Between the Floating Mist: Poems of Ryokan (Companions for the Journey, 17)

“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 PressWhat shall remainas my legacy?The spring flowersthe cuckoo in summer,the autumn leaves.Ryokan (1758–1831) was a poet, master calligrapher, Zen hermit, and is one of the most beloved poets of Japan. Instead of becoming the head of a Zen temple, he preferred the simple and independent life of a hermit. Ryokan’s poetry is simple, direct, and colloquial in expression.