W. George Schmid in his Hosta Species Update on The Hosta Library (2007) says that "Both H. nigrescens and H. ‘Tenryu’ have a tendency to sport to yellow or variegated forms. A yellow form is listed in Europe as H. nigrescens ‘Aurea’, a cultivar name invalid according to the rules of the ICNCP and should it be called H. ‘Ogon Kuro’."

Mikiko Lockwood in an article on The Hosta Library titled, A Little About Japanese Hosta Terms defines the term ogon or oogon as gold or yellow.