"The colors that make up the city of Kyoto. The longing many Japanese hold for Kyoto, and the small lives of the people who live there... if only readers could feel their own color in each of them, that would be my wish."

This 2022 book uses seven traditional colors to depict the Japanese painter searching for a color of his own, his cat Yuki, and the seven stories of the people of the neighborhood — a full-color comic.

For me personally, I picked it up drawn by the two words I love, "Kyoto" and "cat," and by that atmosphere.

The book begins with a prologue: the painter's older brother leaves behind the words, "I'm going to find my own color," and disappears. From there, themed on the seven traditional colors of enji, azuki, kamenozoki, kuchinashi, senzai, gin-nezu, and moon-white, it unfolds the stories of the college boy who frequents used-book shops, the young woman enjoying the Kobo Market at To-ji, the one who bathes at a public bath with the opponent who beat him at a kendo match, a strange encounter along the Kamo River, and a foreigner who dislikes matcha — each story tied to the colors of everyday Kyoto, before closing in the seventh chapter that circles back to the prologue.

Because it is a full-color comic, simply paying attention to the "red" of enji — the flower-district lanterns, the hina daruma at the shrine of Yasurai Matsuri, one of the three great festivals, the whole-tomato salad at Toyotei — these details that click only once someone points them out gave me, even as a Kyoto resident, the pleasant feeling that my way of seeing everyday Kyoto had changed.

Also, this was my first time reading this artist's work, but the drawing is truly skillful. As a cat lover, the gestures and presence of Yuki, who appears in every chapter, gave me a hard-to-put-into-words sense of reassurance — "ah, she understands."

More than information, it is a "Kyoto book that moves you with color," and a book that changes the way you see the world. I recommend it.

— a Japanese reader, Suna (Amazon, 5 stars)

★ If the colors of Kyoto could be touched, this book is what they would feel like. Enji red is the lanterns of the flower district, azuki brown is a matcha bowl, moon-white is the half-dark sky over the Kamo River — seven Japanese traditional colors, seven small lives in the old capital; open it and your heart slows down.
★ No sweeping drama, just the gentleness a city should have: the college boy who haunts used-book shops, the girl browsing the Kobo Market, the boy who lost a kendo match and still bathes with his opponent... each ordinary person's day, drawn touch by touch in the artist's bright colors.
★ And a cat named Yuki quietly threads the seven stories together. She sits on the painter's lap, and in the heart of every cat lover. Kyoto, a cat, traditional colors — three words people can't help collecting, all in one book.
★ If you're looking for a quiet little book to keep by the bed and turn slowly, this is it.

Kyoto × Japanese traditional colors
The colors of the four seasons that drift through the thousand-year capital —

A full-color comic that paints the lives of the people of the old capital in richly evocative Japanese traditional colors.

Kyoto — the city people the world over long for and dream of.
Each season in Kyoto has its own colors.
Drawing from that rich palette, seven traditional colors
depict seven stories of the people of the Kyoto streets — a beautiful collection.
The book also includes many Kyoto illustrations drawn in the bright colors the artist excels at.

Fumi Otagaki (オオタガキ フミ)
Lives in Kyoto. A popular illustrator known for her elegant use of color and assured draftsmanship. In addition to "Kyo no Tottoki O Oshiemasu" (published by this company), she is active in fields such as novel cover illustration.

Chapter 1 Enji Red (tsuyabeni)
Chapter 2 Azuki Brown (azukiiro)
Chapter 3 Kamenozoki (kamenozoki)
KYOTO COLORS
Chapter 4 Kuchinashi Yellow (kuchinashiiro)
Chapter 5 Senzai Green (senzaimidori)
Chapter 6 Gin Nezu (ginnezu)
Chapter 7 Moon-White (tsukishiro)