Kyoto Journal 107: Fire & Kyoto

A special issue, in print — guest edited by Jann Williams

Fire consumes, transforms, renews and purifies. This primordial element has remained deeply embedded in the culture and psyche of Kyoto as a powerful destructive force, a sacred agent and a vital component of everyday life, throughout the city’s 1,230-year history.

Following Kyoto Journal’s wide-ranging explorations of our home city’s distinguishing elemental interconnections with Water (KJ101) and Flora (KJ104), this finely curated issue brings together diverse perspectives on ‘Fire & Kyoto.’ Wrapped in an unprecedented and spectacular photo-essay by acclaimed photographer Tobias Hutzler, on the ‘Calligraphy of Fire,’ KJ107 is rich in searingly dynamic visual imagery and insightful, illuminative written accounts of key aspects of this inexhaustible and multifaceted topic.

Timon Screech documents the devastation visited by the ‘Great Fire of 1788,’ including eye-witness accounts; the photographer Everett Kennedy Brown, artist Hikaru Hirata-Miyakawa, and Buddhist philosopher Chris Goto-Jones explore the ongoing tradition of fire ceremonies dedicated to  the wrathful yet compassionate Wisdom King Fudō Myō-ō; Clark Lunberry visits the summer bonfires of Kyoto’s signature Daimonji Gozan Okuribi ritual; painter Brian Williams depicts the autumn Fire Festival at Kurama; Ken Rodgers describes the candle-lit Wesak celebration held at Kurama-dera in May—and the aftermath of the Kyoto Animation Co. arson attack. Painter Daniel Kelly revisits the burning of Kinkakuji. Takada Ayako meets Kyoto’s traditional candle-makers; Lewis Miesen interviews a maker of hand-forged ceremonial bells. Jann Williams reports on the long history of Kyoto’s distinctive lanterns; Susan Pavloska delves into incense. Bruce Hamana brings to light the role of fire in tea ceremony; Alex Mankiewicz depicts the culture of Kyoto’s wood-fired sentos, public baths. Frank Walter samples charcoal-grilled abura-mochi at a shop which has been in business since the year 1000 and visits a recently opened restaurant specializing in a unique new offering, ‘fire ramen.’

Karen Lee Tawarayama spends time with Kyoto’s volunteer fire-fighters; Lisa Twaronite Sone interviews Miho Mazereeuw of MIT’s Urban Risk Lab on bōsai, the local culture of fire preparedness. Lawrence Denes attends the okera–mairi, a New Year’s fire-lighting ceremony; Gion Festival expert Catherine Pawasarat reports on dragons as protectors from fire. Ceramics expert Robert Yellin pays respect to potters still employing 5^th century techniques in ‘Poetry from the Inferno.’ Jann Williams interviews the innovative ceramics artist Kondō Takahiro. Also included are poems from the 15^th-generation master Raku Kichizaemon, fire-related tanka by Lea Millay, a ramble on ‘Heart and Flame’ by Robert Brady, classic fire prevention posters, powerful images by some of Kyoto’s top photographers, a calendar of Kyoto’s annual round of fire events—and more…

KJ107, available exclusively in print format, is a limited-run publication produced with pride by our all-volunteer staff and Kyoto’s foremost art printing company, SunM.