RAIN
Water of the Sky: A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Words for Rain is a visual and linguistic archive I created over the course of the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project comprises 2,000 Japanese terms related to rain, each paired with a drawing I executed using natural indigo, micronized silver, and graphite on paper. Ultimately published by The MIT Press in 2025, the work transforms a dictionary into a perceptual system: an index capturing rain’s multifaceted physical, emotional, and temporal dimensions.
I selected rain for this project because of its profound ability to evoke impermanence and mono no aware, concepts central to my entire artistic practice. Water of the Sky thus serves as a direct extension of my ongoing exploration of transience, material transformation, and the subtle rhythms of nature.
Drawing on historical sources, including Heian-era literature, Buddhist texts, and calendars, my interest lay in revealing a subtle precision in observing natural phenomena often absent in English. Through my translations, I sought to explore these lacunae: lexical gaps that reflect cultural differences in perception. This inquiry suggests how language encodes cultural values. When something is valued, it is given a name. Informed by my bicultural background, my work reflects a perspective shaped by cultural displacement, hybridity, and the navigation between languages and worlds. For me, translation is a perceptual act that aims to bridge Japanese and English, revealing what each language may embrace, omit, or find difficult to express.
The terms range widely: from the meteorological (mukaame, “very fine rain that falls in spring”) to the mystical (bunryūu, “rain that splits a dragon’s body in half”), and from the delicate (kisame, “raindrops that fall off leaves and branches”) to the vast (takuu, “blessed rain that quenches all things in the universe”). These words serve as titles for my drawings. Each is an effort to perceive, render, and imagine the unique quality of a specific kind of rain. Alongside the 2,000 page-sized works, I created larger-format versions on 39", 79", and 94" paper, expanding the scale and presence of these linguistic-weather phenomena. The larger works follow in the gallery below.
AMAGOI (RAINMAKING PRAYERS), 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Graphite, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
AMA NO MIZU (WATER FROM THE HEAVENS/ RAIN), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
AMAYONOTSUKI (MOON ON A RAINY NIGHT), 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 79 in (200.66 x 200.66 cm)
AMAYOZUKI (MOON ON A RAINY NIGHT), 2023
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
AME MEIGETSU (FULL MOON ON A RAINY NIGHT) MARCH 18, 2022 NYC2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 158 in (200.66 x 401.32 cm)
AMESHI WO MOYOOSU (RAIN THAT PROVOKES A FEELING INSIDE TO READ POETRY), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
AME SUGITE YATOU NO AKI (MYSTERIOUS SCENE OF DEEP AUTUMN COLORS ON THE POND EVEN IN THE NIGHT RAIN/ZENGO)2023
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
BENIAME (RED RAIN/ THE RAIN THAT FALLS ON FLOWERS AND SCATTERS THEIR PETALS), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
DAIUN SHŌGYŌ (GREAT CLOUD RAIN SUTRA/ PRAYER TO INVOKE RAIN, 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 79 in (200.66 x 200.66 cm)
HAIRIN (HEAVY RAIN THAT LASTS FOR THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
HANAFUBUKI (COLD RAIN DURING THE TIME OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS/PETALS FALLING LIKE A SNOWSTORM), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
HASHIRIAME (THE SPARSE AND SOFT, FAINT RAIN THAT FALLS BEFORE THE MAIN DOWNPOUR BEGINS), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
KEIU (RAIN IN THE VALLEYS), 2023
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
KIRISAME (A BARELY PERCEPTIBLE AND MIST-LIKE RAIN) MAY 11 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 79 in (200.66 x 200.66 cm)
KIU (EXTRAORDINARY, EXTREMELY HEAVY RAIN THAT MAKES ONE WONDER IF IT MAY BE THE WORK OF A DEMON), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Graphite, Kozo Paper
94 x 94 in (238.76 x 238.76 cm)
ONNA AME (RAIN THAT FALLS SLOWLY/ WOMAN'S RAIN), 2023
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
SOBOTSU (RAIN THAT FALLS ELEGANTLY AND STEADILY), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Graphite, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
TSUIRI (RAIN THAT CAUSES THE CHESTNUT FLOWERS TO FALL / TO ENTER THE RAINY SEASON), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
TSUKISHIGURE (IT RAINS WHEN THE MOON RISES/ MOONLIT RAIN) FEBRUARY 14 2022 NYC, 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 237 in (200.66 x 601.98 cm)
TSUYU NO TSUKI (THE MOON DURING RAINING SEASON/ MOONLIGHT ON A RAINY NIGHT), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
UKIFU (SKY IS CRYING/ RAIN THAT APPEARS WHERE THERE ARE NO CLOUDS AND THE HEAVENS APPEAR TO BE WEEPING), 2023
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)
YAMASHIGURE (INTERMITTENT RAIN IN THE WINTER MOUNTAINS), 2022
Natural Indigo Dye, Micronized Pure Silver, Kozo Paper
79 x 79 in (200.66 x 200.66 cm)
YOKO SHIGURE (RAIN THAT FALLS SIDEWAYS IN WINTER), 2022
Natural indigo dye, micronized pure silver, graphite, Kozo paper
39 x 39 in (99.06 x 99.06 cm)