VOLUME 8
IBARAKI
Hitachi Seaside Park, Ushiku Great Buddha & Kairakuen Plum Garden
Ibaraki is Japan's second-largest producer of natto. The fermented soybeans, bound in straw or sold in small cedar boxes, are the everyday face of a place whose soil and climate also yield melons from Hokota, lotus root from the shallows of Lake Kasumigaura, and chestnuts mentioned in the eighth-century Hitachi Fudoki. North of Tokyo and edged by the Pacific, the prefecture runs from the twin peaks of Mt. Tsukuba across a low farming plain to the surf at Oarai, where a torii stands anchored to a wave-cut rock. The science is present too: JAXA's main campus sits in Tsukuba, where rocket components are assembled within sight of rice paddies, and the express line out of the city reaches Akihabara in forty-five minutes. Forty pages here. Kairakuen's three thousand plum trees, opened to the public in 1842 as one of Japan's three great gardens. The blue tide of nemophila across 4.5 hectares of Miharashi Hill. A Kasama-yaki tea bowl, thumbed and earthen. The four stepped ledges of Fukuroda Falls. A sugidama hung outside a brewery at Iwama. Yuki tsumugi worked on a loom by hand. The bronze head of the Ushiku Daibutsu above its lotus pond. Persimmons drying under the eaves of a kayabuki farmhouse while a strand of natto, lifted, catches the light.
“Mt. Tsukuba on the horizon, a strand of natto in the hand.”
- 40 original Ibaraki 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 Ibaraki
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its gardens, and its Pacific coast
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Ibaraki coloring book is Volume 8 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 Ibaraki. It draws on Hitachi Seaside Park, Ushiku Great Buddha, and Kairakuen Plum Garden, alongside the everyday scenes Ibaraki considers its own.
You will find Hitachi Seaside Park, Ushiku Great Buddha, and Kairakuen Plum Garden, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Ibaraki 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 8 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. Ibaraki sits in the Kanto region of Japan.
