The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitatively the characteristics and images of costume colors in the traditional plays of Korea, China, and Japan. The study focused on the Korean Masque, Beijing Opera, and Kabuki costume colors based on a selection of 1135 color samples. The collected source data were selected by extracting digital color data by using the Eyedropper Tool of Photoshop 7.0. The RGB color data were transformed to H V/C and the attributes of hue and tone were analyzed. Color images were analyzed with the color image scales of IRI Color Design Institute and Shigenobu Kobayashi to increase the validity of the evaluated images. As a result, the five element colors (red, yellow, purpleblue (PB), white, and black) from the theory of Yin-Yang Wu-Xing were used in the common stage costume colors of the Korean Masque, Beijing Opera, and Kabuki. Red, a preferred Asian color, was used most frequently in the costumes of these three traditional plays. A comparison of the traditional stage costume colors in the three northeast Asian countries revealed a difference in tones rather than in hues. First, the Korean Masque frequently used white in accordance with the tradition of white-clad people and the cultural view of colors in which natural colors were preferred. Additionally, in the Masque, Koreans used colors based on the theory of Yin-Yang Wu-Xing with high-chroma tones. On the other hand, the Beijing Opera exhibited the gorgeous and strong color images of China, by adopting high-chroma colors in the Five Element Color: R, Y, PB, white, and black. Last, in the Kabuki costumes, a variety of white, black, dull, light, dark, strong, vivid, deep, bright, and grayish tones played an important role in showing various color images. The costume color images of the traditional plays of the three countries revealed that all shared the use of dynamic, springy/casual, and gorgeous images in the strong contrast of five element colors. Regarding the differences, the Korean Masque exhibited natural images in favor of natural colors, whereas the Kabuki displayed modern, decent/formal images by using dull, dark, and grayish colors. The study results suggested that the three countries commonly used five element colors from the theory of Yin-Yang Wu-Xing, but that their color images differed in terms of the tones used and the techniques for color combination. These results reflect that colors in the traditional costumes of the three countries are affected by their cultural codes, thereby representing the characteristics ofcertain peoples and cultural circles. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011