The land Saiunkoku was divided into eight distinct provinces which is named after the colors of the rainbows. The royal family who rule over each of the provinces was named after the color of their province; commoners were forbidden to use the same family names as nobles. The eight colors comes from the legend of when Saiunkoku was once infested by demands who threw the country into chaos until one day there's a brave young warrior who came to drove the demons away by gathered the Eight Enlightened Sages of Color. The young warrior, Sō Gen, united the nation and became the first emperor of Saiunkoku. To respect the sages, the Emperor divided the provinces into eight and named it after the eight Sages of Color.
Each of the eight provinces in Saiunkoku is named for a color and is ruled by a noble clan of the same name:
Shi 紫 Meaning - Purple.
They are the Imperial family.
Ran 藍 Meaning - Blue.
The Ran clan is the most powerful clan in Saiunkoku. They are known as the "highest of nobility". They plays an inactive role in national politics.
Hong (Kō) 紅 Meaning - Crimson.
The Hong Clan has an equal power as the Ran clan. In the Japanese version, the name of this clan is pronounced as Kō. Later, Geneon changed this name to "Hong" to diminish confusion with the other "Ko" name (the Yellow clan).
Heki 碧 Meaning - Green.
Ko (Kō/Ki) 黄 Meaning - Yellow.
Even though this clan name is pronounced as the same as the 'Crimson' (紅) clan in the original Japanese, but the meaning is difference since this clan name "Ko" (黄) means 'yellow'.
Haku 白 Meaning - White.
Koku 黒 Meaning - Black.
Sa 茶 Meaning - Brown.
Works Cited: The Story of Saiunkoku. Wikipedia. March 3, 2009.
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