by Peter MacIntosh There once was a beautiful geikoFamous from Kyoto to EdoBut if clients tried holding handsShe would whack them with her fanBecause that was the way she said “No No” There once was this cheeky young geishaSo cheeky she’d even surprise yaShe would look here and thereWhen she was pouring your beerAnd “accidentally” …Read More
Category: WiK members (Page 5 of 25)
Authors who belong to Writers in Kyoto
by Amber Logan Below is an excerpt from Chapter Two of The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn, a modern Gothic retelling of The Secret Garden. Here is a synopsis: Still grieving her mother’s death, American photographer Mari Lennox is sent to document Yanagi Inn, an old, dilapidated ryokan outside Kyoto. By day, Mari explores the …Read More
Poems and photos from Lake Biwa by James Woodham spider walks the airunspooling from his beinglifelines of silver where the wind takes ithow light a life that’s floatingshadow on the sand Santoka* walking –nothing between him and deathhaiku and sake gift of his whole lifeSantoka into the wind ragged spirit free reeds flailed by the wind …Read More
By Simon Rowe The City Fathers call Omoide Yokocho by its official name—Memory Lane. Locals prefer ‘Piss Alley’. For me it’s a little of both: a place to sip cheap beer on a hot evening, to reminisce of my wayward youth, and maybe shoot the breeze with another seasoned drinker. Because that’s all you’ll meet …Read More
by Adam Downham You wouldn’t know it from the body of photography books out there, but snow is fairly uncommon in Kyoto. I suppose it’s the infrequency of it that brings out the cameramen in droves when it does finally fall. I had rather naively expected this idealized version of winter in Kyoto to be …Read More
To be confirmed
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 …Read More
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 …Read More
This Very Moment—A new book of Miksang contemplative photographs by John Einarsen Photographs and text by John Einarsen; translation by Mitsue Nagase John Einarsen’s images describe a journey of learning to pay attention to what is before us, to see beyond the obvious to a transcendent essence, and finally to return to the here and …Read More
by Marianne Kimura Kyoto has several colorful and bustling craft markets. held monthly at shrines and temples, where people peddle unique wares: hand-made clothes, plant-dyed yarn, wooden cutting boards, knitted hats, honey, dried flowers, and tons more besides. As she lives in Kyoto, Mona has bought several skirts made of antique indigo-dyed fabric over the …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
Recent Comments