Red is the colour that reminds us of blood or flames, and holds a strong visual effect attracting people’s attention.
It was in the ancient times when this colour appeared in the history of life and craft. For instance, from the Sannai-Maruyama site (Aomori Prefecture) where people made a living in the middle of the Jomon period (4,500-5,000 years ago), vermillion-lacquered wares believed to have been used in rituals or festivals have been excavated.
Since vermillion lacquer was a scarce material requiring advanced refinement techniques, it is safe to say that in such a time, red must have been a colour chosen to be used only for special occasions.

I leave an academic examination of the formation of Jomon society to historians, but what I want to say here is that, since it first appeared in Japanese history, red has been a colour of festivals believed to hold supernatural powers. And I feel that, despite some degree of transition, this understanding has not changed so much from the Jomon period until now. In pre-modern times, when science or medicine were not as advanced, it was difficult to identify the cause of the ‘disasters’ which had serious influences on society, or the ‘illnesses’ which damaged human bodies. The only way to understand such things, which happened without clear causes, was thinking that they must be due to invisible demons or bad energies. Therefore, rituals and religions came into existence to purify these bad forces. Red must have been the colour symbolising such festivals and rituals.

More recently, a toy of Aizu region (Fukushima Prefecture) called Akabeko (red cow) started to be made in modern times. This lovely toy of Haruko (papier‐mâché) is known as an amulet to ward off demons. At the time when many children died due to smallpox, people invested the meaning of illness prevention (sacrifice) into this Hariko, by painting it completely in red and adding some black dots on its back representing poxes.
Aka Mimizuku (red owl) Hariko made in Kawagoe (Saitama Prefecture) also had the meaning of smallpox prevention in the past. It seems that the red colour was given a similar meaning across different regions of Japan.
Furthermore, probably one of the best known folk toys – Aka Daruma (red Bodhidharma) – might have spread all over Japan as a ‘good luck charm’ to ward off all kinds of misfortune, not just illness. The folk toys in red, therefore, are not only popular items for festivals or rituals protecting people’s health, but also represent the belief in colours which has been imprinted in the subconscious of Japanese people since Jomon times.

When later generations look back, 2020 will probably be remembered as the year when the world was taken over by the coronavirus pandemic.
In our contemporary society with advanced science, we understand that supernatural powers cannot solve an epidemic. Yet, our anxiety towards an unknown virus does not go away. I trust that, beyond time and logical sense, folk toys painted in red can probably give comfort to our minds.
I believe that red will continuously be an important colour composing Japanese craft design, as a memory reflecting one aspect of the spirit of Japanese people.