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Poems by Preston Houser
Here are four poems of Kyoto poetaster and gadfly shakuhachi Master, Preston Louis Houser, selected by a former writer in Kyoto, Fil Lewitt: LAMENT air and earth the academy fire and water the gurus…
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Novel extract (David Joiner)
David Joiner, whose talk about promoting his first novel was well received last year, has kindly allowed us a sneak look at his current work in progress. This follows his time in Vietnam, since when…
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Island of Serow (Amy Chavez)
ISLAND OF SEROW By Amy Chavez Japan is known for its cat islands where the resident strays can outnumber the humans living there. There is also a rabbit island populated by cute cavorting rabbits. I’ve…
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Kyoto Unhurried (Janice Tay)
All it took was three days in Kyoto. A short holiday in the city was enough to convince writer Janice Tay to give up a settled life in Singapore and move to the heart of…
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Dancing over Kyoto
One of the senior members of Writers in Kyoto announced last year that they would no longer be buying or reading self-published books on the grounds that the lack of quality control meant that it…
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Kyoto Faces (Tawarayama)
The WiK Competition Organiser, Karen Lee Tawarayama, has set up a blog called Kyoto Faces with the ambitious aim of giving a picture of the ordinary lives of Kyoto residents. For a city famed for…
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Book announcement (Allen Weiss)
Allen S. Weiss is known to many in Kyoto through his books on aesthetics, and in recent years he has given well-received talks on the subject (see here). His latest book has now appeared, and…
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WiK Competition 2017 (March 1)
WRITERS IN KYOTO PRESENTS THE SECOND ANNUAL KYOTO WRITING COMPETITION Theme: Kyoto (English language only) Deadline: March 1, 2017 (midnight JST) Genre: Short Shorts (unpublished material only) Form: Short poems, character studies, essays, travel tips,…
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Basho’s Letters to Uko (Robbins)
Letters to Uko (A chapter from Take Back the Sun – Basho Tells Her Story Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko) [Bold face is used for Basho’s own words] Of the…
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Alex Kerr’s book launch (Another Kyoto)
October 2 saw the book launch of Alex Kerr’s new book, Another Kyoto. A packed audience hung on his every word as he ran through his thoughts on Kyoto and Japan, drawing on his vast…
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Haiku pics (Mayumi Kawaharada)
Phantasmagoria Ⅰ An old well left In an empty land— A cherry petal drops into it. Desolate lands, Beaten by the rain–– A dayflower blooms Construction noise Echoing in the rain—…
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Foreign Correspondents (Eric Johnston)
Why The World Still Needs Full-Time Foreign Correspondents By Eric Johnston Along with polar bears and black rhinos, the plight of the full-time foreign news correspondent is a subject of growing concern among arm-chair zoologists…
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Basho Colloquium
WiK’s Basho Colloquium, held on Oct 28 at Ryukoku University, proved a highly entertaining affair, both in terms of the presentations and of the socialising afterwards. There were three high-quality talks, each from a very…
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Kyoto Journal no. 87
KJ 87 Amazingly, Kyoto Journal is approaching its 30th anniversary—not bad going for an all-volunteer non-profit publication, in any context. Back in the pre-Internet days of monochrome cut-and-paste layout (art-knife and toxic spray-nori) we had…
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Kyoto: An Urban History
Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital by Matthew Stavros (University of Hawaii Press, 2015) Book review by Paul Carty, WiK member. This first appeared in the Kyoto Journal. ************** Kyoto is one of…
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Shikoku pilgrim Edward J. Taylor
The following is an excerpt from an upcoming book on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, expected to be released in 2017. Edward J. Taylor will thus become our second WiK member to have a book published about…
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Scorsese on the train to Kyoto
(The following is extracted from a New York Times article by Paul Elie on Nov 21, 2016. Click here to read the full article.) A man was on a train in Japan, reading a novel…
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A.J. Pomes
A.J. Dickinson is a longterm resident of Kyoto who writes Daoist inspired poetry. For previous poems featured on the website, see his Wisdom Crazed poems here or two Kathmandu earthquake poems here. haunting haunting haunting…
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Hearn in Kyoto
Lafcadio Hearn is famous for his association with Matsue, Kumamoto, Kobe and Tokyo. Not many people would associate him with Kyoto, yet he wrote a striking cameo entitled ‘Notes of a trip to Kyoto’ following…
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Basho on haiku: 17 Statements
Basho on How to Make a Haiku 17 statements from his letters and spoken word Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko (Words of Basho are in boldface) From the hundreds…
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Bernie on publishing
A different view of publishing was provided at an engaging session hosted by WiK member Bernie MacMugen at Cafe Maaru (Dec 11, 2016). In place of the usual author’s perspective, Bernie pronounced himself an unashamed…
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Year-end thoughts
One of WiK’s members has produced a retrospective look at the departing Year of the Monkey. Some may have mixed feelings as we see off another year, but perhaps there’s something in this midwinter miscellancy…
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New Year Basho (Robbins)
New Year Basho Eight Basho haiku, four linked verses, two Basho letters, and one haibun Selection, translation, and commentary by Jeff Robbins Words of Basho appear in bold face For the New…
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