THE FAMILYBy Felicity Tillack Felicity writes: I wrote this poem a few years after moving to Japan for an anthology called Elements of Time. The feelings expressed in the poem are definitely ones I’ve had, though it’s written from a male perspective. I think I liked the image of the man’s coat, and the grown-up …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 13 of 45)
1) Please tell us something about yourself. I am a (nearly) 30 year old guy from Bristol, England. Aside from being a writer, I’m a tutor for kids of all ages across a bunch of different subjects, which is a wonderful and fulfilling thing to do in between writing poems in the same three or …Read More
The World through the Magic Lantern – Nicolas Bouvier in KyotoBy Robert Weis ‘Scent of pine tree. Soaring foliage, stiff and alive with cicadas. In a cemetery a priest in a raspberry robe recites the sutras on a tomb, and it is like the sound of a distant fountain.’* Almost like an iconographic momentum, these …Read More
This is the first chapter of a novel titled Kyoto Dreamtime being written by Everett Kennedy Brown. ************************ Chapter 1 The Voices in Rocks “Quietude in the temple grounds. Quietude in the surrounding hills and forests. In the stillness you can hear them. The rocks. Listen to the way they murmur. Listen to how …Read More
Book review by John Dougill There’s often a mystery about why some books last and others fade from public awareness. That certainly applies in this case, because for some reason this reviewer fails to understand, A Zen Romance fails to come up in talk of best novels about Japan. Shamefully it was not even included …Read More
Nanao Sakaki (1923-2008) was not a Kyoto writer, but a wandering poet who belonged to everywhere and nowhere. By all accounts he led a remarkable life and wrote remarkable poems. Some folks in Kyoto had the pleasure to know him, particularly Ken Rodgers who accompanied him on a tour to Australia. Thanks to Ken for …Read More
ZOOM TALK ON GION FESTIVAL BY CATHERINE PAWASARAT ( July 19) This year, sadly, Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri is not taking place. A festival founded to prevent epidemics has been cancelled because of an epidemic. It’s an unfortunate irony, but as Catherine Pawasarat pointed out in her two hour presentation it is by no means the …Read More
Kyoto’s Netsuke MuseumBy Iris Reinbacher This report is posted in conjunction with WiK’s upcoming members-only guided tour of the museum on Sept 26. For further details, please see the righthand column under News or click on this link. ******************** Just opposite the eastern entrance of Mibudera, famous for its Mibu kyogen, lies the Kyoto Netsuke …Read More
My Project – Drawing 100 things in my house As some of you know, my house is undergoing a big change this year, as my son is moving in with his family. They are renovating, moving furniture, etc. and in the process, a lot of old items are coming to light. While sorting mountains of …Read More
This is the fourth extract from the final chapter of In My Own Way, the autobiography of Alan Watts which came out in 1972 (he died the next year). Interestingly, Watts was inspired in his early teens by Lafcadio Hearn founder of the Lost Japan genre, and like his predecessor he bemoans the industrialisation which …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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