The third installment of a series on Japanese writers of Kyoto.
Category: On Kyoto (Page 1 of 11)
Writings about Kyoto, whether by Japanese or foreign observers
In Kokoro (Chapter 4 Section 6) Hearn writes of ‘Dai-Kioku-Den’, which is how Heian Jingu was known on its establishment in 1895. Hearn was in town for the celebrations to mark the grand opening of a monument to mark the restoration of imperial supremacy. (Shrine and temple were used interchangeably in early Meiji, before the …Read More
Sunday, May 19, WiK had the great pleasure of welcoming the prolific Allen S. Weiss back again on one of his annual visits to Kyoto. Covid had prevented him from coming for two years, so it was good to hear he would be revisiting. He has confessed that he never joins clubs or societies, but …Read More
by Rebecca Copeland Sometimes it’s the unexpected detours that provide the greatest pleasure. Last week, I spent the afternoon with PhD student Ran Wei, who has been in Osaka on a Japan Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. We had planned to meet at Kyoto’s Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, tour the garden, and then enjoy a long and …Read More
by Yuki Yamauchi When Lafcadio Hearn taught English literature at Tokyo Imperial University (the current University of Tokyo), he praised a certain undergraduate as “the only one that can express himself in English among 10,000 Japanese students.” The prodigy worth such high praise was Bin Ueda. Born in 1874 at Tsukiji, Tokyo, he enriched his …Read More
By Edward Levinson During the 1990’s when I visited Kyoto on photo trips, I often stayed with an American friend who lived just across the street from Shisendō, the famous poets’ retreat temple on the north side of Kyoto. As a photographer and poet, I have always seen Shisendō as a favorite place to visit …Read More
by Lea Millay Lea writes: ‘I offer a few winter tanka inspired by my time in Kyoto last December. May they give a brief respite from the summer heat.’ climbing the steep hilla pillow of stone offersdeep and dreamless sleepas wind rustles winter pines a clear moon graces the sky When I was walking alone on …Read More
By Sara Ackerman Aoyama [The author was a member of the 1976 Associated Kyoto Program and this was her first, but certainly not her last, visit to Kyoto. This is an excerpt from her memoir in progress on learning to read with the counterculture in Kyoto.] The three of us Midwesterners had become close friends …Read More
by Edward J Taylor Blame it on the low yen, revenge travel, whatever, but our city found itself quite quickly under siege. After three lean but pleasantly restful years, it was startling to encounter this many people in town, and to do so many consecutive days of guiding. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with …Read More
Ken Rodgers writes… This special print issue of Kyoto Journal explores the ubiquitous role of flora as an essential subtheme in Kyoto’s timeless culture through essays, interviews, and poetry, illuminated by superb photography and artworks. The city is famously unique for its superb gardens, its rich heritage of tea ceremony and flower arrangement, its deeply-rooted culinary traditions based on heirloom vegetables, its longstanding literary appreciation of seasonal blossomings, and its …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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