VOLUME 7
FUKUSHIMA
Tsurugajo Castle, Ouchi-juku Village & Goshikinuma Lakes
Aizu lacquerware has been continuous since the late sixteenth century, when the warlord Gamo Ujisato brought craftsmen north from Omi province and set them to work on bowls, trays, and sake vessels for the new castle town at Wakamatsu. Four hundred years on, a workshop in the same district still finishes a soup bowl in the same maki-e idiom of crane and pine, the gold scroll laid down with a brush no thicker than an eyelash, the wood beneath it walnut or zelkova, the rim banded in a tight chrysanthemum scroll. From the lacquer benches the prefecture spreads outward in every direction. North to the peach orchards of the Azuma foothills, where the Akatsuki harvest runs roughly sixty kilometres along the Nakadori corridor. West to Mt. Bandai and the five mineral pools of Goshikinuma. South to Ouchi-juku's thatched post road, the eaves loaded with snow. East to the Pacific cliffs above Iwaki and the small mehikari boats off Onahama. Forty pages here. The akabeko on its painted base, the okiagari-koboshi rocking back upright, the red-tiled keep of Tsurugajo across its stone moat. A Miharu-goma horse, a Tsuchiyu kokeshi, a single Akatsuki peach halved to show the stone. A Soma Nomaoi rider in full lacquered armour, banner pole climbing past a pine. The snow over Aizu keeps doing its quiet work.
“The snow over Aizu keeps doing its quiet work.”
- 40 original Fukushima Prefecture illustrations
- Single-sided pages to prevent bleed-through
- 8.5 x 8.5 inch square format
- A mix of detailed and breathable compositions
- Brief editorial introduction to Fukushima
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its castle towns, and its folk craft traditions
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Fukushima coloring book is Volume 7 of Sora Mikami's Prefectures of Japan series, a 47-volume collection that explores Japan one prefecture at a time. It gathers 40 original black-line illustrations of Fukushima. It draws on Tsurugajo Castle, Ouchi-juku Village, and Goshikinuma Lakes, alongside the everyday scenes Fukushima considers its own.
You will find Tsurugajo Castle, Ouchi-juku Village, and Goshikinuma Lakes, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Fukushima its character. The compositions move between detailed, intricate pages and calmer, more breathable ones, so there is something for every mood.
Yes. The book mixes detailed illustrations with more open, breathable designs, so beginners and experienced colorists alike can settle in. The large 8.5 x 8.5 inch square pages give you plenty of room to work, and every page is printed single-sided.
Colored pencils, markers, and gel pens all work beautifully. Because every illustration is printed single-sided on white paper, you can use heavier media without bleed-through onto another design. Slip a sheet of card behind the page if you want to be sure.
It is Volume 7 of a planned 47, one book for every Japanese prefecture. The volumes can be coloured in any order, and together they sketch the whole country one place at a time. Fukushima sits in the Tohoku region of Japan.
