Jakuchu Ito's masterpiece, "Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden," turned into a coloring book.
Jakuchu Ito was a genius painter of the Edo period in Kyoto. This coloring book of his famous masterpiece, "Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden" is entirely unique, and reproduces 86,000 of his characteristic mosaic squares. Jakuchu used this mosaic technique in his work to draw huge flowers growing wild, flocks of birds, and fantasy animals which never existed in Japan. The square is called "masume" in Japanese and approximately one square centimeter. There are about 43,000 on each folding screen, and Jakuchu painted each square one by one.
You can either be like Jakuchu coloring squares just as he did, or create your own style. This coloring book can be enjoyed by people of all ages, and allows one to explore Jakuchu's imaginary paradise which strongly ties to Zen Buddhist ideals.
A large-size poster of the picture (the right side screen) in front and a coloring version on the back is attached in the front cover. A full English translation is provided.