VOLUME 16
TOYAMA
Tateyama Snow Corridor, Gokayama Gassho Village & Kurobe Gorge Railway
A single hotaruika sits in a cupped palm at midnight on the Namerikawa shore. It is no longer than a thumb joint, soft as wet silk, and its underside flickers a cold blue from photophores ranged along the body. Lifted from the tide, it pulses once and goes dark. Toyama keeps its scale this way, small things held against a vast frame. The Tateyama range rises behind the bay in walls of late-season snow, and the Kurobe river cuts a slot gorge to the sea beneath them. In the foothills, Gokayama's gassho ridges shed the heaviest snowfall in Japan, and a chisel deepens a temple ranma panel in an Inami workshop. At Iwase the kitamaebune kura still line the canal, and at Himi the winter yellowtail come in heavy and silver. Forty pages here: shiroebi like glass, a masuzushi box in pink, a copper kamifusen paper balloon from the medicine peddler's pack, kokiriko sasara clappers caught mid-strike, the cupped squid again at the end. Begin anywhere on the shelf of small things.
“Forty pages between the alpine wall and the bay.”
- 40 original Toyama 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 Toyama
- Anyone with an interest in Japan, its mountain country, 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 Toyama coloring book is Volume 16 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 Toyama. It draws on Tateyama Snow Corridor, Gokayama Gassho Village, and Kurobe Gorge Railway, alongside the everyday scenes Toyama considers its own.
You will find Tateyama Snow Corridor, Gokayama Gassho Village, and Kurobe Gorge Railway, together with the landmarks, food, and quiet corners that give Toyama 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 16 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. Toyama sits in the Chubu region of Japan.
