IJAAF/IJNAS Colours (Japan)

Of all major powers of the 2nd world war, Japan is probably the nation least documented. Outside of the general information, few details have been preserved, indexed and published.

This also is the case with the painting systems used by the Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces. While systems such as the RLM have been heavily researched and documented, a lot of information about Japanese systems is still undiscovered, and what is known is often purely empirical, based on old photographs and painting chips. The information that has been discovered is often not widely known and published on the internet. A lack in the subject perhaps? Nevertheless I’ve tried to create a comprehensive list of all the Japanese paints. Nothing here is primary research. Merely snippets of information I’ve locate on the abandoned corners of the web and scruffy books.

As with all pages of this type, the colours shown are an approximation. Monitors can change the colour displayed and don’t account for shading and glossiness. In reality these colours would also fade over time, and different batches had different tones.

(IJNAF/IJAAF) Thorpe system

In the 1960’s, researcher Donald Thorpe tried to index the colours used by Japanese aircraft. His system was the first comprehensive system.
The system is created purely by examining old photographs, paint chips and other surviving artefacts and it’s naming is purely arbitrary as a result. Nonetheless it gives a clear overview of the paints often used on Japanese Aircraft.
Army colours were denoted with an A and navy colours with an N. Some colours overlapped, but for readability I put them in both tables.

Army

Code	Colour	FS equivalent	Gunze	Tamiya	Vallejo	AK
A1	Dark Green	FS-26081		XF-67
	Single overall colour Upper surface camouflage Sometimes as anti-glare
A2	Olive Green	FS-34088
	Single overall colour Upper Surface camouflage Possibly #7; Ohryoku 7 Go Shoku
A3	Medium Green	FS-34108
	Unit Markings colours Upper Surface camouflage Possibly IJA #39
A4	Light green	FS-25352	H-062	XF-14
	Upper and Lower Surface camouflage Possible the same colour as A5, #1 Hai Ryoku Shoku
A5	Light grey Green	FS-25414		XF-12
	Control surfaces of all metal aircraft Upper and Lower Surface camouflage Single overall colour Possible the same colour as A4, #1 Hai Ryoku Shoku
A6	Dark Grey	FS-26132
	Single overall colour Upper Surface Camouflage
A7	Medium Grey	FS-36300
	Single overall colour Upper and Lower Surface camouflage
A8	Medium Blue Grey	FS-35177
	Single overall colour Upper and Lower Surface camouflage
A9	Light Grey	FS-36650
	Single overall colour Upper and Lower Surface camouflage Landing gear assemblies
A10	Light Blue Grey	FS-35550
	Lower Surface Camouflage
A11	Dark Brown	FS-20059	C-131
	Upper Surface Camouflage Spinners and Propellers Unit Markings
A12	Medium brown	FS-10075		XF-64
	Upper Surface Camouflage Sometimes used as a primer
A13 (N12)	Dull brown	FS-20061
	Primer Spinners and Propellers
A14	light earth	FS-30475
	Upper Surface Camouflage Might be the same colour as A15
A15	Ivory yellow	FS-20260
	Upper Surface Camouflage Might be the same colour as A14
A16 (N13)	Yellow	FS-13655		XF-3
	Wing leading edge Unit Markings colours Single overall colour of training aircraft
A17 (N14)	Deep yellow	FS-23538
	Wing leading edge Unit Markings colours
A18 (N16)	translucent blue Aotake	FS-15125		any%X-25 any%X-23 over bare metal coat
	Interior Primer
A19 (N18)	Red Orange	FS-21400
	Single overall colour of training and experimental aircraft
A20 (N19)	Himomaru red weathered	FS-21136
	Hinomaru weathered
A21 (N20)	Hinomaru red fresh	FS-31350		XF-7
	Hinomaru fresh Airframe waring stencils Unit Markings colours
A22	dark blue	FS-35048
	Anti glare
A23 (N21)	medium blue	FS-35183
	Unit Markings colours Spinners
A24 (N22)	blue-black	FS17038	50% H-055 50% H-002	X-18
	Anti glare Numerals and stencils overall surfaces for night aircraft
	Natural metal		H-008	XF-16
	Unpainted surfaces

Navy

Code	Colour	FS equivalent	Gunze	Tamiya	Vallejo	AK
N1	Black Green	FS-14056
	Single Overall Camouflage Upper Surface Camouflage Cowlings
N2	Dark Green	FS-34058	H-059	XF-11
	Upper Surface Camouflage
N3	Dark Grey Green	FS-34094
	Upper Surface Camouflage
N4	Light Grey Green	FS-24226
	Cockpit, Interior
N5	Light Olive Green	FS-34151
	Cockpit, Interior
N6	Buff Green	FS-14255
	Rear Spars, Wheel wells, ect
N7	Black Grey	FS-27040
	Single Overall Camouflage Cowlings
N8	Dark Grey	FS-36081
	Single Overall Camouflage Upper Surface camouflage
N9	Medium Grey	FS-34201
	Single Overall Camouflage Undersurface
N10	Light Grey	FS-26493		XF-12 XF-76
	Single Overall Camouflage Undersurface Camouflage Unit Markings
N11	Medium Brown	FS-26493		XF-10
	Upper Surface Camouflage
N12	Red Brown	No close approximation
	Exterior Primer
N13 (A16)	Medium Yellow	FS-20061		XF-3
	Single Overall Camouflage of trainer aircraft
N14 (A17)	Deep Yellow	FS-13655
	Wing ID Markings, Unit Markings, Stencils
N15	Yellow Ochre	FS-23538	10%H-003 90%H-014
	Wing ID markings, Experimental Aircraft
N16 (A18)	Translucent Blue Aotake	FS-15125		any%X-25 any%X-23 over bare metal coat
	Bare Metal Prime Coat
N17	Translucent Green Aotake	No close approximation		any%X-25 any%X-23 over bare metal coat
	Bare Metal Prime Coat
N18 (A19)	Red Orange	FS-21400
	Training, Experimental Rare Hinomaru
N19 (A20)	Deep Red	FS-21136
	Hinomaru Unit Markings
N20 (A21)	Medium Red	FS-31350		XF-7
	Hinomaru Unit Markings
N21 (A23)	Medium Blue	FS-35183
	Unit Markings
N22 (A24)	Black	FS-17038
	Unit Markings, Anti-Glare, Overall, Stencils
	Natural metal
	Single Overall Camouflage
	White
	Single Overall Camouflage

(IJAAF) Kō-kaku 39 / 航格39

The kokaku 39, (陸軍航空機材料規格　航格第39) was a standard for paints used by the IJAAF.

Code	Colour	Equivalent	Gunze	Tamiya	Hataka	AK
#1 灰緑色	Hairyokushoku Grey Green ash green	FS-25622		XF-76		AK2261
	Standard overall colour of aircraft fron 1936-1945 The precise appearance is still argued about. Thorpe A4 Aviation of Japan – Army Hairyokushoku Part 1
#2 黄橙色	Tohohshoku Yellow Orange
	Overall trainer Colour
#3 灰藍色	Hairanshoku Ash Indigo	FS-25053 ?				AK2262
	Interior Primer from 1936-1943, replacement of Aotake of army air craft. In practice this only happened for crew areas and Aotake kept being used as primer for other internal areas. Known aircraft with this paint are the Type 91, Ki-21, Ki-27, Ki-36, Ki-43, Ki-44 and Ki-48 Different Sources often depict this colour as a lot less blue. As I personally have the most faith in this post from straggler in Aviation of Japan, I’ve choosen to depict it as such.
#4 赤褐色	Seki-Kashoku
	Propeller and Spinner Colour
#5	Gin-Iro Silver
	bare metal
#7 黄緑七号色	Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku Olive Brown	FS-33070				AK2263
	On the 14th of June 1944 a revisited ‘Rikugun kokuki tosou kitei’, Army Aircraft Painting Regulation was distributed. The new regulations weren’t applied immediately, with new aircraft only appearing from August onward, the Hayate even waiting to October. Exterior colour from June 1944 onwards Interior colour from June 1944 onwards Please note that Kawasaki didn’t adhere to these regulations, and used Aviation of Japan – Useful colours  ~ Army interiors part 2 AviationOfJapan – More about JAAF # 7
#9 赤色
	Hinomaru’s
#10 赤色	Awai aka iro
	Hinomaru’s
#11 黒色	Kuro iro black
	Anti-Glare paint
#12 白色	Shiro iro White
#13 青色	Ao iro blue colour
	http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/08/useful-colours-army-interiors-part-one.html
#14 黄色	Ki iro	FS-33538		XF-3
	Identification markings,
#17 淡青色	Tan Sei Shoku	FS-25352
	http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/02/ki-43-iii-ko-colours-part-3.html
#21 緑色	Midori iro Green IJA Green	FS-34108	C-129		HTK-A242	AK2264
	Standard camouflage green of the Imperial Japanese Army aircraft, originally intended to be used with #27 Ao Midori Iro (Blue Green) in Luftwaffe style, later solid or mottle; in use in 1941-1945.
#22 濃緑色	Noh Ryoku Shoku Deep green
#26	An Ryoku Shoku
#27 青緑色	Ao Midori Iro Blue Green	FS-34036				AK2265
	Standard camouflage green of the Imperial Japanese Army aircraft, originally intended to be used with #21 Midori Iro (Green) in Luftwaffe style, later solid or mottle; in use in 1941-1945.
#29 黄緑色	Ki Midori Iro Yellow Green	FS-34259 FS-34151				AK2266
	Aircraft interior colour used by the Imperial Japanese Army from circa 1943 Droptanks
#30 枯草色	Karekusa Iro Dry Grass Colour				HTK-A243	AK2267
	Standard camouflage color of the Imperial Japanese Army aircraft, used together with green colours in the 1937-1945 period
#31 茶褐色	Cha Kasshoku Tea Colour				HTK-A241	AK2268
	Standard camouflage colour of the Imperial Japanese Army aircraft, used together with greens in the 1937-1945 period.
#32 黒藍色	Koku Ran Shoku black indigo colour
	A very dark, blackish blue colour with slight purple undertones. Almost like an Eggplant. Anti glare panels. Nicholas Millman, Ki-61 and Ki-100 Aces (2015) Osprey Publishing
#33 柿色 カーキ色	kaaki iro Khaki
#37 暗褐色	An Kasshoku	FS-34056	FS-34108
	Prop colour
#38 濃暗褐色	Noh An Kasshoku
#39 草色	Kusa iro	FS-34056	FS-34108
#43	Tochi Iro	FS-36008
	The exact purpose and usage of this colour remain unknown, however it must have hold some significance, as it was included in 航格8609 as 2~2. Aviation of Japan – Kawasaki Ki-100 Fighter Colours
黒褐色	Kuro Kasshoku black brown	RAL-6014
	Overall colour of some Ki-100’s. Possibly a very dark variant of #7. The name is sometimes mistranslated to english as ‘charcoal’, resulting in planes depicted as black instead of very dark brown. Aviation of Japan – Kawasaki Ki-100 Fighter Colours Nicholas Millman, Ki-61 and Ki-100 Aces (2015) Osprey Publishing

(IJNAAF) 仮規117 / Kari Kikaku 117

The 海軍航空機用塗料識別標準 假規117 別冊, or ” Color identification Standard for Naval air plane –Temporary Specification No.117 Additional Volume”, often shorted to “Kari Kikaku 117” and abbreviated as “Kariki 117”, “Temporary Specification No.117”. It was published November 24 1938

The Kariki is a IJNAF specification which describes the colours used for painting aircraft from November 26 1938 onward. It contains 54 colours, divided in 17 series ranging from A to Q.

usage of this system was, as far as known, rather limited. The most famous use was in the空技報0266 / Kugiho 0266, a specification

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Code	Name	translation		Code	Name	translation
A	褐色 Kasshoku	Brown		J	灰色 Hai Iro	Ash
B	赤色 Aka Iro	Red		K	灰青色	Grey Blue
C	黄色 Ki iro	Yellow		L	鼠色 Nezumi Iro	Grey Rat colour
D	緑色 Midori Iro	Green		M	灰緑色 Hai Midori Iro	Grey Green
E	青色 Ao Iro	Blue		N	小豆色 Azuki Iro	Adzuki Bean Russet
F	藍色 Ai Iro	Indigo		O	白色 Shiro Iro	White
G	菫色 Sumire Iro	Violet		P	銀色 Gin Iro	Silver
H	茶色 Cha Iro	Tea		Q	黒色 Kuro Iro	Black
I	土色 Tsuchi Iro	Soil

swatch	Code	Colour	equivalent	Gunze	Tamiya	Vallejo	AK
	A1 褐色	brown
	A2 褐色	brown
	A3 褐色	brown
		Primer propeller blades and spinners
	A4 褐色	brown
	B1 赤色	red
	B2 赤色	red
		Markings
	B3 赤色	red
	B4 赤色	red
	C1 黄色	Yellow
		Propeller tip colour
	C2 黄色	Yellow
		Overall trainer aircraft colour
	C3 黄色	Yellow
	C4 黄色	Yellow
	D0 緑色	Green
	D1 緑色	Green
		ヨー105: Upper surface camouflage with J3 underside cockpit panel colour of at least the Kyūshū Q1W Tokai.
	D2 緑色	Green
		Camouflage paint
	D3 緑色	Green
	D4 緑色	Green
	D5 緑色	Green
	E1 青色	Blue
	E2 青色	Blue
	E3 青色	Blue
	E4 青色	Blue
	F1 藍色	Indigo
	F2 藍色	Indigo
	F3 藍色	Indigo
	G1 菫色	Violet
	H1 茶色	Tea
	H2 茶色	Tea
	H3 茶色	Tea
	H4 茶色	Tea
	I1 土色	Soil
	I2 土色	Soil
	I3 土色	Soil
	J1 灰色	Grey
	J2 灰色	Grey
		ヨー113: Upper surface camouflage with J3 underside
	J3 灰色	Grey
		ヨー105: overall aircraft camouflage, used as standard camouflage from 1937 to 1940. ヨー107, 113, 151: underside camouflage There seem to be multiple variants of this colour, 空技報0266 describes it as a greenish colour similar to M0/M1.
	K1 灰青色	Grey Green
	K2 灰青色	Grey Green
	K3 灰青色	Grey Green
	K4 灰青色	Grey Green
	L1 鼠色	Rat grey
	L2 鼠色	Rat grey
	L3 鼠色	Rat grey
	M0 灰緑色	Grey Green			XF-71
		Official IJN cockpit interior colour
	M1 灰緑色	Grey Green			XF-71
		Official IJN cockpit interior colour ヨー151: Upper surface camouflage with J3 underside
	M2 灰緑色	Grey Green
		Mitsubishi Interior Colour
	M3 灰緑色	Grey Green
		Nakajima Interior Colour
	N0 小豆色	Adzuki Bean
	N1 小豆色	Adzuki Bean
	N2 小豆色	Adzuki Bean
	N3 小豆色	Adzuki Bean
	O1 白色	White
		Markings
	P1 銀色	Silver
		Undersurface colour, alternative for J3
	Q1 黒色	Black
		Markings

Standard 8609 / 航格第8609

Near the end of the war shortages were more and more common. As a result there was a push to standardize the paints between the army and navy air forces. As a result on february 5 1945 the “Japan Aircraft Standards No. 8606 Aircraft Paint color standard” was distributed ( 日本航空機規格規 第８６０６　航空機用塗料色別標準 ). Not all colours in it were used. Very limited information of the application of this system is available as far as I’ve found.

http://www.j-aircraft.com/a6mresearch/accolors.htm
https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/satsukiyamazakur/diary/200807150000/
https://ndlonline.ndl.go.jp/#!/detail/R300000001-I000007460147-00

Code	Colour	FS equivalent	Gunze	Tamiya	Hataka	AK
1~1		FS-33070
	replaced Army #7 after February 1945
1~2
	replaces Army #27 replaces Navy D2
1~3
	replaces Army #39 replaces Navy M1
1~4
	replaces Army #39 replaces Navy M1
1~5 草色	Kusa iro
	replaces Army #21 replaces Navy D4
2~1
	replaces Army #3
2~2
	replaces Army #43
2~3
	replaces Navy J1
2~4
	replaces Navy L3
2~5
	replaces Navy K3
2~6
	replaces Army #1 replaces Navy J3
2~7
	replaces Army #42
3~1
	replaces Navy N0
3~2
	replaces Army #4 replaces Navy A3
3~3
	replaces Navy I3
4~1
	replaces Navy C1
4~2
	replaces Army #14 replaces Navy C3
4~3
	replaces Army #2 replaces Navy H4
5~1
	replaces Army #9 replaces Navy #B2
5~2
	replaces Army #10 replaces Navy B3
6~1
	replaces Army #32
6~2
	replaces Army #13
6~3
	replaces Army #17
7~1	Black
	replaces Army #11 replaces Navy Q1
8~1	White
	replaces Army #12 replaces Navy O1
9~1	bare metal
	replaces Army #5 replaces Navy #P1

青竹, Aotake

When discussing Japanese paints, Aotake will inevitably come up. So what is Aotake? Aotake was a translucent blueish green coating used for interior surfaces on both army and navy aircraft.

Aotake finds it’s roots in urushi varnishes, lacquers made from the sap of the Toxicodendron vernicifluum, the Chinese lacquer tree. These forms of Aotake would be used for the protection of armour.

‘Modern’ Aotake was developed early 1930’s. For the army it was officially introduced on the 3rd of March 1932.

Similar in usage to the American zinc chromate, this Japanese enamel coating was of superior quality. It however remains a mysterious paints. Virtually forgotten after the war until the ’80, few intact samples remain after more than 75 years. Most salvaged aircraft were stripped of their original paints, and/or repainted.

Translation

The controversy of Aotake starts with the name. If you were to pull the word through google translate, the individual kanji would translate as “blue” (青, ao) and “bamboo” (竹, take). If both were to be translated together they however would result in “Green bamboo”.

So what causes this discrepancy? This is because colours are a spectrum, like the rainbow. Where the lines between colours are placed, where a colour ends and where a new one starts, sometimes differs from language to language. For example Russian sees light and dark blue as two distinct colours; Голубой (Goluboj, sky blue) and Синий (Sinij, darker blue).

In ancient time, Japanese didn’t have a distinction between blue and green, and both were called 青, ao. Later on, during the Heian period (794-1185) a distinct word for green was developed; 緑, midori. This however was still seen as a shade of aoi, 青, with the latter encompassing colours. Simular to how in English crimson and maroon would still be seen as a shades of red.

The split to two separate colours didn’t happen until after the second world war (maybe due to globalization?) meaning WWII era ao, 青 would encompass the part of the colour spectrum that in English is referred as either blue or green. Even to this day certain green objects are still referred to as ao, 青 in modern Japanese, such as plants and and traffic lights. This is also the reason for the earlier mentioned translation difference. This means there is no correct translation of aotake, 青竹, as the english lexicon doesn’t have a word for a colour that encompasses the full range of WWII ao, 青.

In some original Japanese documents the colour is also referred to as 青竹色, or aotakeshoku, where shoku, 色 means “colour”; blue green bamboo colour. It’s sometimes also written as 淡青色透明, thin translucent blue colour.

Colour

As with most wartime primers and coating during the war, the exact shade wasn’t really important and as a result, different variations of aotake shade existed, ranging from the famous teal colour, to green and even brown.
Aotake in as of itself is colourless, with pigments added to aid in creating an even, thick enough coating. It’s metallic sheen comes comes from the aluminium underneath.

The colour difference is sometimes suggested to be the result of the paint fading, as this was quite common among other paints. There is however very little concrete evidence to support this. On the contrary, samples show that exposed areas showed very little fading when compared to covered areas when examining surviving wrecks. That is not to say they would look exactly the same. Because new coatings of Aotake would be applied throughout the manufacturing process, even after assembly, the covered parts wouldn’t necessary look the same as the uncovered parts.

Application and Usage

The way Aotake was is different then usual. Where the Americans for example applied their Zinc Chromate primer after assembly, the Japanese applied a layer Aotake after every step of the manufacturing process. When A part would be manufactured, it would receive a coat, and after assembly, it would for example receive a new coat. At the end there would be no metal visible

At the end of the manufacturing process, the plane would sometimes receive a matte black coating. The reason for this is unknown, it might have been further protection, or to reduce de glare of the Aotake.

The Japanese aircraft industry was quite decentralized, especially in the later stages of the war to try to evade allied bombing. This sometimes resulted in different parts being produced at different locations by different subcontractors. These often had different batches of Aotake they used on their parts after their assembly. This resulted in aircraft often having a variety of different shades of Aotake. Below an example of two different shades of Aotake encountered on the main wing spar of a Zero.

As far as I’m aware, neither of these differences are accounted for with restored aircraft, which are painted with the ‘regular’ style of primer application; only after assembly. This results in a even, mono-colour Aotake layer, where in reality different parts would have different colours, with different amount of application.

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Reproduction

When painting Aotake as a modeller, there is no definitive Aotake colour, so don’t sweat about it. Use an Aluminium base and spray this over with translucent blue, green or a mix of the two and the result will most likely be correct. Personally I use Tamiya X-25 and X-23.

Much more important for the modeller with an eye for perfection is to use multiple shades of Aotake. make the landing legs more greenish while making the wheel bays bluer for example.

Sources & further reading

• Ishiguro, R., Januszewski, T., & Karnas, D. (2018). Japanese anti-submarine aircraft in the Pacific War. Sandomierz: Stratus sp.j.
• Mikesh, R. C. (2000). Japanese aircraft interiors, 1940-1945. Sturbridge, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications.
• Color identification Standard for Naval airplane –Temporary Specification No.117 Additional Volume.
• Japan Aircraft Standards No. 8606 Aircraft Paint color standard
• Research on Kariki 117 by Ryoichi Watanabe
  http://angelof.web.fc2.com/subw117-1.htm
• https://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Colors/Japanese_Aircraft_Colors_WWII.htm
• http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2019/12/army-prop-and-spinner-colours.html
• http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/04/j3-2-6.html
• https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/zerosenochibo/diary/ctgylist/?ctgy=30
• http://www2.odn.ne.jp/~cdh88520/il2_1946_skin_color_index.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20150727230123/http://maker-one.ddo.jp:8080/cdh88520/color_list_for_ww2fighters.html#c19
• https://roncole.net/blogs/ron-cole-coles-aircraft-aviation-art/12072261-japanese-world-war-ii-aircraft-aotake-paints
• http://colesaircraft.blogspot.com/2014/08/japanese-wwii-aircraft-aotake-primer.html