Deep Kyoto

Nishin Soba at Nama-soba Tokiwa

May 3, 2022 By Michael Lambe

Tokiwa is an unassuming noodle shop in central Kyoto that serves a huge variety of perfectly average canteen-style meals. It’s also the first place that I ever tasted nishin soba. And for that reason it holds a very special place in my heart.

tokiwa noodle shop — *Nama-soba Tokiwa Noodle Shop on Teramachi Doori. Nama-soba means “fresh soba,” so not dried or frozen, and therefore full of flavor!*

I can’t remember when exactly I first entered this place, but it must have been over a decade ago, just after I had first moved to Kyoto. My Japanese reading ability wasn’t so great at the time, but I could read hiragana, and the words にしんそば (nishin soba) were very clearly written in red on the shop front sign. I didn’t know what it was, but I decided to go in and give it a try. Reader, it was a revelation. And nishin soba has become one of my favorite Japanese dishes.

nishin soba at tokiwa restaurant — *A nice hot steaming bowl of nishin soba goodness*

So this is nishin soba: a big slab of dried herring, marinated in mirin (cooking sake) and soy sauce, and served on a bed of fresh buckwheat noodles with some chopped green noodles. It is a simple dish, and to my mind it is a little piece of heaven in a bowl. The sweetness of the mirin contrasts nicely with the deep savory flavor of the fish, while those fresh noodles and the light broth they are served in serve as a satisfying complement. Nishin soba is in fact a specialty of Kyoto, having been invented in another noodle restaurant (Matusba over by the Minamiza theater) back in the 19th century. It’s not to everybody’s taste, but I find it quite magical.

Tokiwa restaurant interior — *The interior of Tokiwa*

As for the shop “Tokiwa”, the place has a real Showa era vibe going on with its simple furnishings and wall-mounted TV. At the front of the shop, it says that Tokiwa was established in Meiji 11. That’s 1878 folks – this place is historic. I believe it is now run by the 4th or 5th generation of the family that established it. This is not unusual in Kyoto, but still I find it hard not to be impressed.

*With its unremarkable appearance it would be very easy to walk past this store and never even notice it is there…*

You might feel a little intimidated going into a tiny local place like this, but don’t be. Just walk in and someone will ask you how many people you are and then direct you to an available table. They have English and Chinese menus if you need them, and of course you don’t have to eat nishin soba. They have all kinds of soba and udon noodle or rice dishes available and economical set meals. You can see some plastic food models in the window to give you an idea of what is available. There’s quite a variety, but I can’t really recommend any of the other dishes because I’ve never tried them. For me this is a sacred spot where I can only eat nishin soba. And having tasted something so nourishing and flavorful, why would I want anything else?

*Tokiwa is located beside Yata-dera Temple*

Tokiwa is open from 11.00 till 16.00 and closed on Wednesdays. You can find it on the east side of Teramachi just above Sanjo and right beside (the very small) Yata-dera Temple. Here is a map showing it’s location.

Kyoto Granbell Hotel

April 13, 2022 By Michael Lambe

Kyoto Granbell Hotel is a 4-star hotel with friendly staff and excellent facilities in the Gion area of Kyoto. We stayed there for one night last weekend and found it to be very comfortable and reasonably priced. The hotel is in a very central location, and very convenient for Gion Shijo Station, but at the same time it is tucked away in a quiet area away from the busy shopping streets and crowds. This is a big, modern tourist hotel, but it pays its respects to traditional Kyoto style with a sophisticated design that incorporates both old and new elements. On the outside, the latticework and tiling is reminiscent of an old-fashioned machiya building, only on a much larger scale. Inside, soft lighting, antique furnishings, and traditional materials all help to create a relaxing space with an authentic atmosphere of old Kyoto.

Book your stay here.

Contents
Guest Rooms
Breakfast
Services & Facilities
Coronavirus Preventative Measures
Location

Guest Rooms
Kyoto Granbell Hotel has 105 guest rooms over four floors. All guest rooms are non-smoking. Guest rooms come in Japanese or Western styles, the Japanese rooms being distinguished by their tatami mat floors and kimono-patterned headboards. There are six types of room altogether.

*A double bed in a Standard Japanese-style room*

Japanese-style Rooms:
The Standard Double Room with a Tatami Floor is 17.6m² with a 150cm bed.
The Superior Twin Room with a Tatami Floor is 23.3m² with two 110cm beds.

*A bathroom in a Standard Japanese-style room.*

Western-style Rooms:
The Standard Twin is 17.6m² with two 110cm beds.
The Universal Twin is 23m² with two 110cm beds. This room is located on the ground floor and is easily accessible by wheelchair users. It also looks out onto a small inner garden.
A Standard Double is 17.5m² with a 150cm bed.
A Superior King is 17.7m² with a 195cm bed and a sofa.

All rooms come with air conditioning, a mini-refrigerator, a safe for your valuables, a TV with English language channels, a writing desk, a hair dryer, an electric kettle, and coffee and tea making facilities. Complimentary bottles of water are also supplied. Private bathrooms have a bathtub and shower and are supplied with a full set of towels and complimentary amenities (shampoo, soap, toothbrushes etc).

*A seating area on the left and a mini-fridge and coffee/tea making facilities on the right.*

We stayed in a Japanese-style Standard Double Room with a Tatami Floor, which was compact, but big enough for a short stay and the bed was very comfortable! The walls are apparently sound-proofed and I can attest that we slept very well here and we were not disturbed by any noises from adjoining rooms.

Make a booking now at Kyoto Granbell Hotel.

Back to Contents

Breakfast
Breakfast is served in the ground floor restaurant between 7.00 and 11.00 am (with last entry at 10.30).

This is a fairly typical buffet breakfast with the usual mix of Japanese and Western items with eggs, fish, fruit, bread, and veggies. I enjoyed a mixed breakfast of miso soup and croissants with plenty of juice and coffee!

Check room rates at Kyoto Granbell Hotel.

Back to Contents

Services & Facilities
Kyoto Granbell Hotel has a 24-hour reception with friendly, helpful staff who will give you a warm welcome. Check-in time is from 15.00 and check-out is at the unusually generous time of 12.00. If you wish to leave your baggage at the reception desk before checking in or after checking out, that is no problem at all. Look out for the antique drawers stacked behind the reception desk – they are over 150 years old. Other services and facilities at this hotel are listed below:

The money exchange machine.

If you need to exchange money, there is a money exchange machine by the ground floor restaurant. This machine can exchange currencies from the following countries: the US, the UK, the EU, Australia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
One of the big perks of staying at this hotel is the big communal bath in the basement. There are two baths separated by gender and each one looks out onto a Japanese garden. The bath is just perfect for taking a long relaxing soak after stomping about town all day checking out the sites. The communal bath is open between 6.00 and 10.00 and 15.00 and 1.00.
Free coffee is available in the ground floor lounge and there is also a soft drinks vending machine and ice machine on the same floor.
There is also a bar on the ground floor which is open between 18.00 and 3.00 am. Beer, whisky, wine, cocktails, and local sake varieties are all available here to drink at a counter stool or take to a nearby table.
The hotel bar.
This hotel has a self-service laundry with coin-operated washing and drying machines in the basement.
Bicycles are available to rent from the ground floor for 1,100 yen a day. These bicycles have baskets for your shopping and are a handy way to explore the neighborhood.
Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the building.
The following bank cards are all accepted at Kyoto Granbell: VISA, JCB, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, UnionPay, UC, DC, and NICOS.

Back to Contents

Coronavirus Preventative Measures
This hotel adheres to all the common safety measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Guests have their temperature checked upon arrival, all staff and guests are required to wear masks inside the hotel, transparent screens are installed at the reception desk, hand sanitizers are available throughout the building, and guest rooms and common facilities are regularly disinfected.

Back to Contents

Location
Kyoto Granbell Hotel is located on the east side of Yamatooji-doori Street, just a short walk south of Shijo-doori Street. It is a 2-minute walk from Gion Shijo Station on the Keihan Main Line, 7 minutes from Yasaka Jinja Shrine, and just 4 minutes from Kenninji Temple. Here is a map showing its location.

For further details, room rates, and bookings check the Kyoto Granbell booking page.

This hotel is part of the Granbell and Holic chain of hotels which has several branches in Tokyo at Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akasaka, Ebisu, and Meguro.

Maiko Masquerade: Crafting Geisha Girlhood in Japan by Jan Bardsley

May 15, 2021 By Michael Lambe

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

“Contemporary maiko are young women, typically between fifteen and twenty years of age, who have chosen to train in an arts profession with roots in the merchant culture and pleasure quarters of the Edo period (1603–1867). Their archaic hairstyles and kimono link them to this artistic past, easily identifying them as maiko. Although other geisha communities in Japan once had apprentices, too, the maiko is famously a Kyoto phenomenon today.”
— From Maiko Masquerade by Jan Bardsley

A new book from University of California Press should be of interest to our readers. A hat tip to the very excellent Shinpai Deshou for bringing it to my attention.

In Maiko Masquerade, the author Jan Bardsley turns her attention to maiko, as a cultural phenomenon. Maiko, she tells us, represent the “quintessential Kyoto girl”, and as the city’s mascot, the image of the maiko is ubiquitous in Kyoto, appearing on maps, posters, stationary, and souvenirs and even from the art atop a cappuccino or matcha latte “milky maiko smile at you”. Maiko are also the key protagonists in many Kyoto-based films, novels, TV dramas, and manga. It’s true that for tourists visiting Kyoto, maiko represent an ideal. Catching a glimpse of a maiko in one of the city’s flower districts, is a magical moment for many visitors, and cosplaying as maiko is a popular tourist activity too.

A major theme of this book is how the image of the maiko has changed from past depictions of maiko as the innocent victims of sexual exploitation, to contemporary 21st century depictions, largely created by women, which emphasize the maiko’s agency. Maiko today are seen as young women who have chosen their own path out of a yearning for the traditional world of kimono and dance. In a fundamental transformation, Bardsley explores how maiko have come “to symbolize the hardworking young artist, the chaste keeper of traditions, and the exemplary Japanese girl” and this in turn has “elevated the maiko’s Kyoto community as a site of deeply rooted cultural values.” By examining popular literature, films, manga and other media Bardsley investigates this archetype of Japanese girlhood as the locus of questions related to “personal choice, gender-appropriate roles, regional and ethnic identity, and the performance of idealized and contradictory femininities.”

Reviews

“Bardsley moves past the reverent tone of the cultural gatekeeper to present maiko through television, art, cosplay, autobiographical texts, and more. This book will be appealing to college instructors for its discussions of race, gender, and nationality; yet a broad audience of readers will also relish its richness and humor.”
–Laura Miller, Ei’ichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of History,University of Missouri-St. Louis

“This is the first book in English to focus on representations of the maiko, positioning these celebrated apprentice geisha at the fruitful intersection of gender studies, Japanese popular culture, research on childhood, and current debates over ‘Japaneseness’ and ‘tradition’ Maiko Masquerade is the rare scholarly study that is sophisticated, accessible, and a true delight to read.”
–William M. Tsutsui, author of Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization

Maiko Masquerade: Crafting Geisha Girlhood in Japan by Jan Bardsley is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.

About the Author:
Jan Bardsley is Professor Emerita of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Women and Democracy in Cold War Japan (SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan, Bloomsbury, 2014) and The Bluestockings of Japan: New Women Fiction and Essays from Seitō, 1911-1916 (University of Michigan, Center for Japanese Studies, 2007) for which she was awarded the 2011 Hiratsuka Raichō Award by Japan Women’s University.

She is co-editor with Laura Miller of Manners and Mischief: Gender, Power, and Etiquette in Japan (University of California Press, 2011) and Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave, 2005) and co-producer/director with Joanne Hershfield of the documentary, Women in Japan: Memories of the Past, Dreams for the Future (2002).

The recipient of several campus teaching awards, Bardsley regularly taught the course, “Geisha in History, Fiction, and Fantasy” at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2001 to 2018 and presented talks on geisha to university and community audiences across the U.S. In a recent blog post she relates how questions her students asked her during that course inspired her latest book.

monk: Light and Shadow on the Philosopher’s Path – Reflections and Recipes from a Kyoto Restaurant

May 9, 2021 By Michael Lambe

Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

As this long, strange interlude continues, many of us are hankering for a trip overseas, craving fresh cultural encounters, and hungering for a taste of authentic foreign cuisines. No doubt many have Kyoto at the top of their “to visit” list once international travel resumes and feel frustrated that they cannot visit sooner. For the present though, if we are forced to simply dream of travel, perhaps we may while away some time with plans for future journeys, the people we will visit, and the food we will share.

Imagine yourself, one day in the not too distant future, strolling with a friend down Kyoto’s tree-lined Philosopher’s Path, and spotting a warm, firey glow from the windows of a small path-side restaurant, you ask your companion, “What do you think? Shall we give it a try?” A new book from Phaidon, tells the story of what you will find in that restaurant, with personal reflections from its chef and a sensory feast of fine photography to help feed your dreams of Kyoto, along with a series of unique recipes to help you bridge the hungry gap.

monk: Light and Shadow on the Philosopher’s Path tells the intimate story of monk, a 14-seat restaurant tucked away on a corner of Kyoto’s Philosopher’s Path, where chef Yoshihiro Imai serves up an ever-changing menu of fresh vegetables and Kyoto-style pizza from his wood-fired oven. Imai opened his restaurant in 2015, and quickly won renown for his innovative spin on Japanese cuisine, with his focus on pizza as a simple dish that is easily shared, and which also provides a versatile canvas on which to present a rich variety of local ingredients. The source of those ingredients is also crucial to the restaurant’s success. As Imai writes on his website, “Every morning I visit farms tucked in the mountains of Ohara and visit markets around Kyoto to collect and gather fresh ingredients. Breathing in the wind, I absorb the earth’s energies which I transport to the kitchen, the dishes, and our restaurant.” For Imai, cooking with fire is also central to bringing out the simple flavors of his ingredients and he states that “roasting vegetables in a wood-fired oven is the most delicious possible way to eat them.”

Imai doesn’t just serve pizza of course. That is simply the the climax of a 7-course omakase-style meal (decided by the chef) which heavily emphasizes seasonal vegetables, foraged mushrooms, nuts, and herbs, and game meat such as duck, venison, or wild boar. The main dish is your choice from that day’s pizza options which, depending on the season, may be topped with wildflowers, butterbur, or fiddlehead ferns.

In his book, Imai explains through a series of personal essays how his “primitive” style of cooking with fire, and his “small is beautiful” philosophy is inspired both by Japanese culture and his experiences working at restaurants around the world. The book takes you on a journey through the seasons, with stories of the farmers, fishermen, and artisans who form part of the restaurant’s supply-chain. He also relates how monk has managed to survive the current pandemic, by offering takeout meals and delivery services, that have not only kept his own business afloat and helped support his suppliers, but also enabled him to forge closer bonds with his local community. “It isn’t just the cooking that sustains me,” writes Imai, “but the full monk experience of sharing space with my guests. Everything from the conversations about the ingredients and the farmers to the sight of the burning firewood; the flowers, the music. This period has taught me that it’s the shared feeling of spending time with my guests itself that keeps me nourished.”

*Autumn viewed from the restaurant window.*

As can be expected from Phaidon, this book is a handsome hardback volume, fully illustrated throughout with color photographs from Yuka Yanazume. And at the end of the book Imai has provided a generous selection of 75 recipes which you can try yourself. Monk: Light and Shadow on the Philosopher’s Path is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.

“Time-traveling on Gojo” – A Deep Kyoto Walks Movie with Jen L. Teeter

March 3, 2021 By Michael Lambe

Here is the final video showing scenes from our book Deep Kyoto: Walks. In this short movie, Jen L. Teeter guides us through an area of Kyoto famous for its ceramics and also as a portal to the world of the dead! A hat tip to film-makers Roger Walch and Ted Taylor for putting this series together.

Deep Kyoto: Walks is now available as a print on demand paperback and Kindle e-book. Here are the details:

Deep Kyoto: Walks
Publisher: Deep Kyoto
ISBN: 979-8561499616
Price: $15.99 / ¥1,840
Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk

Editors: Michael Lambe & Ted Taylor

Authors: Jennifer Louise Teeter, Bridget Scott, Miki Matsumoto, Robert Yellin, Pico Iyer, Chris Rowthorn, John Dougill, John Ashburne, Stephen Henry Gill, Sanborn Brown, Joel Stewart, Izumi Texidor-Hirai, Perrin Lindelauf and Judith Clancy.

And here is what it’s all about:

An anthology of 18 meditative strolls in Japan’s ancient capital, Deep Kyoto: Walks is both a tribute to life in the city of “Purple Hills and Crystal Streams”, and a testament to the art of contemplative city walking. In a series of rambles that express each writer’s intimate relationship with the city, they take you not only to the most famous shrines and temples, but also to those backstreets of memory where personal history and the greater story of the city intersect. Join Pico Iyer, Judith Clancy, Chris Rowthorn, John Dougill, Robert Yellin, John Ashburne and more as they explore markets and mountains, bars and gardens, palaces and pagodas and show us Kyoto afresh through the eyes of those who call it “home”. Included are:

18 walks
17 photographic illustrations
A specially commissioned woodblock print by Richard Steiner
12 detailed maps
Cover Art by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Brayer

Order your copy now!

“Gods, Monks, Secrets, Fish” – A Deep Kyoto: Walks Movie with John Ashburne

February 5, 2021 By Michael Lambe

Here is the third video showing scenes from our book, Deep Kyoto: Walks. In this short movie, John Ashburne takes us on a tour of “Kyoto’s kitchen” – Nishiki Market. A hat tip to film-makers Roger Walch and Ted Taylor for putting this series together.

Deep Kyoto: Walks is now available as a print on demand paperback and Kindle e-book. Here are the details:

Deep Kyoto: Walks
Publisher: Deep Kyoto
ISBN: 979-8561499616
Price: $15.99 / ¥1,840
Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk

Editors: Michael Lambe & Ted Taylor

And here is what it’s all about:

18 walks
17 photographic illustrations
A specially commissioned woodblock print by Richard Steiner
12 detailed maps
Cover Art by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Brayer

Order your copy now!

Deep Kyoto Walks Movie: Kamogawa Musing with John Dougill

January 26, 2021 By Michael Lambe

Here is the second video showing scenes from our book, Deep Kyoto: Walks. In this short film John Dougill guides us down the Kamogawa River which runs through the heart of Kyoto. A hat tip to film-makers Roger Walch and Ted Taylor for putting this series together.

Deep Kyoto: Walks is now available as a print on demand paperback and Kindle e-book. Here are the details:

Deep Kyoto: Walks
Publisher: Deep Kyoto
ISBN: 979-8561499616
Price: $15.99 / ¥1,840
Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk

Editors: Michael Lambe & Ted Taylor

And here is what it’s all about:

18 walks
17 photographic illustrations
A specially commissioned woodblock print by Richard Steiner
12 detailed maps
Cover Art by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Brayer

Order your copy now!

A Look Inside “Kyoto: A Literary Guide”

December 13, 2020 By Michael Lambe

Our book Kyoto: A Literary Guide received a very fine review from Stephen Mansfield in the Japan Times last month. However, for the most part, the book can only be bought online, which means uncertain shoppers don’t really know what they are getting before they make that purchase. To remedy this problem, I have made (with the assistance of Mewby) a short video which presents a sort of virtual browse inside the book and also includes a couple of poetry readings by myself (and Mewby). Details of how to buy the book are listed below the video.

Kyoto: A Literary Guide is now available in hardcover, paperback and as an e-book and can be ordered from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.

Deep Kyoto: Walks is now available in paperback and as an e-book and can also be ordered from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.

Disclosure: Links on this website to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp are affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Deep Kyoto Walks Movie: “Not Sure Which Way to Go” with Robert Yellin

December 9, 2020 By Michael Lambe

Local film-makers Ted Taylor and Roger Walch have put together a series of short movies showing scenes from our book – Deep Kyoto: Walks. Here is the first video which features autumnal scenes from Kyoto’s Path of Philosophy and Robert Yellin reading from his piece, “Not Sure Which Way to Go”.

Deep Kyoto: Walks is now available as a print on demand paperback and Kindle e-book. Here are the details:

Deep Kyoto: Walks
Publisher: Deep Kyoto
ISBN: 979-8561499616
Price: $15.99 / ¥1,840
Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk

Editors: Michael Lambe & Ted Taylor

And here is what it’s all about:

18 walks
17 photographic illustrations
A specially commissioned woodblock print by Richard Steiner
12 detailed maps
Cover Art by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Brayer

Order your copy now to get it on time for Christmas!

The Gion Festival – Exploring Its Mysteries by Catherine Pawasarat

December 5, 2020 By Michael Lambe

Links on this page are affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Gion Matsuri, Kyoto’s most famous festival, is held each summer in the month of July. It features gorgeously decorated floats, parades and processions, purification rituals, traditional music, displays of family heirlooms, and a giant street party. During the latter, central Kyoto is converted into a carnivalesque “pedestrian paradise” with local folk promenading in all their finery, sampling street food, bumping into old friends, and admiring the floats. There’s something magical about it all, but for outsiders it can be hard to grasp what exactly is going on. “At times,” writes Catherine Pawasarat, “the festival can feel overwhelming.” She’s not wrong. Looking at just one float, with its antique tapestries, its ornate carvings, its long central pole stretching up into the heavens, a casual visitor might wonder briefly what it is all about, shrug their shoulders and move on. How much harder it would be to fathom the festival in its entirety! Happily, Catherine Pawasarat has now blessed us with a highly enjoyable guide to Gion Matsuri, that provides a thorough overview of this unique festival: its traditions, its roots, its rituals, its significance, and the unique system of community collaboration that has kept the festival going for more than 1,150 years.

Pawasarat describes early in the book how when living in central Kyoto in the early ‘90s she stepped outside her house to find herself face-to-face with one of those giant floats. Unlike our imagined visitor, she asked a question, “What’s that?” and this first question was followed by another question, and then more questions, which she kept on asking until now, over 25 years later, she has boiled down the fruits of her dogged research into this remarkable book.

The book has two main aspects. On the one hand it is a handy and practical guide book that you can carry around with you as you tour the festival. The sequence of events is clearly laid out with a schedule and maps, each of the floats has its own entry with its key points of interest explained, there are practical tips for enjoying the festival coolly and comfortably, and suggestions for things to see and do.

On the other hand, this book is also an initiation into the deeper significance of the festival. Pawasarat is a long-time teacher of Buddhist meditation techniques and her spiritual training has led her to some profound insights about the nature of this annual celebration. She recounts an occasion one sultry summer night, when trapped within a seething crowd of festival-goers she felt “desperately stuck amidst a clamor of humanity”. However, on hearing the unearthly kon chiki chin of traditional flute and bell music she suddenly realized that she and all those around her were in the “in the middle of a Shintō purification ritual” and this understanding helped her to accept her place in the heaving throng. Later in the book she draws a thought-provoking comparison between the festival and a Tibetan mandala. Like a mandala the festival is painstakingly created each year, its many parts assembled into 34 beautiful floats, which create a network of sacred spots about the city center. But just like a mandala, after only a short time, all this beauty is taken apart and swept away. The annual repetition of this process is a reminder and a celebration of the transient beauty of life, a theme that chimes like a bell through Pawasarat’s book, just as it has through this city, each summer, for over a millennium.

Along the way, Pawasarat also pays tribute to the local community that supports Gion Matsuri and lists the many innovative ways that they are adapting to the challenges of the modern era. Reading of the festival’s transformation through the ages, the meaning behind each of its parades and processions, and the sheer effort that goes into putting it on each year one cannot fail to be impressed.

Gion Matsuri was born in the year 869, during a time of epidemic, and was initiated by the emperor to placate the gods and banish misfortune and disease. Ironically this book is being published during a global pandemic, when most of Gion Matsuri’s major events have been cancelled. Still, reading this book I felt like I had in a way visited the festival this year and paid my respects to the festival gods. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is a treasure trove of information about the festival and beautifully illustrated with the author’s own color photographs. For anyone who seeks to understand the modern city of Kyoto, its community spirit, and its vibrant traditions this book is an essential read.

The Gion Festival – Exploring Its Mysteries by Catherine Pawasarat is available as a paperback and Kindle e-book from the following vendors:

Amazon.com: Paperback Edition / Kindle Edition
Amazon.co.jp: Paperback Edition / Kindle Edition
Amazon.co.uk: Paperback Edition / Kindle Edition

Deep Kyoto: Walks Paperback Edition Now Available

November 27, 2020 By Michael Lambe

This is a delightful collection of essays written by a diverse group of writers who share an obvious and contagious affection for Kyoto.
– Matthew Stavros (Author: “Kyoto: An Urban History of Japan’s Premodern Capital ”)

I am delighted to annouce the release of Deep Kyoto: Walks as a paperback edition. This is a print on demand (POD) edition and has been independently produced via Amazon’s Direct Publishing service. Here are the details:

Deep Kyoto: Walks
Publisher: Deep Kyoto
ISBN: 979-8561499616
Price: $15.99 / ¥1,840
Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk

Editors: Michael Lambe & Ted Taylor
Authors: Jennifer Louise Teeter, Bridget Scott, Miki Matsumoto, Robert Yellin, Pico Iyer, Chris Rowthorn, John Dougill, John Ashburne, Stephen Henry Gill, Sanborn Brown, Joel Stewart, Izumi Texidor-Hirai, Perrin Lindelauf and Judith Clancy.

Here’s the official blurb:

18 walks
17 photographic illustrations
A specially commissioned woodblock print by Richard Steiner
12 detailed maps
Cover Art by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Brayer

The e-book edition of Deep Kyoto: Walks has been available since 2014 and has received many fine reviews. The text of the new paperback is essentially the same as that of the e-book, but some typos and errors present in the digital text have now been corrected for the print edition. In addition, while the text of the e-book includes color photographs, this was not possible for the paperback which is in black and white. Happily, all the photographs have turned out very well in black and white and the paperback also has one extra image (courtesy of Ted Taylor). Moreover, the glorious cover by Yutaka Nakayama is still in color, and Richard Steiner’s “Abiding” print is also reproduced in color on the back cover.

The completion of this project is due in large part to the tireless work of our designer and technical maestro Rick Elizaga to whom I offer my eternal gratitude. Many thanks also to all the contributors for taking part in this project and making this a very splendid book! Order now to get it on time for Christmas!

The Sixth Annual Writers in Kyoto Writing Competition

November 16, 2020 By Michael Lambe

It’s that time of year again! Thanks to Karen Lee Tawarayama for passing on the news of the 6th annual Writers in Kyoto writing competition. There are a variety of prizes on offer again this year and of course the chance to be published in the next WiK anthology. Here are some details:

THEME: Kyoto (English language submissions only)
DEADLINE: March 31st, 2021 (Midnight JST)
GENRE: Short Shorts (unpublished material only)
WORD LIMIT: 300 Words (to fit on a single page)
FORM: Short poems, character studies, essays, travel tips, whimsy, haiku sequence, haibun, wordplays, dialogue, experimental verse, etc. In short, anything that helps show the spirit of place in a fresh light.

Submission Requirements

Limited to one submission per person
You do not need to be located in Kyoto to participate. We accept submissions from anywhere in the world.
Must be submitted by Microsoft Word attachment file. (Submissions by PDF attachment will NOT be accepted.)
At the top of the Microsoft Word attachment (not in the body of the e-mail), please include the following: Full Name, E-mail Contact, Nationality, Current Residence (Town, Country).
Do not provide any special formatting to your piece. We request your information at the top with the text directly below.
Please send your Microsoft Word attachment file to: kyotowritingcompetition2021@gmail.com

For more details of this competition please check the Call for Entries on the official WiK wesbite. If you are looking for inspiration, two of the Writers in Kyoto anthologies (shown below) which include some of the previous years’ winners are available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

Encounters with Kyoto: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 3

Byodo-in Without the Crowds

September 7, 2020 By Michael Lambe

In August I was in Uji one day and took the opportunity to visit the Byodo-in temple. As the pandemic has drastically reduced the number of tourists in Kyoto, I thought it was a good opportunity to view the famous Phoenix Hall minus the hordes of visitors that were there on my last visit – a good five years ago. Although this time there were a fair number of domestic tourists at the temple, I was indeed rewarded with a clear view of the building and (praise be!) there was not a selfie stick in sight!

If you are in Kyoto and have some free time, this does seem like a good time to visit such iconic sites as the Byodo-in. Up until earlier this year, the sheer volume of tourists had made the experience rather unpleasant, but now, although there are some domestic tourists taking advantage of the current lull in international traffic, the number of visitors is really not so great.

*A side view of the Phoenix Hall from the north*

Wandering the grounds of the temple I felt quite safe. Everyone wore masks and maintained an appropriate social distance. I should add that this was not the case inside the temple museum, where despite very large clearly written signs everywhere asking people to keep 2 meters apart, nobody seemed to be paying them much heed. Perhaps they were too entranced by the exhibits (which are rather splendid) to notice how close they were getting, but I didn’t stay in there very long and I think for the time being I may stay away from museums and stick to outdoor venues.

For an extra 300 yen you can actually visit the interior of the Phoenix Hall, but again, right now I wouldn’t recommend it. For one thing, it is full of scaffolding at the moment. But more importantly, the space inside is too small for the number of people that they allow in there and social distancing is basically impossible. Nevertheless, there is plenty to see even if you skip both the museum and the interior of the hall, and my visit to the grounds of Byodo-in was overall a very pleasant one. Here are some more pictures.

Just past the Hoshokan Museum and behind the Phoenix Hall is a subtemple called Jodo-in. There is an image there called 救世船乗観音 which very roughly translated means “Sailing Saviour Kannon”. Kannon is the Buddhist spirit of compassion, and this particular image, which shows her in a boat, is popular with travelers who pray to her for safe journeys. Although the original image dated from the Edo era, this is actually a copy which was made after someone made off with the original just after the last war.

In another subtemple called Saisho-in you can find the grave of Minamoto Yorimasa. Yorimasa was a famous Heian-era poet, whose later years were interrupted by the onset of the Genpei War, a major conflict between the Minamoto and Taira clans. During the battle of Uji in 1180, Yorimasa bravely attempted to hold Byodo-in against the Taira forces, but the enemy numbers proved overwhelming and he was unable to escape defeat. Struck by an arrow, Yorimasa composed his death poem and then committed ritual suicide. The poem is inscribed on a sign beside his final resting place:

埋もれ木の花咲くこともなかりしに身のなる果てぞ悲しかりける

mired like an old forgotten tree
I will flower no more;
this life ends in such sorrow

*A side view of the Phoenix Hall from the south*

Outside of the Byodo-in, Uji itself was a ghost town. One wonders how the local businesses that depend so much on tourism can survive. I am particularly fond of Uji. It is a lovely green town with many well-preserved traditional buildings and streets, and always a joy to visit. Although, I was happy to see Byodo-in without the crowds, the town itself was too empty and it was sad to see it abandoned. I hope Uji, like Kannon in her boat, can sail through the current crisis, and when the tourists return, both life and prosperity will return to her sunny streets.

Kyoto: A Literary Guide – New Translations from Twelve Centuries of Japanese Literature

July 12, 2020 By Michael Lambe

Today I am very happy to share news of a brand new publication, Kyoto: A Literary Guide, which was launched this month by Camphor Press. This book was born from the shared efforts of the Kyo-centrics: a long-standing poetry in translation discussion group – of which I happen to be a member. In addition to myself, the six Kyo-centrics who collated, translated and edited this book comprise Paul Carty, Joe Cronin, David McCullough, Itsuyo Higashinaka, and our group captain John Dougill. Having watched the development of this book from its first inception to the final proofs I can honestly say that this has turned out to be a very special book indeed, with poems and prose passages selected from the full sweep of Kyoto’s literary history, detailed explanatory notes, and beautiful black-and-white illustrations including photographs, prints, and picture scrolls.

Here is an excerpt from the blurb:

“This fascinating selection of Kyoto-specific literature takes readers through twelve centuries of cultural heritage, from ancient Heian beginnings to contemporary depictions. The city’s aesthetic leaning is evident throughout in a mix of well-known and less familiar works by a wide-ranging cast that includes emperors and court ladies, Zen masters and warrior scholars, wandering monks and poet “immortals.” We see the city through their eyes in poetic pieces that reflect timeless themes of beauty, nature, love and war. An assortment of tanka, haiku, modern verse and prose passages make up the literary feast, and as we enter recent times there are English-language poems too.”

The theme that unites the book is of course Kyoto, this enchanting city in which we have made our homes. All the pieces selected are either about ‘the ancient capital’ or about particular locations in the city and are arranged chronologically. Original Japanese texts are presented alongside our fresh translations with rōmaji transcriptions, and footnotes with biographical details. In the later stages of the book, English poems are presented with original translations into Japanese.

The translations I think are highly unique in that they are very much a group effort created in a spirit of gracious compromise. Each translator’s early renderings were followed by much debate and negotiation on how best to maintain linguistic accuracy while striving to adhere to the poetic spirit of the original texts. It is commonly said that writers must be prepared to kill their darlings to improve their work and this is equally true of translators. However, a remarkable feature of this project was the good-humored manner in which all members were ready to slaughter their darlings wholesale in pursuit of the greater good. In many ways this book stands as a fine testament to our ongoing friendship and to our overriding love and respect for this great city. More importantly, I believe we have succeeded in presenting an anthology of works that have the power to move and inspire the reader even through the filter of translation. Along the way I have certainly acquired my own personal favorites. Look out for the booming of the Gion bell that opens Heike Monogatari: a powerful meditation on transcience filled with vital imagery. Then there is the light snap of bamboo that wakes Fujiwara no Ariie from snow-bound dreams, Baisaō the tea seller hiking up the steps of old Kodaij-ji to make a soul-refreshing brew, Rai San’yō watching dusk fall over the Kamo River, the Emperor Meiji feeling the weight of history at the tombs of his ancestors, Yosano Akiko recording a Gion night infused with the beauty of cherry-blossom, and Amano Tadashi’s surreal encounter at Tō-ji temple’s flea market. These are just a few snapshots from a wonderful selection that captures and reveals the special magic of this inspirational city. For anyone who loves Kyoto, or who is interested in the great flow of Japanese literature, this book is an essential read.

Kyoto: A Literary Guide is now available in hardcover, paperback and as an e-book and can be ordered from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, and Amazon.co.uk.

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