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Three pomes by A.J.
over time monk striking with the stick for back pay this sitting life the bowels clear brings satisfaction immovable quiet cheer over time must drink & eat again sate then deflate then just fall in sitting…
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Poetry and improv
WiK was able to showcase its talent at a Poetry and Improv event held Sunday, June 6 at the Gnome Irish Pub. On display were five of our best poets, including Frost scholar Mark Richardson,…
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Karen Tawarayama’s blog
WiK Competition Organiser Karen Tawarayama runs a blog which investigates the lives of ordinary Kyoto people. The following interview is extracted from a longer piece which can be found here. There are now six illustrated pieces altogether…
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Reviving an Ancient Buddhist Pilgrimage (Chavez)
Reviving an Ancient Buddhist Pilgrimage Amy Chavez A pilgrimage is a magical world brimming with history, beauty and solitude. Shingon Buddhism goes even further by presenting pilgrimage as a mandala, a type of map to…
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A medieval mystery
IT HAPPENED SOMEWHAT LIKE THIS by Akihito, Zen Monk. The following is written in a document by a little known monk, and housed in a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji. In 1260 there was a small murder in…
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Filling in the Middle of the Map (Edward J Taylor)
The following is one of a nine part Silk Road series of travel by train that will appear on Ted’s blog next month. A condensed version of the series is expected to be published in the…
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Razor’s Edge (Simon Rowe)
Notes from Himeji: Life on the Razor’s Edge Simon Rowe Sometimes good things can be found in the most unlikely places. For the best shave in my city, I go to the hospital. The Himeji…
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A Nishijin Weaver (Isil Bayraktar)
Isil Bayraktar is one of only two paid-up members of WiK who are not native speakers of English. She comes from Turkey and while studying in Kyoto is working freelance for Turkish publications. She has…
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KJ update (Ken Rodgers)
A Kyoto Journal Update, Summer 2017 From Ken Rodgers, KJ managing editor Now celebrating its 30th year, Kyoto Journal is about to return to print with KJ 89, after a sojourn of 13 diverse issues…
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Sake Vessels (Robert Yellin)
‘Pride of Place—Sake Vessels’ by Robert Yellin Drinking sake in Japan is an art when done with the right vessels. The history of sake vessels—collectively called shuki in Japanese—dates back millenniums and the variety of…
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Hearn on Higashi Honganji
In Chapter 6 of Kokoro (1896), Lafcadio Hearn writes of some of Kyoto’s sights, an unusual topic for a man who normally looked to folklore and tradition for insight into the culture of his adopted…
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Poems & Photos (James Woodham)
A collection of poetic images by James Woodham. (For an earlier posting of James’s rendering of Lake Biwa in poetry and photography, please see here.) ****** papers on the desk blown by the wind that…
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Interview with Yoppy (Tawarayama)
Karen Lee Tawaryama has been interviewing Kyoto people on her blog, Kyoto Faces. In her latest piece she writes of the non-verbal long-running performance called GEAR, which in 2015 was voted on TripAdvisor one of…
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Teddy and Daruma (Weiss)
“Teddy and Daruma” by Allen S. Weiss Like the shaman from his cave, Teddy (yes, Teddy, my teddy bear!) finally emerged, resurrected after a hibernation of forty years, with what particular wisdom I cannot say.…
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The Life and Death of Chine (Robbins)
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CHINE Selection, Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko Words of Basho, Kyorai, and Chine in bold to stand out In this article we meet Kyorai,…
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The Hamlet Paradigm (Kimura)
Marianne Kimura is a Shakespearean scholar teaching at a university in Kyoto, and her papers on Shakespeare have proved popular on the website academic.com. She also writes imaginative fiction based on Shakespearean themes, integrating ghostly or…
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Hyogo vignette (Simon Rowe)
Notes from Himeji, Hyogo: I am a Passenger by Simon Rowe What do commuters think about on their long rides to and from the mills each day? I bet they don’t think about how lucky…
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Isabella Bird on Kyoto 1878
The remarkable Isabella Bird came to Kyoto nearly 140 years ago… Her impressions are all the more noteworthy given how few foreigners had ever visited the city. According to research by Eric Johnston in…
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Book launch: Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto
Book Launch Nov 18, 2017 Report by Andrew Sokulski Zozaya, WiK intern Saturday night a splendid celebration was held in high spirits for the book launch of John Dougill and John Einarsen’s Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto.…
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Revolutionary Road (Edward J Taylor)
1. Not far from the American Embassy in Havana, mere steps from the body of water that proves narrower than ideology, stands a monument to the USS Maine, which exploded under mysterious circumstances in the…
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Notes from Himeji (Rowe)
Our man in Himeji, WiK member Simon Rowe, reports on one of those startling phenomena in Japan – the constantly growing townscape. (For a previous Hyogo vignette, see here.) Notes from Himeji: A Fistful of…
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The Ladies’ Temple in Saga (Robbins)
The Ladies’ Temple in Saga By Jeff Robbins (Thanks to Sydney Solis for providing feedback on this.) In October, just before I left my home in Fukuoka to go to Kyoto, I discovered a Basho…
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Persimmon (Book review)
Persimmon Book review by Andrew Sokulski Zozaya (WiK intern) [Persimmon is a publication by the Hailstone Haiku Circle based in Kansai. The group was formed in 2000 and its webpage Icebox can be viewed here.]…
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Echoes: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 2017
Echoes: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 2017 now on sale from Lulu for $14 (less during Lulu’s frequent discount offers). (See this Youtube video by Amy Chavez.) The anthology collects writings by established and new writers associated with…
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Hearn’s Kyoto Stories 1: ‘Common Sense’
‘Common Sense’ By Lafcadio Hearn (a short story set in Kyoto and contained in Kotto, 1902) by Andrew Sokulski Zozaya (WiK intern) Kyoto is a city with abundant temples and rich in Buddhist history, so…
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WiK bonenkai 2017 (year-end party)
Writers without words. (Photos courtesy Karen Lee Tawarayama)
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