Black Robe, White Mist

Rengetsu (1791-1875), whose name translates as Lotus Moon, was a Japanese Buddhist nun whose tragic life inspired extraordinary creativity. One of a very few successful female artists in nineteenth-century Japan, Rengetsu was primarily a poet and calligrapher, but also excelled in pottery and scroll painting. Her idiosyncratic personal aesthetic attracted an enormous following in her own lifetime and was imitated by many of her admirers.Black Robe, White Mist, was published 2008 under ISBN 9780642541390 and ISBN 0642541396.