Hans Brinckmann: Born in 1932 in The Hague, Hans grew up during the German occupation of Holland. Due to the dismal post-war conditions, he had to suppress his hope to become a writer. In order to make a living, he joined a Dutch bank after high school, for a one-year in-house education, in preparation for …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 11 of 45)
Hōjōki: seeking solace in the time of COVID A report by Jann Williams on the Zoom talk by Matthew Stavros (Nov 27, 2020) “The best way to understand the world today, is to hold up a mirror to the past.” Kamo no Chōmei (1155-1216 AD) wrote these prescient words in Hōjōki, the celebrated memoir of …Read More
This fascinating selection of Kyoto-specific literature takes readers through twelve centuries of cultural heritage, from ancient Heian beginnings to contemporary depictions. The city’s aesthetic leaning is evident throughout in a mix of well-known and less familiar works by a wide-ranging cast that includes emperors and court ladies, Zen masters and warrior scholars, wandering monks and …Read More
Text and photos by Edward Levinson fall windtakes the unknown roadspreading wings 秋の風 未知の道行く翼伸ばすaki no kaze, michi no michiyuku, tsubasa nobasu People often ask me why I came to Japan and what its like to make a home in a different culture; it has always been difficult to tell the “long story.” My life here …Read More
William Altoft is a teacher in Bristol UK, who has links to Kyoto and draws inspiration from the Japanese tanka form. The following were written on the Bristol harbourside, as pictured below. (For more see his homepage here.) I Tower peaks; quartet sleeps; the gull’s braced, as am I – the lock-gate, leading southward, …Read More
Ken Rodgers, KJ managing editor I greatly enjoyed talking with author Alex Kerr about his new book, Finding the Heart Sutra, on our WIK Zoom session on Sunday Nov. 29th. (A recording is available here—thanks to Lisa Wilcut and Rick Elizaga for their technical support!) As an additional reference I had intended to mention that …Read More
Review by Preston Keido Houser Kerr, Alex. Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan. Dublin: Allen Lane, 2020. 297pp. Ebook and paperback. I’ve been exposed to the Heart Sutra for several decades now (I hesitate to use the word study since the sutra seems …Read More
The Witches Play Macbethby Marianne Kimura In Birnam Wood, we’d all meet, all the witches, to dance. We’d twirl and skip under the stars with the god Pan. No dull churches for him: he could be found only in groves and grottoes, riverbanks and the little sandy edges of the Forfar Loch, where grasses grew. …Read More
Authors’ presentation and social event, Nov 15.Report by Felicity Tillack (photos by her unless otherwise stated) On a beautiful November Sunday afternoon in northern Kyoto city, the WiK members congregated for a special social and celebratory event. The main reason for the gathering was to support authors whose books were published in the time of …Read More
The Wind’s Word (all photos by the author) intricate scripture – each leaf’s quiver the wind’s word on a page of air snail on his way down the rain soaked road easy grace of line shadows of bamboo score a melody of wind on the old stone wall crow carries its cry to the heights …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
Recent Comments