VOLUME 20
NAGANO
Matsumoto Castle, Jigokudani Snow Monkeys & Nakasendo Post Towns
Black wooden donjon over a green moat. Snow monkeys shoulder-deep in a steaming pool. The preserved Edo facade of Naraijuku, lattice shutters drawn against the morning. The Hotaka ridges still white into June. A square mat of zaru soba, the buckwheat ground that morning. Karuizawa fog moving through the larches. Nagano is the country folded between the Northern and Southern Alps, and its inventory belongs to altitude and craft. Matsumoto holds the basin floor with its six-tiered keep and its temari balls wound in silk. South of the city the Nakasendo threads the Kiso Valley through Narai, Tsumago and Magome, where lacquerers still finish bowls in cypress workshops. Up the Yokoyu, the macaques of Jigokudani take the bath the humans built. In Azumino, wasabi grows in cold running water beside the wheels of the Daio farm. Suwa drags fir trunks down the slopes every seventh spring; Obuse keeps a Hokusai ceiling; Iiyama gilds the butsudan altars carried to half the houses in Shinshu. Forty pages here, alpine and quiet. At Zenkoji, the great bell carries across the city as evening settles.
“The great bell at Zenkoji, carrying across the city at dusk.”
- 40 original Nagano 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 Nagano
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its culture, and its mountain country
- Adults who use coloring for relaxation and quiet focus
- Fans of detailed line art and Johanna Basford-style mindful coloring
- A considered gift for friends and family with a love of Japan
The Nagano coloring book is Volume 20 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 Nagano. It draws on Matsumoto Castle, Jigokudani Snow Monkeys, and Nakasendo Post Towns, alongside the everyday scenes Nagano considers its own.
You will find Matsumoto Castle, Jigokudani Snow Monkeys, and Nakasendo Post Towns, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Nagano 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 20 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. Nagano sits in the Chubu region of Japan.
