second year of Daxiang, the officials of the Tiantai guards were all dressed in five colors and red, purple, and green, with a mixture of colors as the edge, called the color coat. But the system is not detailed, decades later, Sui Daye six years, for the first time clearly formulated the grade of the color of the officer's clothes, "Sui Shu - rituals seven": "edict from the driver step far, civil and military officers, etc. are all Rongyi. Nobility and inferiority, mixed use of five colors. Above the fifth grade, the purple robe, above the sixth grade, both with scarlet and green, Xu official to green, common people to white, butcher to soap, soldiers to yellow." Formally identified the purple robe for more than five civil and military officials of the first class color, the following scarlet green green and white in turn. Tang Wude four years to promulgate clothes order, inherited its system and gradually adjusted to improve, "ordinary clothing, not for the difference, now has been detailed, with a different style, it is appropriate to issue, salty make known, so three products above the purple, four products below the service scarlet, six products seven products to green, eight products nine products to green," "the flow of foreign officials and the plebeian The color of clothing with yellow". Tang Dynasty, after six or seven fine-tuning, basically determined the purple, scarlet (Zhu), green, green (Bi), yellow (white) of the five levels of color system, and basically used for future generations. At the end of the Northern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty, the causes of this color sequence is multi-faceted, but the underlying reasons, perhaps, and the various colors at the time of dyeing the degree of difficulty of the relationship is relatively large. First of all, purple is the first color. Purple is the inter-color, in the traditional Chinese black, white, red, yellow, green five positive colors outside, Han Liu Xi "interpretation of the name": "Purple, blemish is also, not the right color. The five colors of blemishes to confuse people." Early in theory is not a noble color, before the Wei and Jin Dynasties also rarely into the orthodox clothing system, in addition to ribbons, basically more informal common use. But its color is quite attractive, can "confuse people", is the color of fashion, the warring states to two han since wearing more and more. Han Fei Zi? Foreign Reserve said on the left" has recorded a "Duke Huan of Qi good purple clothes" story, because Duke Huan of Qi preferred to dress purple, "a country all dress purple", resulting in purple silk price is more than several times the price of plain silk, and later because of the Duke Huan of Qi took the initiative not to serve purple and the popularity of the recession. But here is only one time and one place popular color growth, did not change the status of purple color. The Analects of Confucius - Yangguo: "Wicked purple to take away the Zhu also, wicked Zheng sound of the chaos of elegant music also." Despite its popularity, purple is still seen as an unorthodox color. We in the Han dynasty murals, terracotta figurines, but also often see the use of light purple tunic, but the identity of the wearer and others do not have a hierarchical high and low points, slaves, guards are, just one of the miscellaneous colors. The two han clothes purple examples since the Wei Jin and North and South Dynasties, the status of purple rose rapidly, in the Sui Dynasty officially beyond the Zhu color, jumped to the first-class service color of the permanent clothing for the officials, often said that with the Taoist reverence for purple as well as the Tang Dynasty to promote the Taoist religion, but perhaps this is also difficult to obtain and the purple dyes at that time have a greater relationship. Then one could also mention the influence of the Western concept of purple as a precious color. In the ancient West, high-quality purple dye was mainly extracted from the liquid secreted by a type of bone snail produced on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, known as bone snail violet. The Phoenician city-state of Tyre was best known for its purple dye, so it was also known as "Tyre Violet", which itself is derived from the Greek word for "purple-red". The bone conch itself is limited in origin, and it is said that thousands of conchs can only refine a few grams of purple dye, resulting in its extremely high value, and sometimes even ten grams of gold can only buy a gram of dye. Ancient Greece, Egypt, Babylon, Rome are regarded as purple for the noble color, the ordinary citizens of Rome wearing white toga, and senior officials toga can have purple edging, the Roman Senate allows only the royal family to wear purple robes, 4-6 century Theodosia Code and the Eastern Roman Empire Imperial Code of Laws recorded in detail for the royal family for the monopoly on the purple silk of bone conch, so the purple is also known as the "imperial purple". After the Wei and Jin dynasties, the northwest of all nationalities into the Central Plains on a large scale, the Western Cornucopia Hu merchants also frequent activities, while bringing cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Since the Northern Qi Xianbeiization of the aristocrats re-oppose Sinicization, reverence for Western Hu culture, Western Hu Sut residence or the king of the House of countless, Hu people's rimmed round-necked gowns and shirts gradually popular up and down the Central Plains, from the Northern Wei Dynasty after the Central Plains tomb figurines and Buddhist feeders can also be seen in the image of the West, the proportion of the Hu outfit is getting bigger and bigger, and finally even exceeded the ratio of the Xianbei clothes and Chinese clothing, such as Shen Kuo said "Since the Northern Qi Dynasty, all Hu clothing was used". By the Sui Dynasty, hu clothing had been fully integrated into the Central Plains, and became the most common clothing worn by people on a daily basis. And at this time, it happened to form a round neck Hu clothing as the basis of the officials of the regular clothing system, the concept of color hierarchy is embodied in it, and did not touch the simultaneous existence of the Central Plains of the Han and Jin dynasties traditional ceremonial clothing, the color system of court dress, in parallel with it. Then purple at this time to become a first-class service color of the hu-type permanent clothing, it seems that we can not rule out the possibility of being affected by the concept of imported Western influence. At the same time, in China, although the purple color does not need to be obtained from the expensive bone snail purple, but the dyeing is not easy. China's traditional purple dye is basically only the root of comfrey, the preparation of complex, its pigment comfrey quinone is difficult to dissolve in water, and not very stable, a time can only adsorb a small amount of pigment, the need for dozens of times repeatedly dyed, only in the silk on the coloring of the relatively easy, and in the civilian hemp, kudzu on the more difficult dyeing in the technology is suitable for becoming a high-level color. Pre-qin comfrey dyeing concentrated in the eastern part of qi, this is also mentioned before "qi huan duong good purple" can appear basis. There is another article in "Guan Zi", which is about the "common gromwell" strategy: "In the past, the people of Lai were good at dyeing. In the past, the people of Lai were good at dyeing, so they practiced the common gromwell in Lai to make one cent per cent. The common gromwell was one cent per cent of its circumference. The people of Lai knew this, and heard that Common Gromwell was empty." The purple silk dyed by the Lai people in Shandong Province was worth ten gold in Zhou, so the Lai people purchased a large amount of it and sold it to Zhou for profiteering. This also shows that dyeing purple was not an easy thing to popularize. It is worth noting that, in the Han and Jin ribbons, in addition to the royal family, vassals and phases of the various red and yellow (crimson) ribbon and green ribbon, purple ribbon is almost the highest of the rest of the officials in the ribbon, but also reflects the rising status of purple. Since the Sui dynasty set purple for the first-class service color, in the Tang and Song dynasties "purple" is synonymous with identity and dignity, to get a purple robe with gold belt, is the lifelong pursuit of countless people, but also the formation of a "borrowed purple", "give purple The system of "borrowing purple" and "giving purple" was also formed. Interestingly, to the Ming Dynasty, perhaps because of the "evil purple take Zhu" and the national surname "Zhu" conflict relationship, the status of purple fell, and was canceled first-class service color and replaced by Zhu color. Song after the purple dyeing technology gradually improve and enrichment, Song early "first dyeing for green, Xu to purple grass dyeing" oil purple dyeing method, to the Chunxi years, there is a "cover is not the first with the green, and change the scarlet for the foot, with less purple grass, can capture Zhu" scarlet green set of dyeing method, only to save the use of violet grass. Only to save the use of violet grass. And due to the large number of imported wood from the South China Sea, wood and alum dyeing, has become a new source of purple. Purple under the scarlet or Zhu, red, since ancient times has been regarded as a positive color, noble color, auspicious color, but also relatively difficult to dye the color. In the early days, red dyeing was mostly done with the root of Rubia cordifolia, which was boiled and dyed with alum and other mordants to obtain rubia cordifolia dyeing. Rubia cordifolia is suitable for silk dyeing, and in the cotton and linen fabrics on the effect is not good. And another traditional pigment cinnabar, is also more difficult to color the red dye, difficult to promote. Since the Han Dynasty, the petals of safflower have been used mostly as a red dye. Saffron, or red and blue, is generally believed to have originated centered in the Near East and northern Egypt, and was introduced to the northwest of China in the Western Han Dynasty, and gradually began to appear in cultivation in the Central Plains of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Safflower contains both yellow and red pigments, the water-soluble yellow pigment of which is mostly discarded because other sources of yellow dye are abundant enough. Safflower picking after the first amalgamation separation of yellow pigment, re-amalgamation solid safflower pigment, fermentation, and then drying made of dried safflower or shade-dried into safflower cake, can be further dyeing, in the period of the North and South Dynasties does not belong to a very easy to obtain dyes. Saffron dyed scarlet red than crocus dyed red more bright and moving, if compared with the relatively calm and simple green, indeed more dazzling, in the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou is very popular six towns of Xianbei welcome the color of Hu, such as the "Book of the Zhou" that is, there are the northern clan of the rich and noble with the scarlet damask gown records, the "Old Book of Tang" also said that the Northern Qi "Gao's Emperors, often wearing scarlet gowns". So the scarlet and purple, the two then dyed into the highest cost of the color, also became the highest level of the two dress colors. However, to become a high-level color at the same time also stimulate a more intense pursuit of early technical limitations, to the Tang Dynasty, because of the expansion of purple and vermilion fabric demand, purple grass and safflower planting has been widely popular, ZhenGuan ten road in nine are planted. Coupled with the introduction of new dyeing materials such as Su Fang, technically also for the later generations of all kinds of transgression provides the possibility of red has become a kind of prohibited colors, such as the "book of Yuan Turtle" mentioned "purple clothing red clothes to identify the noble and the lowly, and then there is a cockeyed boys and servants openly take". To the Ming Dynasty, because the purple in the service system was abolished, Zhu red jumped up to the first-class public service color, and at the same time more become the country's most enthusiastic about the color of auspicious clothing. Tang Five Dynasties, Song and Ming mural paintings in the scarlet, vermilion regular clothing, public clothing compared to the noble warm tones of purple, vermilion, cold tones of green, green is relatively low common third and fourth class clothing colors. The main source of blue color is indigo, the raw material of indigo is rich in varieties of bluegrass, such as polygonum, woad, wood blue, mountain blue, etc., which is easy to grow and widely distributed. The Chinese have a long history of planting and utilizing bluegrass, and it is a very early discovery and rapid entry into the use of plant dyes by the common people, "Xia Xiaozheng" in "May Kai irrigation of blue polygonum", "Rituals - Monthly Orders" "the day of midsummer, so that the people will not be ai blue to dye", the "Book of Poetry" has "end of the dynasty pick blue", the Northern Wei "Qimin Essentials" also recorded a more detailed system of indigo law. It can be seen that at least before the Qin and Han dynasties, bluegrass cultivation has been relatively common. So from the pre-Qin has been to modern times, green in China have been belonging to the extremely daily dress color, "Han book - Cheng Di Ji" has "green and green people often dress", "Jin order" has "pawns hundred workers track color no more than green, green and white". In modern times, green-blue is still an important color of the traditional clothing of many ethnic groups, including the Han, and the only part of the traditional dyeing technology preserved in the Han region is also only blue dyeing. Green, in the traditional concept of the original that is the base color, between the colors, is a lower status of the color, but also the most common colors in nature. Ancient dyeing green mostly by overlaying in the green on the dyeing of arctostaphylos or acacia flowers and become, green, green is a similar color system, since the Tang Dynasty, the two sort of or before or after, mostly in the regular clothing color level in the back position, "green shirt", "green robe", "green shirt", "green robe", "green robe" also often become a humble official's pronouns or self-effacing words. In addition to low-level officials, ordinary women and the status of the humble slave girl can also wear the green Bi, "New Book of Tang" said that the late Tang "women dressed in green Bi Val", "all the ministries and commissions, the guest girl, slave girl clothing through the clothing green Bi," so the "green clothing So "qingyi" also became a synonym for maidservants, servant girls and poor and simple women, such as the Dunhuang "Book of the Release of Family Children in the Third Year of Qingtai of the Later Tang Dynasty," which records "the release of the family children in Qingyi and women's postal scripts." Tomorrow Shun two years issued by the ban on the color of the dress had included a "black and green", Hongzhi 17 years, Ming Xiaozong and Li Dongyang, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, etc. in the Warming Pavilion to re-agree to discuss the Ministry of Rites to ban the color of the dress, there is a dialogue: on the said: "the will of the basilisk, black and green, black and green and the green are commonly used on earth, do not have to ban it. The clothes, do not have to ban it." Chen Qian said: "is the metaphysical color like black and green ear." On also said: "black and green often clothes, banning is also difficult, is not necessary to say and also." Also said: "Xuan color can be banned, black and green is the earth's regular clothes, do not have to ban." All No and retired. Emperor Xiaozong that the black and green and green are folk daily use of clothing colors, repeatedly stressed that can not be included in the ban, although the minister explained that it refers to the black and green is close to the dark colors, and finally or to stop. Visible green at the time of the popular use of folk. Green, green after the yellow and white light color system, since the Sui and Tang dynasties are basically as a flow of foreign officials and the common people dress color, also has its technical deep reasons. In the natural plant, can become dye material yellow pigment is actually the most abundant source, acacia, gardenia, arthraxis, sumac, phellodendron, cudgel, ground yellow, mulberry bark, tulip, turmeric, pomegranate skin and so on can be used as a variety of yellow dyes. In addition, its dyeing technology is also relatively easy, most of the yellow dyeing materials are direct type dyes, but also through different mordant to get different shades of yellow system. So yellow becomes one of the easiest fabric colors to dye. The fabric that is not dyed at all is the cheapest white material, the lowest cost "color". Then yellow and white naturally became the end of the Sui and Tang clothing color hierarchy. Tang dynasty literature, in addition to the many times issued in the service system mentioned that "the flow of foreign officials and the common people, the color of clothing with yellow", there are "the husband of the general service of yellow, white", "slaves and ministries of the general service of yellow, white," and so on. Records. In ancient times, there was "yellow clothes to choose people", since the pre-Qin Dynasty, "white clothes", "white Ding" has been used to address the civilian without merit or official position or a low-ranking minor official. In the Five Dynasties, there was a poem that said "green robe spring grass color, white Boehmeria nivea abandoned as hatred", that is, once the beginning of the official position, they could not wait to take off the white clothes and put on the green official robe. Ming Hongwu twenty-six years issued by the color ban, there is even a "court personnel, four times and color clothes, not allowed to plain", prohibited into the court dressed in pure white clothes and the same as the common people. So, since yellow is one of the lowest color, then back to the beginning of the question, why did the emperor also wear yellow robes? Actually, there is a longstanding misunderstanding here. In a long time, yellow is not the emperor's exclusive color, there is no color taboos, is indeed the most basic robe color. Because "the upper can be both under, the lower can not usurp the upper" principle, as a non-ceremonial occasions dress, the early Tang officials "into the court and see things listen to the dress yellow, and the common people are no different", can also be at any time at will to wear the people's yellow robes. But Tang Shangyuan years there was a "ban on yellow order", caused by a "Luoyang Lieutenant with yellow clothes at night, for the Department of the people beaten", officials wearing yellow robes at night, was treated as an ordinary person beatings, which into how to behave, Emperor Gaozong heard after the "imperial decree Affirmation of, from now on the ranks of the pilgrimage, all are not allowed to wear yellow", prohibiting officials from wearing yellow pilgrimage ("Tang Hui Yao - Public Opinion Clothing", "the book of Yuan Turtle - the establishment of the system"). This record in the old book of the Tang Dynasty was omitted cause and premise, simply recorded as "the beginning of all not allowed to wear yellow", often regarded by many scholars as the country "ban yellow", the yellow color will be promoted as the beginning of the emperor's exclusive color. But a careful analysis of the original historical materials, we can find that in fact the opposite is true, only for the officials and the common people up and down the difference, prohibit the hundred officials to participate in the ranks of the service of yellow, we look at after the Tang government repeatedly issued adjustments to a variety of systems, yellow and white is still the common people's clothing color. In addition to look at the Tang three hundred years of various excavated murals, paintings, terracotta figures, yellow robes or the image of the minor officials, slaves, music and geisha also abound, very common. The early Tang to the late Tang murals, wooden figurines in the yellow robes of minor officials attendants, however, since the Sui dynasty, the emperor does also wear yellow, the beginning of the yellow is only because of the daily common clothing, in order to take the relationship between the convenience, from the emperor to the common people are a large number of people wearing, only the aristocrats to use relatively high-level damask fabrics, as well as with high-level decorative belts only. The Sui book" has "today's military uniforms, all can Shang yellow", "the old Tang book" said: "Sui dynasty emperors and ministers, more than yellow silk robe, silk hat, nine ring belt, leather six boots. Hundred officials regular clothes, the same as the Pi Shu, are wearing yellow robes, in and out of the temple province, the son of heaven court dress is also like this, but with thirteen rings added to the difference, cover to take in the convenience of the matter." Shaanxi Tongguan tax village tomb mural figures are wearing yellow and white collar Tang dynasty inherited its old habits, the emperor's regular clothes continue to use yellow, but need to point out is that the emperor belongs to the "yellow", in fact, and the common people of the ordinary yellow is not exactly the same, and is not our general concept of bright yellow, but the color is a little darker, yellow in the reddish "Ochre yellow", "red yellow". This choice may also have a certain relationship with the personal preferences of the Sui emperor, that is, the "Sui book" and the two Tang books mentioned many times, "Sui emperor like to wear ochre yellow damask robes", the early Tang "due to the old system of sui", the emperor is also "to ochre yellow robes, scarves and belts for regular clothes", or "the emperor's robes and shirts slightly with red yellow", ochre yellow is often also written as "cudgel yellow", "the emperor cudgel yellow robes and shirts", should be the color dyed with cudgel or sumac. It should be the color dyed by Tsuge or Sumac. This is clearly reflected in the picture of the emperor in the emperor's carriage, in which Tang Taizong is wearing a relatively dark ochre yellow, while the scarlet-robed officials and the officials trailing after the brocade-robed Ludongzan are wearing light white robes. The ochre-yellow robe of the emperor's carriage was not forbidden to the common people at the beginning, and did not formally enter the clothing system of the Tang Dynasty, but was only the emperor's daily preferred clothing. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the official revision of the Six Tang Dynasty Canons, which stated the dress system of the son of heaven, after listing all the official costumes, only added a small note at the end: "Since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, the system of ochre yellow robes and scarves, belts, to listen to the court, and so far it has become the common practice. However, it is because of this "so often", at first casually worn ochre yellow robes were used by the emperor for a long time, gradually became the emperor's exclusive color, "so prohibited the common people shall not be red and yellow for clothing miscellaneous ornaments" ("New Book of the Tang Dynasty"), the Five Dynasties and the condensed "Palace Lyrics" have "Purple prairie light pinned the return of the big driver, the imperial building first saw ochre yellow clothes", "Dayuan canon" also has "the common people shall not serve ochre yellow" order. Du Fu, in his "Song of Huaqing" (戏作花卿歌), told us that Duan Zizhang was executed after he set himself up as the king of Liang in Mianzhou, and he said, "The deputy ambassador of Mianzhou was dressed in ochre-yellow, and I, the minister of the state, swept it away on the same day", which was used to refer to the rebellion of the emperor in ochre-yellow. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin Chenqiao mutiny, the famous "yellow robe", should also be the yellow robe, such as Ouyang Xuan "Chen Tuan sleep map" said: "Chenqiao night yellow robe, the world are no snoring bed." Over the centuries, the concept of ochre (cudgel) yellow as an imperial garment gradually became entrenched, and its color palette gradually expanded, not only ochre yellow, but the entire status of yellow was gradually transformed and upgraded. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's regular clothes were directly defined as "robe yellow", and the crown prince's regular clothes were "robe red". Hongwu first year in February Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict, "the general public clothing miscellaneous color plate collar clothing, not with yellow", Hongwu three years and "edict in the province of Shen banned officials and people shall not be decorated with yellow for clothing", began to comprehensively prohibit the yellow, and after the ban on the scope of the yellow extends to "! Willow yellow, bright yellow, ginger yellow". But despite this, ochre yellow is still commonly used by the emperor exclusive robe color. Surviving portraits of Ming emperors, especially in the middle and late period, most of the emperors did wear a variety of ochre yellow, reddish-yellow robes. Ming Li Shizhen "Compendium of Materia Medica" cudgel mentioned in the article "its wood dyed yellow and red, called cudgel yellow, the son of God," visible in the general concept at that time, but also cudgel dyed yellow and red as the son of God dress color. Tianqi five years, Wei Zhongxian had framed the son of Ning'an Grand Princess, "new ochre yellow five-clawed dragon robe", which was stolen by the imperial regulations to the big辟. In the Journey to the West, there is an episode in which the King of Ghosts offers a yellow robe. The one-horned King of Ghosts came to see the Monkey King and flattered him, saying, "Now that I see that the King of Kings has been awarded a heavenly talisman and has returned to the country in honor, I hereby offer you an ochre-yellow robe to celebrate with the King of Kings." Sun Wukong wore the ochre and yellow robe, also self-appointed "Great Sage of Qi Tian" to fight against the Heavenly Court. Ming Xiaozong, Emperor Shenzong, Emperor Mu Zong imperial appearance of Qing Emperor Qianlong like the Qing Emperor, after the bright yellow court dress (left), Prince, Consort golden yellow court dress (right) until the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor and Queen of the color of the court dress is clearly adjusted to the highest degree of brightness of the "bright yellow", the Emperor and the Consort, Consort with a slightly more reddish-yellow "gold", non-special gifts forbidden to the King of Heaven, the Monkey King wore ochre yellow robe. ", non-special ban on the use of the plebeians. Because the Qing Dynasty is the closest to us, so now the general concept of the Chinese people in the emperor's color, is this "bright yellow", but it may be difficult to imagine, this symbol of imperial power in later generations of the highest color, in the beginning, but only the common people's ordinary clothing color. Another interesting thing is, imitation of the Tang system of Japan, still ochre yellow as the emperor's exclusive color, which also provides us with a Tang dynasty emperor yellow robe specific color of the circumstantial evidence. In the ninth year of Hirohito (818) at the beginning of the Heian period, the thirteenth year of Emperor Xianzong Yuanhe of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Saga issued a new edict that "ceremonial clothing should all follow the Tang law." In the eleventh year of the reign of Emperor Hirohito (820), the emperor issued an edict to change the emperor's clothing, using the Tang production brought back by the recently returned Tang envoy, Kiyohiro Sugawara, as a model, and stipulating that the emperor should use a coronet for the Genjyo dynastic court, and that "yellow capitals should be used to dye the clothes for major and minor assemblies" (Nihon Kiritsugu). The color of the clothes is ochre yellow dyed with sumac and sumac, and it can be seen that the Tang Dynasty emperor's regular color is not far from this, which has become an absolute ban on the color of the Emperor in Japan. It was not until Emperor Meiji's accession to the throne that he abolished the coronet and upgraded the "Sumac-dyed Imperial Robe" to a sash for his accession to the throne, and it became the grandest dress of the Emperor of Japan in modern times. Sumac dyed imperial robe sash attire, Emperor Meiji's imperial robe Emperor Myung-in's sumac dyed imperial robe additional note: there are many friends mentioned the Tang Dynasty Tudor problem, I will be more verbose two sentences. As mentioned earlier, many people, including most of the previous study, often like to take the yellow robe to the five elements of the five colors of the dynastic moral luck Shang color theory explains that the Tang Dynasty for the earth virtue, so the emperor yellow robe. In fact, the moral luck Shang color can not be simply understood as a dynasty of emperors revered dress color, five elements Shang color is the theory of the Warring States later, and become the orthodox political theory of the later generations of the change of dynasty tool, mainly symbolic concept, at most only embodied in a few periods of some of the sacrificial banners and some of the ceremonial dress, the use of the situation is complex, and almost did not touch the reality of the dress. The imperial dynasty ritual dress system is long and huge, the formulation of the system more benefit from successive generations, not a dynasty of a color so simple. And rituals outside the color of the robe, and the five virtues Shang color is more not much connection, the emperor's round neck yellow robe itself appeared in the Sui dynasty, Sui for the fire of virtue Shang Chi, Sui Wendi after the reign of the imperial decree, that is: "five virtues are born, the total in order to say, and suitable for the color of the fire. ...... in the rituals and the military, the fashion is always different. Today's military uniforms, all can Shang yellow." Clearly mentioned the military clothing (that is, the predecessor of the regular clothes) color of "still" and the dynasty of sacrifice still color is not a concept, and even to deliberately differentiate, to avoid confusion. Tang Dynasty is indeed the theory of the soil of virtue Shang yellow, but the Tang Dynasty emperor clothing system in the thirteen kinds of crown clothing is not a yellow, and even the successive generations of yellow and red changes in the coronation clothes in the Tang Dynasty or red. And then the emperor "yellow" robe as mentioned above is not the five elements of the five positive color "yellow", strictly speaking, or inter-color ochre yellow, just inherited the daily clothing habits of the Sui dynasty, it is not appropriate to attach it with the dynasty of moral luck, the positive color in the "yellow" instead just flow outside the official and commoner's clothing color. Later generations of the Ming Dynasty fire German, Qing Dynasty water German, still the yellow as the emperor's color, with the Shang color said to explain the more implausible. Supplementary two: the so-called yellow emperor wore yellow robes, in fact, is "XuanYiYuangShang", refers to the pre-Qin that has started, to the Eastern Han Dynasty, WeiJin re-inheritance continuation of the emperor's "coronet" system in the yellow skirt, TianXuanYuanDiYang, XuanYi symbolize the sky, the yellow garment symbolizes the earth. This system as the emperor's highest and most solemn ceremonial dress, has been used until the Ming Dynasty, the color of its clothes is always the basilisk, but the color of the lower garment, in the end, is yellow, or crimson (another yellow and red), or red, as an important national ceremonial system, the successive generations of debate, and even a dynasty has been adjusted many times over and over again. This is a completely separate matter from the hu-style regular clothes, and should not be confused with the Han-style ceremonial clothing. The emperors chart of the Sui emperor's coronation dress, for the crimson robe; Dingling excavated Wanli yellow dress replica