Between the Floating Mist (Springhouse Editions) [Paperback]

Ryokan (Author), Hide Oshiro (Illustrator), Dennis Maloney (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Springhouse Editions | Publication Date: January 1, 1992

Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Zen monk, poet, master calligrapher, and hermit. He is one of the most beloved peots of Japan.

"Just as Ryokan's life is inseparable from his poetry, the translation's clarity of diction is inseparable from the sensitive brushwork on each page. A book to be gazed into again and again."-Charlotte Mandel, Small Press

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dennis Maloney is a poet and translator. His translations include the work of Pablo Neruda and Juan Ramon Jime.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Springhouse Editions (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877800015
• ISBN-13: 978-1877800016
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,386,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great little book to go along on the journey, December 6, 2010

By 

Dan W. Mckay - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Between the Floating Mist: Poems of Ryokan (Companions for the Journey) (Paperback)

Between the floating Mist is great little book for my world of "muchness". When I need to have a time out and allow my blood pressure to return to the green zone, Ryokans' poems bring my mind back to the center. Medication may still be needed for the body, but these poems are great for the spirit.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "just an old man who smiles to himself", February 26, 2011

By 

Patto (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Between the Floating Mist: Poems of Ryokan (Companions for the Journey) (Paperback)

This little book captures the essence of Ryokan, with a few Chinese poems, some Japanese tanka - and finally "Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf," poems exchanged between the aging Ryokan and Teishin, a nun forty years his junior.

I love the immediacy of these poems. You won't catch Ryokan "expounding on the five stages and the eight categories." He's always off somewhere listening to "the voice of the water under rocks." Whether playing ball with some kids, picking violets or missing his friends, he's always a charmer.

Although he took the name Daigu (Great Fool), Ryokan was qualified by his training to head up a temple. Instead he wandered around as a cloud and water monk and then lived alone in a mountain hut till he got too old to rough it anymore.

But maybe you know all about Ryokan and just want a review of this collection. Well it's small, but a nice taste of his work. The introduction is perfect, a concise summary of his life and worldview.

I read this book to recover my spirits, which had been dampened by a fat boring novel. It worked beautifully.