VOLUME 17
ISHIKAWA
Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Gold Leaf & Higashi Chaya Geisha District
Ninety-nine percent of Japan's domestic gold leaf is beaten in Kanazawa. The figure has held for more than a century, sustained by humid air drawn in off the Sea of Japan and a guild of beaters who hammer ingots between sheets of washi until each square measures roughly one ten-thousandth of a millimetre, thin enough to lift on a breath of static. The rest of Ishikawa orbits this kind of patient extremity. In the Higashi Chaya district, lattice fronts shut against the cold and a woman in indigo sweeps slate at the threshold of a teahouse. At Kenrokuen, completed in 1822 and counted among the country's three great gardens, the unequal stone legs of the Kotojitoro lantern lean above the pond while gardeners tie yukitsuri rope tepees over the pines. South and inland, kutani painters lay overglaze enamels of green, yellow, indigo, and red across white porcelain. Up the Noto peninsula the country thins: Senmaida terraces step down to the sea in a thousand small mirrors, salt makers rake brine across black sand at Suzu, and the Wajima morning market lays out buri and dried wakame on trestle boards. Forty pages here, gathered from a prefecture that has always measured itself in micrometres and in winters. Begin where the light begins.
“Forty pages thinned to a breath of gold.”
- 40 original Ishikawa 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 Ishikawa
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its gardens, and its craft traditions
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Ishikawa coloring book is Volume 17 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 Ishikawa. It draws on Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Gold Leaf, and Higashi Chaya Geisha District, alongside the everyday scenes Ishikawa considers its own.
You will find Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa Gold Leaf, and Higashi Chaya Geisha District, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Ishikawa 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 17 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. Ishikawa sits in the Chubu region of Japan.
