Thousand Cranes

These three colors symbolize The Juxtaposition of Beauty and Ugliness. In Japanese culture, the colors red and white are commonly associated with beauty, with white symbolizing purity and clarity and red carrying connotations of value and divinity. The national flag of Japan carries these two colors. The women to whom Kikuji is attracted—Mrs. Ota, Yukiko, and Fumiko—are associated at various points through the novel with these two colors. For example, Mrs. Ota is linked to the white Shino vase and Fumiko to the red-tinged Shino cup. Red kimonos are traditionally worn to weddings whereas white clothes would traditionally be worn while mourning, creating a parallel between marriage and death and a link between beauty and loss. Flowers are a classic symbol of beauty, and while the flowers that Kikuji sends to Fumiko are white, the morning glory that he observes in his home is red.

In Thousand Cranes, the color black contrasts with the use of red and white through its association with ugliness. This is the color most commonly associated with the character Chikako, whose unattractive physical appearance reflects her “poisonous” personality. Chikako’s birthmark, which represents ugliness in the way it repulses and sickens Kikuji, is a symbol of Chikako’s own negative traits, and of the damage wrought by Kikuji’s father’s infidelity. The mark is described as dark and covered with black hairs. The negative connotations of this color are reinforced by the fact that Kikuji’s melancholic moods are associated with darkness and shadows, too; his final, unpleasant meeting with Chikako is entirely shrouded in darkness.