Water of the Sky - A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words - Miya Ando

Name: Water of the Sky - A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words - Miya Ando
Brand: MIT Press
SKU: 9780262049863
Price: 34.95 USD
Availability: InStock

MIT Press

$34.95

1 left in stock

Water of the Sky: A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words by Miya Ando / 280-page hardback with 100 drawings, 6.38 x 8.25 inches, published in 2025 by MIT Press / ISBN 9780262049863

***

A breathtakingly elegant visual dictionary of 2000 Japanese words for rain, with 100 drawings in indigo.

In Water of the Sky, artist Miya Ando offers us a beautifully rich, bilingual visual dictionary for rain. Through a collection of 2,000 Japanese words, their English interpretations, and 100 drawings, Ando describes the breadth and diversity of rain’s many expressions: when it falls, how it falls, and how its observer might be transformed physically or emotionally by its presence. The words range from prosaic to esoteric, extending from the meteorological (mukaame, or “very fine rain that falls in spring”) to the mystical (bunryūu, or “rain that splits a dragon's body in half”) and from the minute (kisame, or “raindrops that fall off the leaves and branches of trees”) to the vast (takuu, or “blessed rain that quenches all things in the universe”).

Ando’s visual interpretations of these terms are not so much illustrations as evocations, attempts to embody or imagine each rain’s precise and essential quality. The book presents 100 of these 2,000 drawings of rain accompanied by the full index of 2,000 Japanese words and their approximate English equivalents, presented alphabetically using a hybrid Japanese-English alphabetization rubric.

"This is the book you don’t know you need until you open it. After all, the subtitle is “A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words.” Miya Ando provides exquisite colored drawings of 100 of the words, including “Rain That Falls on New Leaves and Blades of Grass That Have Sprung Up in Spring,” “An Entire Town Is Hit with Rain and Wind,” and “Rain in the Moonlight.” No need to understand Japanese to marvel at the English translations and to be hopeful that you never get caught in the “Rain That Splits a Dragon’s Body in Half.” Shake your umbrella in gratitude to the MIT Press for publishing such a gorgeous book." —AirMail

"Blending meteorology, myth and poetry, Ando’s visual dictionary of 2,000 Japanese words captures rain’s countless forms – from delicate spring drizzles (mukaame, or “very fine rain that falls in spring”) to cosmic downpours (takuu, or “blessed rain that quenches all things in the universe”). Ando’s evocative art and language reveal rain’s physical, emotional and spiritual resonance, celebrating Japanese culture’s profound intimacy with weather."—The Bookseller