Echoes: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 2017 now on sale from Lulu for $14 (less during Lulu’s frequent discount offers). (See this Youtube video by Amy Chavez.) The anthology collects writings by established and new writers associated with Kyoto. The contents range widely from fiction to non-fiction: an extract from a novel, a short story, and a fantasy; …Read More
Category: Featured Writers (Page 17 of 26)
Writers in focus
The remarkable Isabella Bird came to Kyoto nearly 140 years ago… Her impressions are all the more noteworthy given how few foreigners had ever visited the city. According to research by Eric Johnston in his article for the WiK Anthology 2017, up until 1872 only about a dozen foreigners had ever set foot in …Read More
Notes from Himeji, Hyogo: I am a Passenger by Simon Rowe What do commuters think about on their long rides to and from the mills each day? I bet they don’t think about how lucky they are that the wheel was invented. I was a commuter once—a nameless man in a salt-stained suit and headphones. …Read More
Marianne Kimura is a Shakespearean scholar teaching at a university in Kyoto, and her papers on Shakespeare have proved popular on the website academic.com. She also writes imaginative fiction based on Shakespearean themes, integrating ghostly or SF elements as can be seen in the excerpt below from her second novel, The Hamlet Paradigm, published under the pseudonym of …Read More
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CHINE Selection, Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko Words of Basho, Kyorai, and Chine in bold to stand out In this article we meet Kyorai, the second son of a doctor of Chinese medicine in Kyoto, born in 1651, and his fascinating yet retiring nine-year …Read More
“Teddy and Daruma” by Allen S. Weiss Like the shaman from his cave, Teddy (yes, Teddy, my teddy bear!) finally emerged, resurrected after a hibernation of forty years, with what particular wisdom I cannot say. I have no idea if Teddy is an adept of Zen, but I am sure that the roly-poly Daruma who …Read More
A collection of poetic images by James Woodham. (For an earlier posting of James’s rendering of Lake Biwa in poetry and photography, please see here.) ****** papers on the desk blown by the wind that blows leaves on the hillside now ****** Plato’s ideas – discussion suddenly stopped by windborn blossoms ****** the baby mantis, …Read More
‘Pride of Place—Sake Vessels’ by Robert Yellin Drinking sake in Japan is an art when done with the right vessels. The history of sake vessels—collectively called shuki in Japanese—dates back millenniums and the variety of shuki found throughout Japan is as varied as there are clouds in the sky. For me, collecting shuki was my …Read More
A Kyoto Journal Update, Summer 2017 From Ken Rodgers, KJ managing editor Now celebrating its 30th year, Kyoto Journal is about to return to print with KJ 89, after a sojourn of 13 diverse issues in the not-quite-parallel universe of digital format. With this issue we will shift from quarterly to biannual publication, supported by …Read More
IT HAPPENED SOMEWHAT LIKE THIS by Akihito, Zen Monk. The following is written in a document by a little known monk, and housed in a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji. In 1260 there was a small murder in Minami Katada, Chugoku. Early the next morning, after receiving some advice, Tsutaro left in an easterly direction. Traveling only at …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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