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
Category: WiK members (Page 25 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
Karen Lee Tawaryama has been interviewing Kyoto people on her blog, Kyoto Faces. In her latest piece she writes of the non-verbal long-running performance called GEAR, which in 2015 was voted on TripAdvisor one of the city’s best attractions! In the interview below, she questions Yoppy, one of the dance performers about the show and …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
Isil Bayraktar is one of only two paid-up members of WiK who are not native speakers of English. She comes from Turkey and while studying in Kyoto is working freelance for Turkish publications. She has been much taken with Kyoto’s literary heritage, drawing inspiration in her own unique way to write contemporary accounts of the …Read More
Notes from Himeji: Life on the Razor’s Edge Simon Rowe Sometimes good things can be found in the most unlikely places. For the best shave in my city, I go to the hospital. The Himeji Junkanki Centre Hospital, to be exact. This mysterious facility hides in the hills south of the train tracks and is …Read More
Richard Steiner has an eye for characteristic Kyoto scenes, as his woodblocks display, but here he turns to a verbal rather than visual medium to explore one of Kyoto’s special hidden secrets – and these pockets of forgotten time truly are hidden. ***************** One would not expect there could be something yet remaining in Kyoto …Read More
A different view of publishing was provided at an engaging session hosted by WiK member Bernie MacMugen at Cafe Maaru (Dec 11, 2016). In place of the usual author’s perspective, Bernie pronounced himself an unashamed bibliophile with a fondness for hardbacks and no particular interest in writing. Instead he aspires to start his own ‘micro-publishing’ …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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