We carry 100+ “Gansai (Japanese watercolor) sets for postcards and haiku”.
Gansai are solid paints made from pigments, featuring Japan’s traditional colors that are gentle on both the body and nature.
We offer a wide variety of sets—12, 24, 36, 48 colors, and more.
Of course, you can also order individual colors. Please have a look.
Add Japanese colors and enjoy making postcards with ease
As the name suggests, gansai are solid paints made from pigments.
In Nihonga (Japanese painting), specialized paints like mineral pigments (iwa-enogu) and suihi pigments are commonly used.
Those require mixing with animal-glue solution (nikawa), which takes time to prepare; by contrast, gansai let you start painting right away with just water and a brush.
The charm of gansai is how easily you can enjoy Japanese-style painting.
Simply glide a water-loaded brush over the surface and the solid paint softens, making coloring very easy.
The colors are beautifully vivid, and by diluting with water you can achieve a wide range from pale to deep tones.
They resemble watercolor paints, but gansai employ traditional Japanese colors that convey a calm, refined mood even within their vivid hues.
For beginners, we recommend a set palette such as 12 or 24 colors.
These sets include the basics so you won’t be stuck choosing colors.
If you want to use a single color in larger amounts, consider “teppachi,” which provides one color per ceramic dish.
Gansai suit many uses—haiku, shikishi (square boards), New Year’s cards, postcards, illustrated letters, and more. Enjoy Japan’s beautiful colors in many settings.
How are gansai different from watercolors?
Gansai are made by mixing pigments with animal-glue solution, while watercolors use a resin called gum arabic. Looking at finished paintings, the difference may be subtle, but nikawa offers moderate water resistance and allows brilliant layering, so you can realize tones from light to rich, as you envisioned. Gum arabic is water-soluble; when layering, the lower layer can bleed, so it’s harder to achieve the bold saturation that gansai provide. If you’ve never tried gansai but are curious, give them a go—you can easily create paintings with a distinctly “Japanese” atmosphere.
Safe for people and nature: “Yamato no Irodori” gansai
The adhesive (binder) used in “Yamato no Irodori” gansai is based on natural starch.
The pigments express Japanese colors without any heavy metals, and are designed to be safe even if they contact skin.
Please try these gansai, which also have proven resistance to running during mounting.
For peace of mind, we recommend “Yamato no Irodori.”
Gansai ColumnGansai Colum
What exactly are gansai?
Solid paints dissolved with water
“Gansai” may be an unfamiliar term.
They are solid paints you activate simply by running a well-wetted brush over the surface.
The amount of water changes the tone, from light to dark.
Gansai are ideal for easily enjoying soft, gentle color palettes.
“Teppachi” refers to gansai provided in larger amounts in ceramic dishes.
If you plan to use a lot of color, teppachi is recommended.
Once used up, the dishes can serve as mixing plates.
How to use gansai
① Prepare water and a brush, and fully load the clean brush with water.
※ If using a stiff, unset brush, first soak and gently loosen the hairs with your fingers before use.
② Glide the water-laden brush across the gansai surface.
As water mixes in, the surface softens and releases color into a liquid state.
※ If you then touch another color with the same brush, residue can remain on its surface after drying, causing contamination next time. Use one brush per color when activating the pans.
③ Load the brush with the liquefied color and transfer it to a mixing dish (toki-zara or ume-zara).
Add water there to adjust to your desired concentration.
※ When combining colors, mix them in the dish—not on the gansai pans.
④ Test on scrap paper to check the hue once you’ve adjusted it.
⑤ When the color matches your intention, paint on your actual paper.
⑥ After painting, wash your brush and dishes, and allow the gansai pans to dry thoroughly before storing.
With just a brush, water, and a mixing dish, you can easily paint in a Japanese style with gansai. When the weather is nice, why not take them outside and sketch casually?
