VOLUME 9
TOCHIGI
Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Kegon Falls & Mashiko Pottery
A Mashiko-yaki teabowl sits on the wheel head, slightly irregular, its foot ring trimmed thick, three soft thumb dents pressed into the rim in the Hamada Shoji line. The clay is local orogata, gritty with pebble inclusions, the colour of wet hazel. Set it on a workbench and the rest of Tochigi follows from it. The kiln that fires it climbs a slope in four humped chambers, split pine stacked at the lowest stoke-hole. Beyond Mashiko, the prefecture opens outward: the Watarase floodplain in dry reed at the southern edge, the white kura warehouses of Tochigi City reflected in the Uzuma, the cliff buddha at Oya-ji carved into soft tuff, gyoza shops behind cotton noren in Utsunomiya, the Kinugawa gorge climbing toward Nikko where Toshogu's sleeping cat watches a lacquered doorway. Higher still, Kegon Falls drops ninety-seven metres into Chuzenji, and macaques wait out the snow at Yumoto. Forty studies, page by page. A wisteria pergola at Ashikaga, a punnet of tochiotome strawberries, a brushed nuka-glazed plate, the cedar avenue at Nikko. Back at the workbench, the bowl has dried a shade paler. The wheel turns under a finger and stops.
“From the Watarase reeds to the snow at Yumoto, one prefecture in line.”
- 40 original Tochigi Prefecture illustrations
- Single-sided pages to prevent bleed-through
- 8.5 x 8.5 inch square format
- A mix of detailed and breathable compositions, from a tochiotome strawberry punnet to the Yomeimon gate
- Brief editorial introduction to Tochigi
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its shrines, 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 Tochigi coloring book is Volume 9 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 Tochigi. It draws on Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Kegon Falls, and Mashiko Pottery, alongside the everyday scenes Tochigi considers its own.
You will find Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Kegon Falls, and Mashiko Pottery, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Tochigi 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 9 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. Tochigi sits in the Kanto region of Japan.
