Ama no Mizu: Water of the Sky/ Water that Belongs to the Heavens
This hand-bound artist’s book comprises two thousand Japanese terms for rain, each paired with a corresponding drawing. Created over a period of three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the work exists as an édition variée of two. Each volume is hand-bound and features a unique indigo-dyed linen cover. The complete set spans 2,209 pages and includes high-resolution reproductions of all two thousand drawings, along with indices organized both numerically and alphabetically. The book was bound by master bookbinder Daniel Kelm and includes essays by curator and critic Lilly Wei and Zen teacher Rōshi Joan Halifax.
Ama no Mizu: Water of the Sky The title Ama no Mizu (天の水) is an archaic Japanese expression for “rain.” Literally translated, it means “water of the sky” or “water that belongs to the heavens.” The term draws from classical Japanese cosmology, in which natural elements were not seen as inert substances but as animate forces belonging to a larger spiritual order. The character ama (天) denotes both “sky” and “heaven,” often implying a divine or celestial dimension, while mizu (水) simply means “water.” Together, they evoke rain not merely as a weather event, but as a sacred descent—a gift from above, bearing both temporal and spiritual significance. This older phrasing predates the modern word for rain (ame, 雨), and appears in foundational texts such as the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, where weather phenomena were attributed to kami (deities) and embedded in the rhythms of ritual and agricultural life.
I have amassed two thousand different names for rain, discovered in a variety of sources ranging from historic Buddhist texts to the poetry of Matsuo Bashō. Some of the oldest terms trace back to classical Japanese literature, including the eighth-century poetry anthology Man’yōshū and other early chronicles of myth and history. They extend from the meteorological, Mukaame (“Very Fine Rain That Falls in Spring”), to the mystical, Kitsune no Yomeiri (“Rain That Falls Even Though the Sun Is Shining / The Day That Foxes Have Their Wedding Ceremony”). (“Very Fine Rain That Falls in Spring”), to the mystical, Kitsune no Yomeiri (“Rain That Falls Even Though the Sun Is Shining / The Day That Foxes Have Their Wedding Ceremony”). Others include the emotional, Tamoto no Shigure (“Rain on Sleeves / A Kimono Sleeve Wet from Wiping Away Tears”), and the expansive, Amagakeru (“Soaring Rain / Gods, Souls, Birds Fly in the Sky”).
Each drawing is rendered in natural indigo dye, micronized silver, and graphite on washi or Hahnemühle paper. I chose indigo for its deep historical significance in Japan and its responsiveness to time. With each layer, the natural dye darkens, recording duration through tone.
Many of the terms I collected no longer appear in the contemporary lexicon. Some are still in use; others have become extinct. The work documents language from across centuries, preserving forms of expression at risk of being forgotten. I regard the project as a poetics of disappearance. There is meaning in retaining language that no longer circulates. By drawing each word, I attempt to hold it in place—as elegy, and as presence.
