VOLUME 10
GUNMA
Kusatsu Onsen, Tomioka Silk Mill & Takasaki Daruma
The Kusatsu yubatake discharges four thousand litres of fifty-degree water every minute, day and night, into a wooden grid of cooling channels in the centre of the town. The mineral steam from it has scented the surrounding air for at least eight centuries. This is the basic fact of Gunma: a landlocked, mountainous country sat on top of so much geothermal heat that the water arrives already too hot to bathe in, and has to be paddled cool by hand. Around that single source the prefecture arranges itself in concentric rings. Inward, the volcanoes: Akagi, Haruna, Myogi, Asama, and the granite teeth of Tanigawa above the Doai tunnels. Outward, the onsen valleys of Shima and Ikaho and the brick spinning halls of Tomioka, where the silk reeling machines first turned in 1872. Further out still, the Kanto plain unrolls past konnyaku fields, mulberry rows, and the courtyards of Shorinzan, where the round red daruma of Takasaki are stacked by the thousand. Forty pages here. A yumomi paddle worn smooth. One mizubasho spathe on the Oze marsh. A kamameshi pot still warm from Yokokawa station. The sawtooth roof of a Kiryu weaving shed against the early sky. Snow falling on the wooden bath houses after dark.
“Forty pages of steam, stone and silk.”
- 40 original Gunma 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 Gunma
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its culture, and its mountain landscapes
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Gunma coloring book is Volume 10 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 Gunma. It draws on Kusatsu Onsen, Tomioka Silk Mill, and Takasaki Daruma, alongside the everyday scenes Gunma considers its own.
You will find Kusatsu Onsen, Tomioka Silk Mill, and Takasaki Daruma, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Gunma 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 10 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. Gunma sits in the Kanto region of Japan.
