{"id":7498,"date":"2026-06-08T09:40:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/?p=7498"},"modified":"2026-06-08T09:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:42:11","slug":"faq-when-and-by-whom-was-waseda-universitys-school-color-established","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/other-en\/2026\/06\/08\/7498\/","title":{"rendered":"[FAQ] When and by Whom Was Waseda University\u2019s School Color Established?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no definitive answer.<\/p>\n

Today, Waseda University\u2019s school color is officially referred to as \u201cWASEDA RED.\u201d It is also commonly described as ebicha<\/i><\/span> (shrimp-brown), dark crimson, burgundy, or maroon.<\/p>\n

The RGB specification for WASEDA RED (R:142, G:23, B:40)
\nconverted into HEX (#8E1729).<\/p>\n

At present, no clear historical record has been found documenting the circumstances under which the school color was established.<\/p>\n

\n

In its discussion of the completion of the Okuma Auditorium, The Centennial History of Waseda University<\/i><\/span> provides the following account:<\/p>\n

In addition, an ebicha<\/i><\/span>-colored stage curtain was prepared by Takashimaya for the auditorium stage. In Volume 8 of Ichishima\u2019s memoir Gakanroku<\/i><\/span> (entry dated November 25, 1927), the following passage appears:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis color is the school color. It is also a curious coincidence that it is identical to the school color of the University of Chicago. This color is called maroon. The various departments of Waseda have their own colors\u2014red, white, purple, green, and others. When these are blended together, they become this ebicha<\/i><\/span> color, that is, maroon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, as noted earlier in Volume IV, page 149, the school color, which had not yet been determined as ebicha<\/i><\/span> by the end of the Meiji period, had become established by this time.<\/p>\n

The Centennial History of Waseda University<\/i>, Volume III, Part VI: Waseda University under the University Ordinance, Chapter 8: The New Library and the Okuma Memorial Auditorium, Section 2: Completion of the Okuma Memorial Auditorium.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\u65e9\u7a32\u7530\u5927\u5b66\u56f3\u66f8\u9928\u6240\u8535<\/a>

Volume 8 of Gakanroku, edited by ICHISHIMA Kenkichi, held by the Waseda University Library (Call No. \u30a404 01919 0390<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

According to this account, when the Okuma Memorial Auditorium was completed in 1927, its stage curtain was made in ebicha<\/i><\/span>. Kenkichi Ichishima regarded this color as Waseda University\u2019s \u201cschool color\u201d and recognized that it happened, by coincidence, to be the same maroon color used by the University of Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please note that the Waseda University History Museum does not provide services such as research assistance, document decipherment, authentication, appraisal, or search support. If you would like to learn about the services offered by the museum, please refer to Instructions for Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no definitive answer. Today, Waseda University\u2019s school color is officially referred to as \u201cWASEDA RE […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[94,78,76],"class_list":["post-7498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-en","tag-general-en","tag-history-en","tag-outreach-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7501,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions\/7501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}