Author: WiK (Page 10 of 13)

Ken Rodgers poems

GRACE NOTESA few weeks ago a title for a collection of short writings unexpectedly suggested itself: “Grace Notes.” Then I realized that what it implied didn’t quite fit anything I actually had on hand, so I’ve been scribbling in a notebook, exploring where this might lead. Here are some examples, as shared via Zoom for …Read More

Edward Bramwell Clarke in Kyoto

By Yuki Yamauchi Edward Bramwell Clarke (1874-1934), a Briton born in Yokohama, is remembered as one of the people who introduced rugby to Japan, and his name was often seen in news articles related to the 2019 Rugby World Cup. A graduate of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, Clarke was also an intellectual giant. Having …Read More

IN THE POOL

By Lisa Twaronite Sone I had expected her. I knew exactly who she was, when she came wandering into the old school one day. She saw my janitor’s uniform and realized I belonged there, but she wasn’t quite sure what to say to me. They never are. “Can I help you?” I asked as kindly …Read More

Masterpiece: Gardens as Art

by Stephen Mansfield Once you introduce a concept, aesthetic ingredient, or color palette into Nature in the form of a garden, you stir the wilderness, the primal pot. A space probe does something like that with the universe. It likely never occurred to eighteenth century European collectors and literati, entitled beneficiaries of a meticulous, favorably …Read More

Robert MacLean

Isobar Press is not only a specilist publisher of poetry, but of poetry with a Japanese connection in particular. According to its website, it “publishes poetry in English by Japanese and non-Japanese authors who live (or have lived) in Japan, or who write on Japan-related themes.” One of their recent publications is by former resident …Read More

Memoirs of a Japanese Nurse pt 3

The Memoirs of a Japanese Nurse on the Western Front (pt 3) Hajimeko Takeda’s Notes by a Japanese Nurse Sent to France Translated by Paul Carty & Eiko Araki, edited by Freddy Rottey & Dominiek Dendooven In Stand To! 122 (April 2021), the introduction, context and postscript of Hajimeko Takeda’s memoirs as a Japanese nurse …Read More

Foxes of Kyoto

by Stephen Benfey “Last night,” he said, “was fun.” “It was spooky,” she said. “How do you know such spooky places?” “Serendipity. Just walking around and there it was.” “What does ‘serendipity’ mean?” He cocked his head. “Like how we met. Serendipity is when something good happens by chance.” She frowned. “We call that en.” …Read More

Afternoon Tea in Teramachi

by Nicholas Teele The last two or three years, I’ve been experiencing what I call visual flashes. They come on without warning, first with an intensity that nearly blocks everything else out, then stay a few minutes, or a day, or a week, but eventually fade away. These are not hallucinations in the sense that …Read More

Smiling with Light

Extracted from Edward Levinson’s Whisper of the Land (2014) sitting in the lotus position     蓮華座組みthe Zen carpenter       禅の大工がhammers nails         釘を打つalong the long hall of his life   長い人生の廊下に沿って renge-za kumi, Zen no daiku ga, kugi o utsu, nagai jinsei no rōka ni sotte My garden is not a Zen garden but it does have some symbolism, …Read More

Gion Higashi

A Glimpse into the History of Gion Higashiby Yuki Yamauchi The flamboyance of Kyoto has long been enhanced by the culture of five kagai (geisha quarters). Since my heart was touched by the performances of geiko and maiko in the Gion Odori of 2016, the focus of my interest has been in particular on Gion …Read More

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