Two strains of nocardioform actinomycetes, isolated from soil and plant litter in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, showed substrate mycelium with purple to dark-red colours. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the organisms belonged to the family Actinosynnemataceae and were related closely to Saccharothrix strains (96.7-98.0 % sequence similarity). The isolates contained MK-9(H(4)) as the predominant menaquinone, meso-diaminopimelic acid, galactose as the diagnostic whole-cell sugar and phosphatidylethanolamine as the predominant polar lipid. Based on a combination of cultural, physiological and chemotaxonomic properties, in addition to the phylogenetic analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization data, we propose a novel species, Saccharothrix violaceirubra sp. nov., for these strains, with the type strain YU 692-1(T) (=NBRC 102064(T) =KCTC 19326(T)).