A coloring page of a shishimai lion and a kadomatsu, the two things you meet everywhere at Japanese New Year. The outlines are thick and the areas are wide, so younger children can manage it on their own and it works equally well at home, in a classroom or in a care-home activity. Free to download and print as a PDF, no registration needed.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
Tell us about a lion dance or a kadomatsu you remember.
Is there a New Year food or decoration that has stayed with you?
Has the way people mark this occasion changed since you were a child?
What do you enjoy most at this time of year?
What are the shishimai lion and the kadomatsu?
The shishimai is the New Year lion dance: performers under a patterned cloth work a wooden lion head through streets and shrine grounds, and letting the lion ‘bite’ your head is said to shake off bad luck for the year. The kadomatsu is the pine-and-bamboo arrangement set beside the gate to welcome the New Year deity. It usually goes up from about 26 December and comes down on 7 January, though in the Kansai region many households keep it until the 15th. In this drawing the lion’s head and the cloth are the large shapes, and the kadomatsu carries the pine, plum and folding fan.
Can this coloring page be used for care-home activities?
Yes. Lion dances and gate pines are part of almost everyone’s New Year, so this page makes an easy conversation starter in reminiscence-style sessions. The lion head is traditionally red and green with gold trim, and the cloth is where the swirling patterns are, so leaving the fan and the pine pale keeps the lion in front. Talk about the lion dances you saw as a child while you colour.
Any tips for a neat, polished result?
Work from the largest areas first and save the fine details for last. If you go over a line, a white correction pen can tidy it up. With colored pencils, layering lets you control how light or deep each shade looks.
