Honda managed to break a law from the 9th century

Japan It is full of rules that to a Westerner may seem absurd, such as the prohibition, with fines and prison sentences, of carrying an umbrella if you ride a bike or cutting in line. Among these strange rules, there was one that lasted for centuries and centuries: the ban on the color red.

It seems impossible, since it is a color that is on the very flag of the country. And yet, it is true. In fact, until the 60s Red could not be used on carsAnd the fact that red cars can be sold in Japan today is thanks to Soichiro Hondathe founder of Honda.

From Imperial Red to Honda Red

In 8th century Japan, there was a whole range of colors that were forbidden. Each of these colors was reserved for a category of officials and members of the imperial court in Kyoto. They were the “kinjiki”, los “forbidden colors”.

Some coloured garments could only be worn by one person, such as the emperor, or by a category of people. For example, only the crown prince of the imperial throne could wear the colour ochre, pale oak (a green) could be worn by the former emperor, or golden sumac, a plant that gave colour, could only be worn by the emperor.

Thus, red, in any of its variants, was a forbidden color for the common population. And it remained that way for eleven centuries. People were able to start wearing clothes in any color they wanted little by little in the era Meijithat is, from the second half of the 19th century.

This era, named after Emperor Meiji, was when Japan finally opened up to the world in 1868 after being completely closed off in 1636. However, the ban on the colour red, as well as on white, continued into the 20th century, but in this case only in the case of cars.

It’s incredible that no one in Japan could have a red or white car, when the Honda Formula 1which debuted in 1964, were to be white with the red circle – the rising sun – of the flag.

Let us remember that at the beginning of motor racing and F1, still without sponsors, the teams competed under the colours of their country of origin, hence the association of red – the colour of Italy – with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, dark green with English brands and blue with Bugatti.

In the case of Honda, white and red have become inseparable from the brand thanks to its first forays into F1 and have later become emblematic. From a white Honda Civic Type R or NSX Type R with red bucket seats or the 1989 Honda NSX and its red colour, as a warning to Ferrari, they are colours associated with Honda. This was not a problem for Honda until it wanted to launch the small Honda S500 roadster in red. But it couldn’t.

According to Japanese traffic laws in the early 1960s, red and white were reserved for emergency vehicles. Fire trucks and ambulances could be painted in these colours, but not private vehicles. It was feared that painting a car red would confuse a population that was just beginning to adopt the automobile.

At the time, the Japanese government had enormous influence and control over its nascent automobile industry. But Soichiro Honda was not a typical Japanese industrial boss who simply followed the rules – quite the contrary.

Soichiro Honda was more of an alternative-seeker and very creative. It is something that is in the DNA of the brand. Not in vain, he started using the 50 cc radio generators that were left over after the Second World War to manufacture his first motorcycles.

He took up an entire column in one of the major newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun, to complain about the restriction. “Red is a basic color of design”argument. “How can they prohibit it by law? “I don’t know of any other first-rate country that has a monopoly on a color.”

At the same time, its top executives lobbied the Japanese Ministry of Transport relentlessly to have the ban lifted. In the end, they were given the benefit of the doubt.

In 1963, four months after introducing the Honda T360 pickup, Honda launched a beautiful roadster with a double overhead camshaft engine, the Honda S500, which would soon give rise to the Honda S600.

Considered their first touring car, although it and the T360 share the same chassis, it is also the first Japanese car to be sold with a red body.