Shared “Vision”: KYOTOGRAPHIE 2020 in Review
“Vision,” the theme of this year’s KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival, seeks to highlight photography’s power to overcome barriers and satisfy (in the words of New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield) “that terrible desire to establish contact.”
Read MoreClimate Crisis Sparks a Revival of Youth Activism in Japan
Youth climate activists are faced with the challenge of engaging a relatively complacent student population on an issue that seems much less immediate and visible than the presence of the US military in the 1960s did: environmental pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases.
Read MoreA Rare Pleasure
The few translations that do exist of particular haiku poets have focused on male poets such as Basho, Shiki and Issa. For these reasons alone, readers should welcome the translation of the work of a premiere Japanese woman poet artist-calligrapher, Kaga-no-Chiyo.
Read MoreA Culture of Simplicity
The simplicity of wabi-sabi is best described as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence.
Read MoreSeeking Ma
“There is something magical about a torii gate floating in the middle of a lake or shoreline. Once I got more immersed in the study of Japanese culture and religions I developed a parallel appreciation and respect for the symbolism and cultural importance they have to the Japanese people.”
Read MoreSome Gravel, Some Stones: Nature, Art and Spirit in Japanese Gardens
Stephen Mansfield interviews Marion Poschmann, whose novel set in Japan, The Pine Islands, was winner of the Berlin Prize for Literature and shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.
Read MoreNOTICE: Kyoto Journal is going digital til 2021
We have made the difficult decision to suspend our printing operation and sales of our subscriptions, until further notice. Back issues are still available and will be shipped to you if we can ship them to you!
Read MoreHidden Masterpieces
As canals are to Venice, gardens are to Kyoto, even if mostly concealed behind the walls of private residences, or within sub-temples that have not transformed themselves into tourist attractions.
Read MoreAshwini Bhat: The #claynomad at home
From India, Australia, Japan, to the United States, and elsewhere she pursued variety and experience, which for a time was recorded on her social media under the hashtag #claynomad.
Read MoreA Critical Moment for Japanese Art Curation
Morse warned that in 2020, over 75% of specialists in Japanese art would be at retirement age. She called on the museum community to focus on developing a new generation of curators in response to the impending exodus of experts from the field.
Read MoreThe Life and Times of Okada Torajiro and his Seiza Method of Self-Harmonization
To actually practice Seiza, one needs no group or leader, no visualization, vocalization, counting, or mantra repetition, and no special symbolic objects, apparatus, or vestments. Seiza is truly more zen than Zen.
Read MoreTadashi Nakajima: Encountering the God of Darkness
Cradled, we were slowly merging. This I knew, looking up at the dusty stars, losing all feeling in arms, in legs, smelling the hot rice odor which was now mine as well. I, the man I thought I knew, was gone, become a thousand others.
Read MoreSacred Desire Notes on Tamotsu Yato: Photographer
Tamotsu Yato embodied the erotic gaze — he was one of the earliest to do so openly. At the same time the gaze involved much more than simple erotics and it is this, no less, which merits our attention.
Read MoreCherry Blossom Epiphany: The Poetry and Philosophy of a Flowering Tree, by Robin D. Gill
“The Japanese have written thousands of poems about the cherry blossoms” is something I have said thousands and thousands of times over the years to my college classes in Japanese language…
Read MoreBehind the Mask
In 1960, noh actor and mask carver Udaka Michishige was the last to be taken as an uchi-deshi, or live-in apprentice, into the home of Kongō Iwao II, the head of the Kongō School.
Read MoreAn Old Posttown Makes a Comeback
The City of Otsu and Hachise, a realtor specialising inmachiya renovations, are exploring ways to restore Otsu’s glory as a station on the old Tokaido overland route
Read MoreA Definitive Ranking of the Ducks of Kamogawa
We’ve taken the liberty of identifying the most common species of duck inhabitants on the Kamo River, and ranking them from ugliest little duckling, to virtual bird of paradise.
Read MoreKato Shuichi on Everything – one of Japan’s Last Renaissance Men
Cultural critic, literary historian, novelist, poet and dramatist, Katō is one of Japan’s major post-war figures.
Read MoreBehind the Scenes of Miyazaki’s Magic
Alpert was employed at Ghibli’s parent company Tokuma Shoten and was tasked with making its films as successful abroad as they are in Japan.
Read MoreThe Passing of Beauty and Glory
What does the Tale of Genji suggest about sensitivity to the fleeting nature of human existence?
Read MoreDemons, Misinformation and Kimochi
“This is a book that gives voice to the Japanese who feel exactly as I do, and who exist by the millions. Japanese bookshelves are filled with angry books all of on these subjects.”
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