Down

Yuko ohnari koshiro hata translatEd BY EmilY BalistriEri

YUKO OHNARI & KOSHIRO HATA are a husband-and-wife creative team behind several picture books published in Japan. Koshiro Hata also works as a manga artist and writes essays and children's songs. They were both born in Osaka but now live in Tokyo, Japan.

EMILY BALISTRIERI'S translations for children include Eiko Kadono's Kiki's Delivery Service and Shaw Kuzki's Soul Lanterns. In 2023, he was a finalist for the PEN Translation Prize with his translation of Tomihiko Morimi's The Tatami Galaxy.

Downpour: Splish! Splash! Ker-splash!

This edition published in 2025 by Red Comet Press, LLC, Brooklyn, NY

Doshaburi © 2018 Yuko Ohnari / Koshiro Hata

Originally published in Japan as どしゃぶり / Doshaburi

Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd, Tokyo.

Translated by Emily Balistrieri

English translation © 2025 Red Comet Press, LLC

Design: Michael Yuen-Killick

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023054426

ISBN (HB): 978-1-63655-114-2

25 26 27 28 29 TLF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Distributed in North America by ABRAMS, New York Manufactured in China

RedCometPress.com

s plish! s plash! kE r- s plash!

Yuko ohnari • koshiro hata TranslaTed by EmilY BalistriE ri

Huh? Clouds. Dark clouds.

They're coming this way!

It's raining! plip! plip! plip!

The drops are big! plip! plip! plip!

It smells like the ground, too.

Bada-Bada-Bada. Bada-Bada-Bada. plip. plip. Bada. plam-pl-plam. plip. Bada-Bada.

My umbrella's a drum!

B-dadadadadadada.

You're so loud! When I tell the rain that . . .

. . . it rains even harder!

FWish FWish FWish FWiiiiiish! kEr-BaBaBa. ZuBaBaBaBa.

plip-ploonk.

ploopoopoopoopoop. sploosh-sploosh-sploosh.

FWish-a-FWish-a-FWish-a-FWish. pshaaa. pchoo. shapah.

kWhooo, kEEWhoo-kEEWhoo, rooroo.

FWiiiiish, sploosh-sploosh-sploosh.

plEck, plEck, plEck, plEck.

kEr-FWoooooooosh.

Both the sky and the ground make all sorts of sounds. There are so many sounds. The rain is singing!

The rain's voice rains down on me.

splaaash!sploosh-sploosh-sploosh.

kEr-Boosh, kEr-Boosh . pWish!

Run and kick it!

Jump and . . .

All the raindrops come to me. They all come talk to me.

They hit my forehead with a ker-plick, plick-plick. Let's play! Let's play!

They bounce off the backs of my hands, pchoo! Let's play tag!

They run down my cheeks, my eyelids, and past my ears. A slide!

I tell the rain, Come on, then, more! Come to me!

Ready? Here I go!

Everything's sopping wet. But sopping wet feels good.

Bye-bye, rain. Come again.