One of the entries for the 2016 WiK Writing Competition provides a perfect example of how the restriction of 300 words can be overcome by suggestive vignettes that tell a story in themselves. The suggestion here that ‘a tired old man’ has fallen asleep in the bubble years and woken in contemporary Kyoto is framed …Read More
Category: Featured Writers (Page 20 of 26)
Writers in focus
Supernatural Women: From Kwaidan to Basho Selection, Translation, and Commentaries by Jeff Robbins Those reading this article are probably familiar with Lafcadio Hearn’s life and writings, especially since this website has recently carried articles about him. Here are two legends told by Hearn in his famous collection of supernatural tales Kwaidan, which may (or may …Read More
Basho on How to Make a Haiku 17 statements from his letters and spoken word Translations and Commentary by Jeff Robbins Assisted by Sakata Shoko (Words of Basho are in boldface) From the hundreds of passages I have translated from Basho’s letters to followers and from spoken word recorded by followers, I have culled …Read More
Lafcadio Hearn is famous for his association with Matsue, Kumamoto, Kobe and Tokyo. Not many people would associate him with Kyoto, yet he wrote a striking cameo entitled ‘Notes of a trip to Kyoto’ following a visit he made on October 23-25, 1895. It was included as a chapter in Gleanings in Buddhafields (1897), and …Read More
A.J. Dickinson is a longterm resident of Kyoto who writes Daoist inspired poetry. For previous poems featured on the website, see his Wisdom Crazed poems here or two Kathmandu earthquake poems here. haunting haunting haunting me timeless stars refracting night light dawn emerging seas passing sparkles rivulets grains limitless insubstantial waves forming anew molecular chains …Read More
The following is an excerpt from an upcoming book on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, expected to be released in 2017. Edward J. Taylor will thus become our second WiK member to have a book published about the famed 88 temple pilgrimage, following the release of Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage (2013) by Amy Chavez. We spent the …Read More
KJ 87 Amazingly, Kyoto Journal is approaching its 30th anniversary—not bad going for an all-volunteer non-profit publication, in any context. Back in the pre-Internet days of monochrome cut-and-paste layout (art-knife and toxic spray-nori) we had no inkling that the magazine would last more than a few issues, or that it would continue to evolve over …Read More
WiK’s Basho Colloquium, held on Oct 28 at Ryukoku University, proved a highly entertaining affair, both in terms of the presentations and of the socialising afterwards. There were three high-quality talks, each from a very different perspective – one of them rooted in traditional author analysis, one a very modern reading of fictionality, and one …Read More
Why The World Still Needs Full-Time Foreign Correspondents By Eric Johnston Along with polar bears and black rhinos, the plight of the full-time foreign news correspondent is a subject of growing concern among arm-chair zoologists who fear the magnificent beast, which once roamed the world at will and congregated at exotic watering holes, is now …Read More
Phantasmagoria Ⅰ An old well left In an empty land— A cherry petal drops into it. Desolate lands, Beaten by the rain–– A dayflower blooms Construction noise Echoing in the rain— A machiya screams A Cicada’s voice Lost in the noise– Demolishing another machiya The cicadas’ call and respond …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