skip to product information
1 of 1

gentle books » Fiction

The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto

The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto

1992

regular price $7.00 USD
regular price sale price $7.00 USD
sale sold

|

When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power.

All this he did. And then he met Sachiko.

Vivacious, attractive, thoroughly educated, speaking English enthusiastically if eccentrically, the wife of a Japanese "salaryman" who seldom left the office before 10 P.M., Sachiko was as conversant with tea ceremony and classical Japanese literature as with rock music, Goethe, and Vivaldi. With the lightness of touch that made Video Night in Kathmandu so captivating, Pico Iyer fashions from their relationship a marvelously ironic yet heartfelt book that is at once a portrait of cross-cultural infatuation -- and misunderstanding -- and a delightfully fresh way of seeing both the old Japan and the very new.

about delivery & pick-up

we offer the following delivery options:

  • domestic shipping
  • SF Express pay-by-receiver, and
  • local pick-up.

pick-up options are limited to book orders at the moment. if you select local pick-up (books only) at checkout, you can pick up your books at our next event! we'll be in touch to confirm your pick-up details.

view full details

about gentle books

gentle books hopes to build a circular book economy and nurture the community of readers here in Hong Kong.

a women-led business founded by book-lovers, the brand believes that books don’t belong in landfill - books deserve to be read! gentle books is a social enterprise that commits 20% of its profits to literacy and education-based NGOs. 

follow us on ig