Country of Japan Coloring Pages
Japan is a country I've always wanted to visit. When I watch shows about travelling there, it seems so different from the North American prairies where I've always lived.
An island country in the Pacific Ocean, Japan is made up of four main islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku) and thousands of smaller ones. The country's name in Japanese, Nihon, means "origin of the sun". That's why it's called the Land of the Rising Sun, and why its flag is a red sun on a white background.
Old and new sit side by side in Japan. Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are often found in the same neighbourhood, and stories of kami (spirits) and yokai (creatures like kitsune and oni) are still told today. Those old stories show up in modern ones too. Godzilla first appeared in cinemas in 1954 and started a whole genre of giant monster films called kaiju, which means "strange beast".
Jump to: Map and Flag | Myths and Monsters | History | Traditions | Nature | Art
Map and Flag of Japan
Map of Japan
Japan stretches about 3,000 kilometres, from snowy Hokkaido in the north to the warm, subtropical islands of Okinawa in the south. Tokyo, the capital, sits on Honshu, the largest island. Mountains cover most of the country, so most people live along the coasts and in the flatter plains, which is why Japan's big cities are so crowded.
Flag of Japan
The Japanese flag is called the Hinomaru, which means "circle of the sun". It has been used for centuries, but it only became Japan's official national flag by law in 1999! To color it, leave the background white and make the circle red.
Japanese Myths and Monsters
Japanese Mythology and Folklore
Japan's oldest myths were written down in two books from the early 700s, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. They tell how the gods Izanagi and Izanami created the islands of Japan, and how their children Amaterasu (the sun goddess) and Susanoo (the storm god) quarrelled so badly that Amaterasu hid in a cave and plunged the world into darkness.
Alongside these gods are folk tales passed down in villages, full of shape-shifting foxes, ghosts and heroes like Momotaro, the boy who came out of a peach.
Japanese mythology coloring pages
Japanese Dragons
Japanese dragons, called ryū, are water spirits rather than fire breathers. They were believed to bring rain and live in rivers, lakes and the sea, so farmers prayed to them for good harvests. They have long, snake-like bodies and usually no wings, and they're often drawn with three claws on each foot. The most famous is Ryūjin, the dragon king of the sea, who lives in an underwater palace in the story of Urashima Taro.
Japanese dragon coloring pages
Kaiju
After Godzilla, Toho, the film studio behind him, kept the monsters coming: Rodan in 1956 (the first kaiju film in colour), Mothra in 1961 and King Ghidorah in 1964.
Since 2014, Hollywood's Monsterverse films have brought many of them back, along with King Kong and newer monsters like Skar King and Shimo.
Samurai and Japanese History
Samurai
Samurai were Japan's warrior class for about 700 years, from the late 1100s until the 1870s. They served powerful lords called daimyo and followed a code of loyalty and honour that later became known as bushido. The katana is the weapon everyone remembers, but early samurai fought mostly on horseback with bows and arrows.
Shogun
The shogun was the top military commander in Japan, and for most of the samurai era he was the real ruler of the country. The emperor stayed in Kyoto as a respected figurehead while the shogun ran things. The last shogunate, led by the Tokugawa family, ruled from Edo (now Tokyo) for over 250 years until the last shogun stepped down in 1867.
Ninja
Real ninja, or shinobi, were spies and scouts hired by lords to gather secrets, slip behind enemy lines and set traps. Many came from the mountain regions of Iga and Koka.
The famous black outfit probably comes from the theatre rather than history: kabuki stagehands dressed in black so the audience would ignore them, so a ninja dressed the same way could "appear" from nowhere on stage.
Geisha
Geisha means "person of the arts". Geisha train for years in traditional dance, music, the tea ceremony and conversation, and they perform at parties and banquets. In Kyoto, apprentice geisha are called maiko, and the old Gion district is one of the best places to spot them walking to work in the evening.
Hime (Princess)
Hime (姫) means princess, a title used for the daughters of emperors and noble families. It also shows up in the names of legendary women, like Kaguya-hime, the moon princess from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, which is often called Japan's oldest surviving story. She was found as a tiny baby inside a glowing bamboo stalk and grew up to turn down every suitor before returning to the moon.
Japanese Traditions and Celebrations
Kimono
Kimono simply means "thing to wear". It's a long robe with wide sleeves, wrapped around the body and tied with a wide sash called an obi. The left side always wraps over the right, since right over left is only used to dress the dead.
Most people today save kimono for weddings, festivals and Coming of Age Day, and wear a lighter cotton version called a yukata to summer festivals.
Wagasa (Paper Umbrellas)
Wagasa are umbrellas made from a bamboo frame covered in washi paper. The paper is brushed with oil to make it waterproof, so the same umbrella works for rain or sun.
You'll see them in kabuki plays, traditional dances and outdoor tea ceremonies, where a big red one often shades the guests.
Japanese Fans
Japan has two kinds of traditional fans: the folding sensu and the flat, round uchiwa. The folding fan is believed to have been invented in Japan over a thousand years ago. Sensu are used in dance and theatre, while uchiwa are handed out for free at summer festivals and fireworks shows, often printed with ads.
Shamisen
The shamisen is a three-stringed instrument played with a large pick called a bachi, which gives it a sharp, twangy sound. It came to Japan from Okinawa in the 1500s and became the sound of kabuki theatre and bunraku puppet plays. Geisha learn to play it as part of their training.
Origami
Origami comes from ori (fold) and kami (paper). The crane is the best-known design because cranes stand for long life and good luck in Japan. A string of a thousand folded cranes, called senbazuru, is said to grant a wish, and people fold them as gifts for weddings or for someone who is ill.
Karate
Karate means "empty hand", since it's fought without weapons. It began in Okinawa and spread across Japan in the early 1900s, and later around the world. Students practise set patterns of moves called kata and wear a white uniform called a gi, with a coloured belt that shows their level.
Karate made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Torii Gates
A torii gate marks the entrance to a Shinto shrine, the line between the everyday world and sacred ground. Many are painted bright vermilion. Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto has thousands of them lined up in tunnels up the mountain, and the shrine is guarded by fox statues, since foxes are the messengers of Inari. The torii at Itsukushima Shrine stands in the sea and seems to float at high tide.
Traditional Japanese Homes
Traditional Japanese homes are built from wood, with floors of woven straw mats called tatami. Rooms are divided by sliding doors: fusuma are solid, and shoji are covered in thin paper that lets soft light through.
Everyone takes off their shoes in the entryway, the genkan, before stepping up into the house.
Fishing
As an island country, Japan has always lived off the sea, and fish is at the heart of dishes like sushi and sashimi. Fishermen even invented an art form called gyotaku, where a freshly caught fish is brushed with ink and pressed onto paper to record its size. Tokyo's giant fish market moved from Tsukiji to Toyosu in 2018, and its early-morning tuna auctions are famous.
Japanese New Year
Carp Flags (Koinobori)
Koinobori are carp-shaped windsocks flown for Children's Day on May 5. Traditionally there's a big black carp for the father, a red one for the mother and smaller ones for each child. The carp was chosen because of a legend that a carp brave enough to swim up a waterfall turns into a dragon, a hope that children will grow up strong and determined.
Maneki Neko
The maneki neko, or "beckoning cat", is a lucky cat figurine found in shops and restaurants. A raised right paw is said to bring money and a raised left paw to bring customers. One legend says a cat outside Gotokuji temple in Tokyo waved a lord in from a storm just before lightning struck where he'd been standing, and he thanked the temple by becoming its patron.
Nature in Japan
Cherry Blossoms (Sakura)
Cherry blossoms, or sakura, only last about a week, which is why people rush to see them. Families and friends gather under the trees for picnics called hanami, meaning "flower viewing". The blossoms open in Okinawa as early as January and move north over the spring, reaching Hokkaido in May, and the news even tracks this "cherry blossom front" like a weather forecast.
Chrysanthemums (Kiku)
If sakura are Japan's spring flower, the chrysanthemum, or kiku, belongs to autumn. It's the symbol of the emperor's family: a 16-petal chrysanthemum is the imperial seal, and a version of it appears on the cover of Japanese passports. Autumn chrysanthemum shows often include kiku ningyo, life-sized dolls dressed in living chrysanthemum flowers.
Koi
Koi are colourful carp, first bred by rice farmers in the snowy Niigata region in the 1800s. Farmers kept carp in their rice paddies as food and started breeding the ones with unusual red, white and gold markings.
Koi can live for decades, and one famous koi named Hanako was said to be over 200 years old.
Akita
The Akita is a large, loyal dog from the mountains of northern Japan. The most famous Akita was Hachiko, who met his owner at Shibuya train station in Tokyo every evening. After his owner died suddenly in 1925, Hachiko kept coming to the station to wait for him for almost ten years.
A bronze statue of him stands there today and is one of Tokyo's best-known meeting spots.
Zen Gardens
Zen gardens are dry gardens made of rocks, moss and raked gravel, where the gravel stands in for water. Many of the most famous are in Kyoto, which was the emperor's home for more than a thousand years and is still full of temples. At Ryoan-ji temple, the rock garden has 15 stones, but from anywhere on the viewing deck you can only ever see 14 of them at once.
Yakushima
Yakushima is a small, rainy island south of Kyushu, covered in mossy forests of ancient cedar trees called Yakusugi. The oldest, Jomon Sugi, is thought to be at least 2,000 years old, and some estimates say much older. The island was one of Japan's first World Heritage Sites, and its misty forests are said to have inspired the forest in Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke.
Japanese Art and Artists
Pine Trees by Hasegawa Tohaku
Hasegawa Tohaku painted Pine Trees in the late 1500s on a pair of folding screens, using only black ink on paper. The pines seem to drift in and out of a morning mist, and much of the screen is left empty on purpose so your eye fills in the fog. It's one of Japan's National Treasures and is kept at the Tokyo National Museum.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai
Hokusai made this woodblock print around 1831 as part of a series called Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Look closely and you'll spot Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain at 3,776 metres, sitting tiny in the background while the wave towers over three fishing boats. Hokusai used a new, imported paint called Prussian blue, which is why the wave is such a deep, striking colour. Try a few shades of blue to get the same effect.
Video Games and Anime
Japanese art didn't stop with ink paintings and woodblock prints. Hokusai, the artist behind The Great Wave (see above), filled sketchbooks with lively drawings of people, animals and monsters, and called them Hokusai Manga. (yep, that's where the term manga came from!)
Today manga means Japanese comics, and their animated cousins, anime, are drawn by teams of artists, frame by frame. Shows like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Hamtaro have a style you can spot in a second: big expressive eyes, bold outlines and bright colours.
Video games are designed by artists too. Nintendo started out in Kyoto in 1889 (that's not a typo... 1889!) making hand-painted playing cards, long before it gave us Donkey Kong, Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing.
Pac-Man's designer is said to have got the idea from a pizza with a slice missing, and Pokemon began in 1996, inspired by its creator's childhood hobby of collecting bugs.
Polka Dots, Inspired by Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, and has been covering things in polka dots since she was a child. Pumpkins are one of her favourite subjects, and a giant yellow dotted pumpkin of hers sits on a pier on the island of Naoshima. Covering a simple shape in dots of different sizes is an easy way to try her style!