- Cherry Blossom Scenes
- Gates, Shrines and Temples
- Night Market and Lantern Scenes
- Mount Fuji and Mountain Views
- Tea Houses and Quiet Interiors
- Background Papers
- Lined Writing Pages
- Frequently Asked Questions
This japan junk journal kit gives you 36 full colour pages built around one country and one season after another: cherry blossoms along a canal, a torii gate in the mist, a ramen stall glowing under paper lanterns. Twenty five scene pages carry the pictures, five seamless background pages give you patterns of waves and fans to print as fillers, and six lined writing pages leave room for your own notes on tea houses, train rides and quiet gardens.
Print the whole set on matte cardstock heavy enough to take glue without curling, somewhere around 90 to 120gsm. Set your printer to its best or photo quality so the washes stay soft, then trim each sheet to the trim marks or to your journal’s page size before you glue anything in.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Cherry Blossom Scenes
Petals drift across a quiet canal lined with stone lanterns and low wooden bridges, pink branches arching over the water on both banks.
A blue picnic mat sits under a blossoming tree with a teapot, two cups and a folded fan resting on its edge, perfect for gluing in a ticket stub or a pressed petal from your own trip.
Leave a little blank sky above the branches if you want to add a tiny paper lantern cutout later, or just let the page stand as it is.
Pair this one with the wave and fan pattern page later in the set: use the pattern as a facing page and let this branch page breathe on its own beside it.
A curved temple roof tile pattern peeks from below the blossoms, with a pair of small birds resting on the eaves.
Tea-stain just the bottom edge of this page before gluing it in, so the petals seem to drift into a faded ground rather than stop at a hard line.
A young woman in a soft pink kimono walks beneath the blossoms carrying a paper parasol, with a stone lantern and a low fence placed to one side.
Blossoms curve around a small hanging scroll left blank for your own haiku, with a tiny brush and ink stone resting below it on a wooden shelf.
Gates, Shrines and Temples
Soft grey fog rolls between two red torii gates set one behind the other on a stone path, with a stand of pine trees fading into the mist beyond them.
Stone steps climb toward a small shrine between two lanterns, moss creeping along the edges of the stairs and a single maple branch leaning in from the side.
The usual mistake here is painting the steps too evenly spaced and flat. Vary their width slightly and let the top step fade softly into the shrine’s shadow instead of stopping sharp.
A five tiered pagoda rises among maple trees turning red and gold, a narrow path and a low stone wall leading the eye toward its base.
Write a short line about patience or stillness along the lower edge of this one, since the raked gravel and three placed stones leave the page calm enough to hold it.
A large bronze temple bell hangs beside a weathered wooden gate, a paper charm tied to its rope and a stone lantern standing just beyond the threshold.
Night Market and Lantern Scenes
Steam rises from a bowl at a small ramen stall lit by strings of paper lanterns, a stool, a hanging curtain and a short menu board set around the counter.
Glue a folded paper fortune or a small ticket beneath the lantern row on this page, since the strip of warm light along the top leaves a clean, dark ground below for tucking something in.
A small takoyaki cart sits at the edge of a quiet street as dusk falls, its griddle dotted with batter balls, a stack of paper trays and a single hanging lantern beside the awning.
If you are short on time, paint only the cart and its lantern glow and let the street behind fade into a soft flat wash rather than full detail.
Round goldfish bowls line the counter of a summer festival stall, paper streamers strung overhead and a small net propped against the wooden frame.
A low wooden table is covered in folded paper fans of different patterns, a small lantern and a hand written price card resting at one corner.
Mount Fuji and Mountain Views
Mount Fuji rises pale and snow capped behind a red pagoda and a row of cherry trees, the classic view travelers chase across the country.
The mountain’s reflection breaks gently across still lake water, a small fishing boat and a line of reeds set along the near shore.
A narrow hiking path winds up a rocky slope dotted with small trail markers and a lone wooden rest hut, the summit still far above in cloud.
This page suits a reader planning her own trip up the mountain. Leave the hut door blank so she can letter in the date of her own climb beside it.
Neat rows of green tea bushes curve across a hillside with a distant mountain peak floating above the morning cloud line.
Tea Houses and Quiet Interiors
Steam curls from a cup of matcha set on a low table beside an open paper screen window, with a small dish of sweets and a folded cloth nearby.
What question would you ask of this room if it could answer: who sat here before you, and what were they waiting for over their tea.
Orange and white koi glide beneath a small wooden bridge near the tea house entrance, lily pads and a trailing willow branch framing the water.
Place this page across from the koi pond page in your journal, letting the screen’s painted cranes echo the water scene on the facing sheet.
Rest a travel ticket or a pressed leaf beside the ink stone here, since the small cleared desk space on this page is made for tucking in something flat.
A sleek bullet train races along the tracks with Mount Fuji rising pale behind it, telephone poles and a row of distant houses marking the foreground.
Background Papers
Figures with umbrellas cross a busy intersection lit by tall neon signs and glowing shopfronts, rain reflecting the colour across the wet pavement.
If this page feels too busy to glue in whole, trim it down to just the crossing and the nearest sign, and keep the rest of the lights as a soft blur behind.
Small wooden fishing boats rest along a quiet harbor wall, drying nets and a stack of woven baskets set along the stone edge.
Tall bamboo stalks rise in soft rows along a narrow dirt path, light filtering down between them in pale green streaks.
A maple tree in full red blazes over an arched stone bridge crossing a quiet stream below.
Small curling waves and folded paper fans repeat in soft rows across the page. Use it as a facing sheet behind a photo of the sea or a temple visit, line a journal cover with it, or trim a strip for a page border.
Lined Writing Pages
Tiny five petal blossoms and thin branches scatter evenly over the whole sheet. Slip it behind a travel photo, use it as a soft journal cover, or cut a strip to frame a lined page.
Small koi shapes drift among soft ripple lines repeated across the page. Good under a water or garden photo, as a pocket lining, or as a quiet divider between two busy scene pages.
Flying cranes and soft cloud bands repeat in a loose damask rhythm over the sheet. Use it behind a formal photo, as a cover sheet, or torn into strips for borders along other pages.
A fine woven grid echoes tatami matting across the whole page. Lay it under a tea house photo, use it as a neutral journal cover, or cut it down as a quiet mat behind a lined page.
Faint blossom sprays mark two corners of this ruled page. Use it for a packing list, a short letter to next year, or a page of first impressions after landing.
A small red torii gate sits at the top of this ruled page with a thin band of pine along one side. Write a shrine visit, a wish made there, or a few lines about the walk up.
What to Do Next
Print the set, trim the sheets to your journal’s size, and start with one cherry blossom scene glued onto your first page: the rest of the kit will follow its lead. For more themed pages to mix in, browse the travel junk journal ideas or the Japanese street scene paintings for extra inspiration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper should I print a japan junk journal kit on?
Matte cardstock between 90 and 120gsm works best. It is thick enough to glue without curling or letting ink show through, and the matte finish keeps the washes looking soft rather than glossy. Plain printer paper will wrinkle once glue touches it, so avoid anything thinner.
What printer settings give the best colour?
Choose your printer’s best or photo quality setting rather than draft or normal, and select matte or plain photo paper in the paper type menu even on cardstock. This slows the print slightly but keeps the soft bleeding edges and pigment blooms from looking flat or banded.
What size should I trim the pages to?
Most junk journals run close to A5 or roughly 5.5 by 8.5 inches, so trim each sheet to match your journal’s page size before gluing it in. A paper trimmer keeps the edges straighter than scissors and makes it easier to line up borders on facing pages.
Can I colour or add to these pages myself?
Yes. The pages print fully finished, but a fine tip pen works well for adding your own handwriting, dates or small details like a train ticket sketched into a corner. Coloured pencils can deepen a shadow or add a personal touch without fighting the printed wash underneath.
Do I need anything beyond paper and glue to use this kit?
Not really. A glue stick attaches the scene and background pages into your journal cleanly, and a pen is all you need for the lined pages. Scissors help if you want to trim a background page into a smaller strip for a border, but nothing else is required.