The first WiK anthology has now been successfully launched. Every WiK member will receive a free washi-covered copy, and other copies are being sent out to publishers, media outlets and people of significance in the literary world. For those in Kyoto there are free copies in Maruzen, so if you would like to obtain …Read More
Author: John Dougill (Page 38 of 45)
Three more Basho linked verses about Kyoto Translations and commentary by Jeff Robbin Assisted by Sakata Shoko Recently I posted an article, Living in Kyoto vs. Returning Home, containing four Basho linked verses. John Dougill kindly says, “These are no doubt the first time for the subject (Basho’s relationship with Kyoto) to be treated in …Read More
Writing in Kyoto Jann Williams, May 24th, 2016 As I sit writing I can see the south-western turret and grounds of Nijo Castle through my apartment balcony door. The research for my book ‘Elemental Japan’ has been rich and rewarding in the two weeks I have been based in Kyoto. For half of that time …Read More
Living in Kyoto vs. Returning Home: Four Basho Linked Verses of Humanity Translations and commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko Basho’s well-known haiku offer us transcendental visions of nature usually with no human being in the scene — however beyond these nature poems is another, far most vast world: that of his renku …Read More
Lawrence Barrow is a potter and ordained Zen monk who also writes poems and keeps a blog. As a WiK member, he has allowed us to reproduce some of his poems from his Hikidashi website. He has also offered a brand-new poem, called The Zero (in reference to the Japanese fighter plane of WW2). Click …Read More
WiK’s first anniversary event could hardly have had a more prestigious speaker than Robert Whiting, famous not only for his bestselling book on baseball, You’ve Gotta have Wa, but for the even better selling Tokyo Underworld, an exposé of Japan’s influential gangster mobs. Robert has personally known several of Japan’s leading personalities in sports and …Read More
WiK Essay for March 2016 (Richard Steiner) I am hanging up the laundry on our veranda. It conveniently faces south. I see the large forest of the local shrine; others’ laundry waving to mine; new leaves beginning to open on the trees in our garden below; a fat wild cat sunning itself on a neighbor’s …Read More
BASHO IN SAGA Eight Basho haiku, one renku, seven passages of prose and two of his letters, Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko N.B. Basho’s own words appear in bold ****************** Basho’s follower Kyorai, the second son of a doctor of Chinese medicine in Kyoto, had a cottage …Read More
Peter Mallett is a university professor and writer based in Kobe, Japan. Originally from the UK, he has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Former Arts editor of Kansai Time Out and publisher/editor of Artspace, he has written for The Asahi Evening News, Gramophone Japan, Opera News, The New Internationalist etc. His …Read More
Jesse Efron has an M.A in English literature as well as an M.F.A in creative writing. He lives and teaches in northern Kyoto prefecture. The judges felt his piece provided an interesting look at questions of identity in a global age and at a time when tourist numbers in Kyoto have surged dramatically. **************** Nippon …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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