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Poetry that is about the ancient capital or was set in Kyoto

Three Poems by Robert Weis

Sea of Clouds (the art of change)

The November sun
Dazzles our faces with eyes closed
The bright glow of coloured leaves
Is not of this world
Here, today
It is another universe
That looks like the world
As it is
Of islands, rivers, mountains, oceans
A monochrome universe
Emerges from the stone
Expanding my mind
Falling on the moss
Like shooting stars
The maple leaves
Swept by the autumn wind
Or by the gardener
In the twilight
From the path of Yoshida Hill
I walk along the candlelight on the ground
A black butterfly
As big as my hand
Escapes from the darkness of the undergrowth
- Or is it a bat?
A tiny tea house
Above the bamboo grove of Kodai-ji temple
Under the full autumn moon
That illuminates the scarlet maples
And the cold of a night
Full of promise
Drop after drop
The basin of water fills
With the inebriation of life
Under the amazed gaze
Of a wise man silent
Like the passing of time
Small granite monk's heads
In a sea of green moss
Smile at life
As well as to death
Autumn rings hollow
Under the crackling sound
Of leaves tinged 
With the past
I watch my thoughts
Reflected in the clear water 
Of the lotus pool
Then floating
Like a sea of clouds
In a distant sky.

Manabeshima

Under the clouds diving into water
The absence of a new beginning
In the middle of this inland sea
Calm as a shoreless lake
I consider the possibility of an island
Swaying in the wind
- A solitary jellyfish!

Kiyotaki or the valley of bliss

The number eight bus abandons me at the curve
Stone stairs going down
Stone stairs going up
The face of the Buddha is invisible
In this mountain temple
The Japanese maples smile
Behind their faces scorched by the sun
And the coolness of the mountain nights
Stairs again and again
The sound of a Japanese lute
Makes the humid air vibrate on the river
I follow the path that follows the water
Climbing over blunt rocks
And suddenly the sight of a vermilion bridge
Amidst the vermilion maples
A man is fishing with a line
Sitting on the granite pebbles
As in an old print by master Hiroshige
- The hanging bridge of dreams.

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These poems have been translated from French by the author. The book Rêves d’un mangeur de kakis is available from the publisher (www.michikusapublishing.com) or directly from the author.

For other writing by Robert Weis, see Mind Games in Arashiyama, or 71 Lessons on Eternity. For more on his travels, see his account of a walk from Ohara to Kurama here, or his spiritual journey to Kyoto here. His account of Nicolas Bouvier in Kyoto in the mid-1950s can be read here.

Writers in focus

Rock Band Queen and Kyoto

by Yuki Yamauchi

The relationship between David Bowie and Kyoto is a source of endless fascination. Less well known is the connection between the city and the mega rock band Queen. Like Bowie, who I wrote about in April, Freddie Mercury was particularly attracted to Kyoto. 

Queen has several links with Japan. For example, more than 1,000 fans flocked to Haneda Airport to glimpse the quartet during the 1975 Sheer Heart Attack Tour, their first tour of Japan. In addition, Japanese lyrics account for a part of “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together),” a closing track on the 1976 album ‘A Day at the Races’.

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Writers in focus

The dharma of natural laws

by Preston Keido Houser

The dharma of natural laws
Initiate a sublime conclusion:
“No cause, no cause.”*

Zen sermons for all their flaws
Frame an eloquent elocution
The dharma of natural laws

To escape ideological claws
One source of absolution:
“No cause, no cause.”

Dreams must give us pause†
The crystal clarity of illusion
The dharma of natural laws

Being beyond is will or was
Exalt religious revolution:
“No cause, no cause.”

No curse no applause
Only a salient solution:
The dharma of natural laws:
“No cause, no cause.”


*cf. King Lear (4.7.75).
†cf. Hamlet (3.1.68).

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Preston Keido Hauser is a longtime member of Writers in Kyoto, a poet and a player and teacher of the Japanese wind instrument shakuhachi. He has been in Kyoto since 1981. His website may be found at www.keidokyoto.wordpress.com. To read more of his work on the WIK website, click here.

Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto

The Back Way to Kiyomizu-dera

by Steve Alpert

The secret back way to Kiyomizu-dera begins on Shichi-jo Dori. It’s a secret now because the city of Kyoto over the last thousand or so years has grown up around it. Back in the Heian Period (794-1185), and maybe a little after that, it would have been how you got to Kiyomizu from the old Imperial Palace just south of what later became Nijo Castle. A visit to Kiyomizu was a popular outing for Imperial concubines of the day.

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BORN ABROAD, WRITING IN JAPAN: A Bilingual Live/Zoom Streamed Event in Shizuoka University

Image taken by Steve Redford and used as the poster & program image.

by Rebecca Otowa

On November 19, 2022, Shizuoka University professor Steve Redford celebrated his retirement with a very ambitious event. He invited two resident-in-Japan writers to join him in an event in which the three talked about their early lives, why they came to Japan, and their experiences of writing in English in Japan. They interspersed these personal tales with readings from their published works. About 50 live participants and 18 Zoom participants enjoyed the event. 

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Writers in Kyoto Present the Eighth Annual Kyoto Writing Competition

◆ THEME: Kyoto (English language submissions only)
◆ DEADLINE: March 31st, 2023 (23:59 JST)
◆ GENRE: Short Shorts (unpublished material only)
 WORD LIMIT: 300 Words (to fit on a single page)
 FORM: Short poems, character studies, essays, travel tips, whimsy, haiku sequence, haibun, wordplays, dialogue, experimental verse, etc. In short, anything that helps show the spirit of place in a fresh light. A clear connection to Kyoto is essential.

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Writers in focus

Enter the Ink

By Elaine Lies

He comes to me after nightfall. 

I’ve lit the candles and incense, rung the bells at the small shrine in my studio, bowed my head, all as if I’m about to start work. The sticks and the needles stand ready, lined up in their boxes; the ink in its jars, rows of blue and black, yellow, green, aqua, red. I used red a lot, for the sweeping arms of demons, the brilliant skin of the Goddess of Mercy, the sun rising from the sea, the leaping carp the surfers all wanted put on. But the ink is crusted inside the jars and dust lies over my worktable, so thick it’s almost furry. The table, with its black cover, is furry; the cats sleep there for hours, undisturbed. Bea is there now, curled in a tight cat knot. As I stare down, she unwinds, blinks her amber eyes up at me, yawns, curls up again. Soon, she is snoring. 

I am that insignificant. Now. 

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Writers in focus

The Story of Jisshinbō Renshō (実信房蓮生 – Clan Head, Priest, Poet

By Nicholas Teele

Front of Sanko-ji

Two of my favorite places in Kyoto are Yoshimine-dera and Sanko-ji. The temples are located partway up Shakadake, one of the mountains on the western side of Kyoto referred to as nishiyama (western mountains, 西山). Yoshimine-dera is famous for its beautiful ancient pine, its many blossoming trees, beautiful flowers, and autumn leaves. It is also the 20th temple on the Saikoku 33-temple Kannon Pilgrimage. Walking around the expansive temple grounds, with its various smaller temples, I always feel the “life force” of the place. Just beyond the north gate of the temple grounds is Sanko-ji. Both temples have a spectacular view of the city of Kyoto below, the hills and mountainsides of the eastern side of the city, and the areas to the south and southwest, but I actually prefer the calm of the smaller temple. And there, for a small fee, you can see some of the temple treasures and then enjoy a bowl of tea and a sweet in a quiet room with a perfect view. 

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Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto

A Murder on Teramachi Street

by Sara Ackerman Aoyama

 A Murder on Teramachi Street is a work in progress with plans for at least three more books to create a series. In this excerpt, Keiko who is the owner of a small restaurant called Den on Teramachi Street chats with an old friend who is a regular customer. After some amount of dithering, Keiko had rushed out to the grocer just down the street to purchase a few items. She had left the restaurant unlocked. 

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Writers in focus

Foreign women writers give alternative view of Japan: An article by Stephen Mansfield

WIK member Stephen Mansfield recently wrote an article for Asia Nikkei which serves as a comprehensive overview of the works and lives of foreign women writers in Japan, both past and present. The article can be found here and includes mention of a couple of WiK writers as well.

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