Considering Sōseki’s「京に着ける夕」”Kyō ni tsukeru yūbe” as a haibunBy Richard Donovan In the first part of Natsume Sōseki’s account of a visit to Kyoto in the spring of 1907, the author and his hosts run their rickshaws ever further north. At the same time, Sōseki and his thoughts rush onwards across the psychological terrain of memory and …Read More
Category: On Kyoto (Page 7 of 11)
Writings about Kyoto, whether by Japanese or foreign observers
The World through the Magic Lantern – Nicolas Bouvier in KyotoBy Robert Weis ‘Scent of pine tree. Soaring foliage, stiff and alive with cicadas. In a cemetery a priest in a raspberry robe recites the sutras on a tomb, and it is like the sound of a distant fountain.’* Almost like an iconographic momentum, these …Read More
ZOOM TALK ON GION FESTIVAL BY CATHERINE PAWASARAT ( July 19) This year, sadly, Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri is not taking place. A festival founded to prevent epidemics has been cancelled because of an epidemic. It’s an unfortunate irony, but as Catherine Pawasarat pointed out in her two hour presentation it is by no means the …Read More
Sutoku in Kyoto – emperor, poet, rebel, yōkaiBy Nicholas Teele Sutoku, the 75th emperor of Japan (reigned 1123-1142), is known to those with an interest in Japanese literature primarily for a poem included in a 13th century anthology of poetry, the Hyakunin Isshu (1235 AD); for students of history he is known as a rebel …Read More
This is the fourth extract from the final chapter of In My Own Way, the autobiography of Alan Watts which came out in 1972 (he died the next year). Interestingly, Watts was inspired in his early teens by Lafcadio Hearn founder of the Lost Japan genre, and like his predecessor he bemoans the industrialisation which …Read More
The following extracts are taken from pages 347-350 of In My Own Way, the autobiography of Alan Watts. *************** Ogata-sensei arranged to get us into Ryoanji -– The Temple of the Dragon Hermitage – after visiting hours, so that we could see the rock-and-sand garden in the stillness before twilight, when all the tourist and …Read More
WiK Anthology 4 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS “STRUCTURES OF KYOTO”Edited by Rebecca Otowa and Karen Lee TawarayamaThe title refers to the many structures of Kyoto, including mental and cultural structures as well as physical ones. Call for Submissions: from June 1, 2020 RSVP: July 1, 2020 Deadline: October 1, 2020. Language: English. Original and unpublished material …Read More
This is the second in a series of excerpts about Kyoto taken from the autobiography of Alan Watts, In My Own Way (1972). The passage below comes from the 2001 edition, p.345-6. ******************* That day we go down to Sanjusangendo, a long barn of a building which contains one thousand and one images of an …Read More
In his autobiography, In My Own Way(1972), Alan Watts writes of having a curious affinity with Japan even in his childhood. His early impressions were shaped by Lafcadio Hearn through Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894), and more substantially through Gleanings in Buddha-Fields (1897). The first marriage of Watts to the daughter of Ruth Fuller Sasaki …Read More
An intriguing blog entitled Ten Thousand Things from Kyoto carries an article suggesting that a chance encounter in Kyoto had world-changing repercussions. The meeting concerned Gary Snyder and Daniel Ellsberg, whose name is famous for the Pentagon Papers that in 1971 exposed US military decision-making in the Vietnam War and which played a decisive role …Read More
WiK 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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