Kachi-Kachi Yama Coloring Pages

A story about a rabbit and a tanuki

Kachi-Kachi Yama is a Japanese folktale about a smart rabbit who teaches a cheeky tanuki a lesson.
It has lots of clever scenes, like the "click-clack" sound of striking stones and a race between a wooden boat and a mud boat.
The story can be a little different depending on whether it is an old version or a modern picture book.
In many picture books today, the story ends with the tanuki saying sorry and promising to be good.

Summary (1): The Cheeky Tanuki

Long, long ago, a cheeky tanuki came to an old man's farm and ruined his crops.
The old man caught the tanuki and tied him up inside his house.
But the tanuki tricked the old woman into untying the rope, hurt her, and ran away.
When the old man was crying, his good friend the rabbit said, "I will teach that tanuki a lesson for you."

Summary (2): Mount Kachi-Kachi

The rabbit invited the tanuki to go gather firewood.
As the tanuki walked with the firewood on his back, the rabbit struck stones behind him with a "click-clack" sound.
When the tanuki asked, "What is that sound?", the rabbit answered, "This is Mount Kachi-Kachi, so the Kachi-Kachi bird is singing."
Soon, the firewood caught fire, and the tanuki burned his back.

Summary (3): The Wooden Boat and the Mud Boat

Next, the rabbit invited the tanuki to go fishing.
The rabbit got into a wooden boat, and the tanuki got into a big mud boat he chose himself, and they rowed out onto the lake.
But the mud boat began to melt in the water and slowly sink.
The tanuki really learned his lesson, said sorry, and promised, "I will never do bad things again!"

3 Coloring Pages

There are 3 coloring pages.
The first page shows a brave rabbit wearing a headband and holding striking stones.
The second page shows the tanuki carrying firewood with the rabbit striking stones behind him.
The third page is a detailed coloring page of the wooden boat and mud boat rowing out onto the lake.
We also have coloring pages of real animals like the rabbit and the tanuki.

The rabbit is white, and the raccoon dog is brown

For the rabbit, leave the paper white! Just color the inside of its ears and its nose pink.
Use brown and dark brown for the raccoon dog. Make the area around its eyes and its feet a little darker. That will make it look just like a real raccoon dog!
It is also fun to add dark brown stripes to the tip of its tail.

Headband and short coat

Make the rabbit's headband red! Color its short coat blue or green to make it look brave.
The flint stones are gray.

Autumn mountains

On the second page, color the pampas grass ochre or light brown. Mix red, orange, and yellow for the maple leaves. Now you have an autumn mountain!
Color the firewood with brown and dark brown. If you change the color for each stick, it will look like a real bundle!

The wooden boat and the mud boat

On the third page, trace the wood grain of the wooden boat with light brown. Color the mud boat thick and heavy with dark brown or ochre.
If you use clearly different colors for the two boats, it is easy to see the difference!
Color the lake with light blue and blue along the wave lines.

The lake and the mountains

On the third page, color the reeds around the lake yellow-green or ochre. Color the pine trees dark green.
If you color the far-away mountains light purple or light blue, they will look far away!
Color the rabbit's oar and the raccoon dog's oar the same colors as their boats. That will make your picture look nice and neat!
The sky is light blue. Leave the clouds white!
For the wave patterns on the water, alternate lines of light blue and dark blue. It will look like a moving lake!

What is a flint stone?

A flint stone is a tool that makes sparks when you strike a hard stone against iron.
Long ago, before there were matches or lighters, people used flint stones to start fires.
The "kachi-kachi" sound is the noise of the stone hitting the iron.

A mountain called "Kachi-Kachi Yama"

Near Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi Prefecture, there is a mountain named "Kachi-Kachi Yama" after this story.
If you ride the ropeway up, you can see all of Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi.
It is also said to be the setting for the story "Kachi-Kachi Yama" written by the author Osamu Dazai.

Rabbits and tanuki

Both rabbits and tanuki are familiar animals that live in the mountains and fields of Japan.
There are many old tales about foxes and tanuki tricking people, but in this story, the rabbit uses its wits instead.

Old picture books

Kachi-Kachi Yama was also written in "Akahon," picture books for children in the Edo period, and was a popular story.
Stories long ago had many scarier scenes than they do now.
Today's picture books are often rewritten into gentler stories so that even young children can enjoy them.