VOLUME 37
KAGAWA
Sanuki Udon Bowls, Ritsurin Garden Pines & Naoshima Kusama Pumpkin
A bowl of Sanuki udon arrives heavy in both hands. The noodles are thick, square-edged, slightly chewy, settled in a broth so clear the indigo glaze beneath them reads through the surface. A single half-moon of pink kamaboko rests on top. Kagawa is the smallest of Japan's prefectures, a low strip of coastal plain hemmed by pine-furred hills and the Setouchi Inland Sea, and that compactness shows in everything it makes. Pines in Ritsurin Garden have been clipped into cloud silhouettes for four centuries. Marugame fans of split bamboo and washi paper carry single-colour motifs no larger than a palm. Wasanbon sugar is pressed into thumbnail sweets that dissolve before the tongue can name them. Out on Naoshima, a yellow Yayoi Kusama pumpkin sits at the end of a concrete pier as if it had drifted there on the tide; on Shodoshima, soy-sauce cellars hold cedar barrels older than the families minding them. Forty pages here. The book closes on the same quiet register it opens with: a kettle just off the heat, a noren parted by a draft from the sea.
“A kettle just off the heat, a noren parted by the sea.”
- 40 original Kagawa 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 Kagawa
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its gardens, and its island landscapes
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Kagawa coloring book is Volume 37 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 Kagawa. It draws on Sanuki Udon Bowls, Ritsurin Garden Pines, and Naoshima Kusama Pumpkin, alongside the everyday scenes Kagawa considers its own.
You will find Sanuki Udon Bowls, Ritsurin Garden Pines, and Naoshima Kusama Pumpkin, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Kagawa 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 37 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. Kagawa sits in the Shikoku region of Japan.
