Benigara is rather poor. It is made of ryoku-ban, sulphate of iron. It first has a yellowish tint which changes to a brown. Zumi , taken from tree bark, is brownish-yellow first and deepens afterward, but remains transparent. Kuchinashi , yellow from Gardenia florida, seems to have been used, but is seldom used now.
Good yellow is difficult to obtain.
White is often mixed into, the body colour. This gives the effect of having been printed many times over. But by mixing white with it a colour becomes opaque, even if a transparent colour is used. Black made from lampsoot or soot gathered from the smoke of fresh pine-needles has been used from ancient times in Japan as well as in China. And in addition there are other pigments which artists may wish to try.