A coloring page of the Japanese whiting — shirogisu, one of the best-loved fish of Japan’s summer surf-casting season. The drawing follows the real fish closely: a long, slim body, a small mouth set low on the head for probing sandy bottoms, and two tall dorsal fins. The PDF holds two pages, a finished color sample followed by plain line art, so you can either copy the sample or invent a palette of your own. A small Japanese caption and the site address are printed in the bottom corner of the artwork; they are part of the drawing and cannot be removed. Free to download and print, no registration needed.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
Have you ever fished from a beach or a breakwater? What did you catch?
Do you have memories of a summer trip to the sea with your children or grandchildren?
How was a mild white fish like this served at home — as tempura, grilled with salt, or simmered?
If you could spend tomorrow beside the sea, which stretch of coast would you choose?
What kind of fish is a Japanese whiting?
Shirogisu (Sillago japonica), called Japanese whiting or silver whiting in English, is a slender fish of shallow sandy coasts around Japan and neighbouring waters. Most of the ones anglers meet are hand-sized, and they rarely run much beyond 25 to 30 centimetres. The fish feeds by nosing into the sand for worms and small crustaceans, which is why the mouth sits low and slightly forward. In the water the back looks pale sandy gold, the flanks silver, and the belly close to white, with a faint pearly stripe along the side.
Why is it such a familiar fish to anglers in Japan?
It is one of the classic targets of nage-zuri, the Japanese style of surf casting: a long rod, a weighted rig thrown far out from a sandy beach, and a slow retrieve back along the bottom. Because the fish moves into shallow water in the warm months, summer is the season most people in Japan associate with it, and it is often a beginner’s first catch from the shore — which is part of why it turns up so often in coloring sheets aimed at older adults, who may have fished for it themselves.
How is it eaten, and how is the drawing best colored?
The flesh is white, mild and faintly sweet. It is a traditional ingredient of Edo-style tempura, and it is also grilled with salt or cured briefly between sheets of kelp. For coloring, keep the palette gentle: a pale sand or olive tone along the back, a wash of silver-grey down the flanks, cream to white on the belly, and a soft yellow on the fins with a hint of brown at the tail. Leaving a narrow unpainted line where the light catches the side is what gives the body its shine.
