Kyoto Stage and Film Director Akira Nobuchiby Yuki Yamauchi “Yes, it has been a bad dream… but a beautiful one will begin.’ So ends Monna Vanna, a 1902 drama by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. The phrase influenced Akira Nobuchi (1896-1968) so strongly that he contributed a short essay to his graduation yearbook, which ends as …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 10 of 45)
Kyoto: A Literary Guide which came out last year with Camphor Press was a collaborative effort by six different people, who collectively made the selection and agreed on the translation and editing. Now one of them, Michael Lambe of the Deep Kyoto blog, has made a short five minute video with the help of his …Read More
John Dougill writes: This synopsis of a story from Shadowings (1900) is Part Four of a series covering Lafcadio Hearn’s stories set in Kyoto. (For the introduction to the series, mentioning Hearn’s visit to the city, please click here.) The title, ‘O-Kichi-Seiza Kudoki’, was taken by Hearn from a ballad that was sung by wandering …Read More
New to HaikuBy Sydney Solis While living and traveling in Japan for nearly four years, I indulged myself full-steam in Japanese culture and arts. At midlife, I was looking to shift my writing focus away from the Storytime Yoga work I created, so I spent my days exploring rakugo, shodo, kamishibai, kimono dressing, chado, and …Read More
Birth of a Book Coverby Simon Rowe While working on a screenplay project in 2019, I discovered the artwork of Tokyo-based Canadian illustrator, Jeremy Hannigan. He had been commissioned to create the visual references for yokai (spirits, monsters and goblins) which appear in the script. At the time, I was looking for a unique hand-drawn …Read More
A Foreign Mom’s Journey Of Settling In Kansai Same country, different city, and a whole new ballgame By Kirsty Kawano | This article first appeared in Savvy Tokyo. Learning the ropes of living in Japan’s cultural capital can be tough. Two years ago my family relocated from Tokyo to Kyoto in line with my husband’s …Read More
Up now near the Kamogawa delta on the west bank of the river there are some large boards exhibiting black and white photos by local photographer, Kai Fusayoshi. whose name will be known to many because of his involvement with Honyarado coffee shop and Hachimonjiya bar. The blown-up photos cover the side of a building …Read More
by Mark Schumacher Another routine day for me. Off for a walk in the park, the sky shining blue. Black Swan Event. A giant gathering of sparrows attracts my attraction. Hundreds of birds in one tree, chirping in unorchestrated union. Never before seen or heard by these eyes and these ears attached to this brain …Read More
Michikusa Dreamingby Robert Weis [Michikusa, lit. ‘Grass on the Wayside’ is an autobiographical novel written by Soseki Natsume in 1915. The expression also means ‘wasting time along the way’.] One week to reach Kyoto from Tokyo, in a modern-day pilgrimage, taking in Kanazawa and rambling along the centuries-old trails of the Kii Mountain range. One …Read More
Hello. I’m honored to be one of the members of Writers in Kyoto. I’m Yuki Yamauchi, a translator of English and Irish literature and part-time event writer for The Japan Times. I have written about events in Kyoto, such as annual performances of Kyoto’s five kagai (geisha districts), Kyoto Experiment and Nuit Blanche Kyoto. I was born in …Read More
Kyoto Writing Competition
WiK Anthologies
The Nature of Kyoto (2023)
Eds. Lisa Twaronite Sone & Robert Weis
Foreword by Pico Iyer
Structures of Kyoto (2021)
Eds: Rebecca Otowa & Karen Lee Tawarayama
Foreword by Judith Clancy
Encounters with Kyoto (2019)
Eds: Jann Williams & Ian Josh Yates
Foreword by Juliet Winters Carpenter
Echoes (2017)
Eds: John Dougill, Amy Chavez, & Mark Richardson
Preface by Alex Kerr
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