The PURPLE Machine

97-shiki-obun In-ji-ki

Angooki Taipu B

PURPLE was the designation given by U.S. cryptanalysts to the cipher machine used by the Japanese Foreign Office for secure communication before and during the Second World War. Analogs of the PURPLE machine, like the one shown above, were used by the Allies to decrypt those messages.

PURPLE Revealed:

The structure and internal wiring of the machine, as well as details of the keying procedures and systems of abbreviations used in PURPLE messages are described in the paper:
Freeman, Wes., Geoff Sullivan, and Frode Weierud. 2003. PURPLE Revealed: Simulation and Computer-Aided Cryptanalysis of Angooki Taipu B. Cryptologia. 27(1) 1-43.

How it works
Click on the block diagram for a quick
explanation of how the PURPLE machine works.

Do it Yourself
Learn how to decipher an actual PURPLE
message. This is part 1 of the 14-part message
which was delivered to the U. S. Government on
December 7, 1941.
Click on the image of the message to view the
complete image and get instructions on how to
decipher the message with a PURPLE simulator.