Book Review: Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan’s Most Rigorous Zen Temple

By Kaoru Nonomura – Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter.

For anyone who has ever considered becoming a Zen monk this account is a serious wake up call to the rigours that novitiates at Eiheiji Temple in Fukui Prefecture, one of two main temples of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, have to endure.

Founded by Dōgen in 1244 its claim that Dōgen was in residence at Eiheiji tends to outshine its rival Sōjiji, the other main Sōtō school of Zen with which it tends to compete, which is located in Tsurumi near Tōkyō, though in spite of the ‘rivalry’ those undergoing zuise training to complete their

Book Review: Where The Dead Pause And The Japanese Say Goodbye – A Journey By Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Its pages are often full of a light that illuminates a fundamental human experience!

On Friday 11^th March 2011 at 2.46pm local time the 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku Earthquake, the most powerful on record to have ever hit Japan, struck off the Pacific Coast of Tōhoku triggering Tsunami’s some of which reached up to 133 feet (40.5 metres) and travelled up to 6 miles (10 km) inland. Nearly 16,000 people were killed, over 6,000 injured and just over 2,500 people are still missing. It is against this back drop that Mutsuki Mockett weaves her way through a landscape of grief; that of her own personal, complicated, grief at the loss of her beloved father, and that of the people of the region from where some of her ancestors came.

Book Review: Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning, Form

Written by Stephen Mansfield with a foreword by Donald Richie!

With a foreword by the formidable Donald Ritchie, in itself a recommendation, the Japanese Stone Gardens is divided into two parts. The first covers the pivotal points during the development of the Japanese dry landscape garden (kare-sansui), often referred to these days as a Zen garden. It explains how this developed from the pre-animistic use of stones as markers of space to their use as connections to the natural world and the landscape, their use as mystical vectors with which to communicate with the Gods, the influence of Korea and China, their eventual

Event: Sumie Black And Wash Painting Workshop

Learn from a master the art of expressing yourself through the use of brush and ink!

Date: 13th May 2016

Time: 18.30 – 22.00

Venue: Hammersmith, London (Private home – contact for details)

Price: £30.00 – Includes equipment (ink, rice paper and brush) and Japanese dinner.

Hit The Road With NHK WORLD TV This Spring

Japan’s international English-language channel launches travel season

This spring NHK WORLD TV, the 24-hour international English language channel from Japan’s public service provider NHK, presents an exciting season of travel programmes offering unique insights into Japanese culture, both ancient and modern.

Kicking off this April, the season of travel programmes form part of NHK WORLD TV’s extensive resource of materials for anyone studying Japanese, planning a trip, or interested in learning more about the country in the run up to Japan’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Lecture: Zen – Its Practice and Philosophy for Everyday Life

26 April 2012, 6:45pm

The Oriental Club, Stratford House, 11 Stratford Place, London W1C 1ES

In this talk, the Reverend Sokun Tsushimoto, a Zen master of the Rinzai School and qualified medical doctor, will provide insight into the essence of Zen, its traditional practices and discipline. He will also discuss his role as both clinician and priest in the context of birth, aging, sickness and death.

Zen is one of the main schools of Buddhism and originally came to Japan from China in the 13th century. Over time, a

International Buddhist Film Festival Returns To London

11 – 15 April at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus

Presented by The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation

In conjunction with the Buddhist Art Forum at the Courtauld Institute of Art

The International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) returns to London this Spring, bringing a compelling selection of Buddhist cinema to the capital from 11-15 April 2012 at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus.  The diverse programme will

Daruma Doll: Keep An Eye On Your Dreams In 2012

“Nana Korobi Yaoki “ – “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

Do you have a special goal that you want to achieve in 2012? To pass a tough exam? To find a new love? Maybe achieve a certain sales or profit target?  Or simply to stay fit and healthy?

A popular New Year’s tradition in Japan is to harness the goal-achieving power of their centuries-old iconic Daruma doll. Simply choose “the colour” of your

Interview: Award Winning Artist Gen Miyamura At ICN Gallery “Image Langue: Linear Code”

“Image Langue: Linear Code” ICN gallery 19 January – 22 February 2012

The latest exhibition at the ICN gallery in London entitled “Image Langue: Linear Code” is perhaps the most intriguing so far. Award winning contemporary artist Gen Miyamura presents an innovative definition to his Bokusho (abstract expressionist calligraphy) art works as the alphabet and attempts to give Sho (calligraphy) new meaning.

It may at first sound like a complicated

Exhibition: Gen Miyamura “Image Langue: Linear Code” – Modern Calligraphy

ICN gallery presents IMAGE LANGUE: Linear Code by Gen Miyamura from 19 Jan. – 22 Feb 2012..

Miyamura creates a world of readable abstractions with lines, dots and ink for this international debut exhibition. One of the visionary modern Japanese calligraphy artists of his generation, Gen Miyamura is a pioneer of new image creation by combining an understanding of Sho (calligraphy) as art with his unique view and Japanese calligraphy aesthetics. This exhibition will premiere new artworks from his “Image Langue (2010)” project where the Bokusho-style of calligraphy is given