Deep Kyoto

good places - good people

  • About Deep Kyoto
  • About Michael Lambe
    • ARTICLES BY MICHAEL LAMBE
    • ARTICLES FOR INSIDE KYOTO
  • Books
  • Deep Kyoto Hotels
  • Pottery Fair
  • Kimono Stall
  • 日本語

Joel Stewart & Ted Taylor: Two Friends Deep Kyoto Walking

May 10, 2014 By Michael Lambe Leave a Comment

Though this piece from Ted Taylor’s blog is not included in our upcoming Deep Kyoto: Walks anthology, I think it aptly illustrates what our book is about. It features another of our contributors too, in the person of local artist Joel Stewart. What Ted says about Joel viewing Kyoto’s roads with an artist’s eye also gives a good idea of what to expect from Joel’s own Deep Kyoto Walk!

*************************************************************************

From “Journey to the West” first published on December 31st 2013 on Notes from the ‘Nog
(photo and text by ted Taylor)
journey
The chill hit my cheeks the moment I left the subway station. I was retracing the steps I’d taken the previous day, though now I was walking on the opposite side of the street, where the sun was striking. And today the rhythm of my footfalls along the Saigoku Kaidō was echoed by those of Joel Stewart, friend, local artist and wearer of good hats. While I tend to prefer walking these old roads alone, I appreciated Joel’s company, and his perspective. Where I’ve often walked with mountaineers, or history buffs, or those versed in indigenous spirituality, I had yet to walk with an artist, and Joel’s eye helped shape a different type of day.

It began nearly immediately, at Tōji. I noticed the way the fresh morning light was playing upon the wall along the temple moat, but Joel noticed what the light was doing to the color. I envied him then his medium of expression, as he can do in paint what I’ve tried and failed for a decade to do with words, in trying to capture my obsession for light and the form it takes.

Yet Joel’s interest today was less visual and more temporal, and as we walked we discuss the history of our adopted city, not just on what happened say, a thousand years ago, but touching on the fact that so many others have walked these streets since. And traces of this overlap of time were ever present through the day. The ruins of the Rashomon gate brought up of course Kurosawa and his famous eponymous work. Nearby Saiji exists merely as a small mound in a park, where the rays of this new morning were imprinted upon the trunks of the massive enoki trees atop, as a reflected heat that warmed the hand. Leading away were the row houses now empty but for the vines growing up behind window panes still intact. The banks of the Katsura river carry the scars of recent typhoon damage. Upon one remaining tree sat a shrike, looking into down into the water with a predator’s gaze, in that identical way Miyamoto Musashi captured his own bird with a deft stroke of the brush.

To read the rest of this article click here: Journey to the West

******************************************************************************
Incidentally, Joel Stewart recently sent me a link to this BBC article on “purposeless walking” that reflects on the value of walking for its own sake – something we are very keen to celebrate in our own book. This quote in particular, from Henry David Thoreau, resonated with me:

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

The pathways described in Deep Kyoto: Walks are also ones with which our writers are intimately familiar… Here are the BBC’s tips for good walking if you would like to give it a try:

  • Walk further and with no fixed route
  • Stop texting and mapping
  • Don’t soundtrack your walks
  • Go alone
  • Find walkable places
  • Walk mindfully

LINK TO BBC ARTICLE

See also:
Ted Taylor on the Trail of Toyotomi Hideyoshi: A Deep Kyoto Walk through History
Judith Clancy in “Deep Kyoto: Walks” ~ An Exclusive Extract
Deep Kyoto: Walks ~ Meet the Artists
Coming very soon, the first publication from Deep Kyoto

Filed Under: Books, Literature, Up-and-coming..., Walks Tagged With: #DeepKyotoWalks, Deep Kyoto Walks

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Kyoto: A Literary Guide #AD

Kyoto mon Amour by Eric Schaefer

https://youtu.be/FURg-f3wZeQ

Kyoto mon Amour by Eric Schaefer #AD

Streaming, MP3, CD, Vinyl

Amazon Explore #AD


Virtually explore Gion, Kyoto’s traditional Geisha district
Ken’s Tours Kyoto
$55.00
40 minute session

Virtually stroll & shop Kyoto’s Teramachi Street
Beauty of Japan
$55.00
60 minute session


Zen Buddhism and meditation: a virtual
tour of Kyoto’s Nanzenji Temple

Ken’s Tours Kyoto
$35.00
40 minute session


Virtually explore Kyoto’s traditional
Higashiyama neighborhood

Intrepid Urban Adventures
$90.00
75 minute session

Deep Kyoto’s Best…

BARS
CAFES
DINING
EVENTS
HOTELS

Deep Kyoto Essentials #ad

Follow Deep Kyoto on Twitter

Tweets by @deepkyoto

Japan Station

Japan Transportation Guide
Japan Transportation Guide
Kyoto Transportation Guide
Kyoto Transportation Guide
Osaka Transportation Guide
Osaka Transportation Guide

Online Courses From Keio University

Online Courses from Keio University

Exploring Japanese Avant-garde Art Through Butoh Dance

The Art of Washi Paper in Japanese Rare Books

Japanese Culture Through Rare Books

An Introduction to Japanese Subcultures

Search for Hotels

Search hotels and more...

Destination

Check-in date

Check-out date

Booking.com

Copyright © 2021 · Deep Kyoto.