{"product_id":"water-of-the-sky-isbn-9780262049863","title":"Water of the Sky","description":"\u003cb\u003eA breathtakingly elegant visual dictionary of 2000 Japanese words for rain, with 100 drawings in indigo.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWater of the Sky\u003c\/i\u003e, 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 (\u003ci\u003emukaame, \u003c\/i\u003eor “very fine rain that falls in spring”\u003ci\u003e)\u003c\/i\u003e to the mystical (\u003ci\u003ebunryūu, \u003c\/i\u003eor “rain that splits a dragon's body in half\u003ci\u003e”\u003c\/i\u003e) and from the minute (\u003ci\u003ekisame, \u003c\/i\u003eor “raindrops that fall off the leaves and branches of trees”) to the vast (\u003ci\u003etakuu\u003c\/i\u003e, or “blessed rain that quenches all things in the universe”).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAndo’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.Foreword: A Constellation of Frozen Moments: The Language of Rain by Hollis Goodall\u003cbr\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003ePerceiving Rain by Rōshi Joan Halifax\u003cbr\u003e100 Select Drawings\u003cbr\u003eA Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eNotes“Miya Ando’s depictions of rain are not just visual—they are experiential. They draw the viewer into a state of stillness, inviting contemplation of the cycles of nature, the softness within strength, and the emotional resonance of water as both a physical and spiritual element. In her hands, rain becomes more than weather—it is memory, presence, and transformation.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Willa Blythe Baker, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—AirMail\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Ando’s visual dictionary reveals the ever-unfolding altering, inside and outside. The wind swings, the weather moves, the light changes and changes again, in the moving mix of melancholy, euphoria, hum-drummy, all the bliss beauty and ache of a rainy day.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Nina McLoughlin, \u003ci\u003eNew England Literary News Substack\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“A meditative artistic practice that encourages deep reflection.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMiya Ando is a Japanese and American artist. Her work examines the dialectic coexistence of Eastern and Western cultures through the lens of natural phenomena and is included in many private and public collections, including that of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233830711525,"sku":"NP9780262049863","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262049863.jpg?v=1767743634","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/water-of-the-sky-isbn-9780262049863","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}