Gunkanjima (Hashima) Coloring Pages

An Island Shaped Like a Battleship

Gunkanjima (Hashima) is a small island floating in the sea, about 40 minutes by boat from Nagasaki Port in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Its real name is Hashima.
Concrete walls surround the island, and tall buildings are packed closely together on top.
When you look from far away, it looks like a battleship floating on the sea, which is why people started calling it Gunkanjima (Hashima).

A Town for Coal Miners

A lot of coal was buried deep under the sea near this island.
Many people came to live on the island to mine the coal.
On this small island, there were apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, and shops, so it was just like a full town.
In 1916, Japan's very first tall reinforced concrete apartment building was built here.

An Island Where Nobody Lives Anymore

Before long, energy switched from coal to oil, and the coal mining work came to an end.
Mining stopped in 1974, and everyone left the island.
Now, nobody lives on the island, and the buildings are crumbling.
In 2015, it was chosen as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution."

3 Coloring Pages

The first coloring page shows the ruins of the reinforced concrete apartment building left on the island.
The pillars and beams look like square boxes, and you can see the windows of the rooms where many families used to live.
The second coloring page shows the island up close, where you can see buildings with rows of windows on top of high concrete walls.
A white lighthouse stands on a small hill on the island.
The third coloring page shows the ruins of a red brick building and broken concrete buildings on the island.
The brick wall with a row of large arched windows is what remains of an old company building.

Walls That Protected Life from the Waves

Gunkanjima (Hashima) was made by reclaiming land around a small rocky island in the sea to make it bigger.
The high concrete walls around the island were built to protect life on the island from huge typhoon waves.
Inside the island, there were big machines for mining coal and equipment to carry the mined coal.
They dug tunnels deep under the sea bed to pull out the coal.
Today, the crumbling buildings tell the story of how people used to live back then.
When you go on a tour, a guide will tell you all about the island's history in detail.

What shades of gray for the concrete?

Try coloring the concrete of the buildings and walls in gray.
Don't just use one color! Mix light gray, dark gray, and a little brownish-gray to make it look like an old building.
If you color the inside of the window holes dark gray, it will give the building real depth.

Red bricks are reddish-brown and orange

Color the red brick wall on the third page with reddish-brown and orange.
If you change the color just a little bit for each brick, it will look like real brickwork!
Color the rubble in the front using grays and light browns, changing the shade for each stone.

Make the island pop with a blue ocean and sky

On the second page, if you color the sea in dark blue or navy, the gray island will really stand out.
Color the sky light blue, and leave the clouds white.
Try coloring the trees and grass on the island's rocky mountain here and there with green and yellow-green.
If you leave the lighthouse white and color the sky around it blue, it will look super clear!

Rust and moss on old buildings

On the third page, try adding a little brown rust and green moss here and there on the broken buildings.
When you mix brown and green into the gray concrete, it makes the building look very old.
For the rubble, it is easier to color the big stones first, and then color the small stones after.
If you color the inside of the red brick arch window dark gray, the red of the bricks will really pop out!
Leave the lighthouse white, and color the sky blue.

It Was a Town Packed with People

At its busiest time, it is said that over 5,000 people lived on Gunkanjima (Hashima).
Because so many people lived on such a tiny island, it is said to have been about 9 times more crowded than the 23 wards of Tokyo back then.
Everything people needed for daily life was packed tightly onto the small island.

Now You Can Visit by Boat

Today, you can take a guided boat tour and land on part of the island.
However, if the waves are high, the boat cannot dock, so sometimes you cannot go ashore.
Because the buildings might collapse, you must walk only on the set pathways.
Try exploring Japan's World Heritage Sites together with the Mount Fuji coloring page.

Part of the Industrial Revolution Heritage

Along with Gunkanjima (Hashima), 23 sites—including places in Kyushu, Yamaguchi, Shizuoka, and Iwate Prefectures—were chosen as part of "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution."
They show how Japan became an industrial nation during the Meiji period by making iron, building ships, and mining coal.
Among them, Gunkanjima (Hashima) is a place that tells the story of coal mining work.