* Was chosen the highest ranking color by an Empress around 600 AD; following Chinese example.
   * In Japan, made from gromwell dye  (むらさぎ）
         * made from the roots
         * roughly the colour of eggplant
         * applying the dye over and over again
         * called こだい　むらさき, purple of old.
        * So popular, that in Heian court いろ without any modifier ment purple.
   
   * Since Heian associated with intimacy:

> //murasaki no hito-moto yue ni Musashino no//
> //kusa wa mina kara aware to zo miru//
> (Because of a single clump of gromwell / all the grasses in Musashi Plain are dear to me; anonymous poem from 10th century)

   * The association maybe is because the color will rub off, like the bodies and souls are died with thoughts of lovers.

> 紫の色のゆかりに藤花かかれる松もむつましきかな
> //murasaki no iro no yukari ni fuji no hana//
> //kakareru matsu mo mutsumashiki kana//
> (Because of the relationship to the colour purple / the wisteria-hanging pine tree, too, feels intimate; by Fujiwara-no-Akisuke, ~1100 AD)