Kyoto Journal. - periodical reviews

The tri-annual Kyoto Journal seeks out "thought-provoking articles on Japan or Asia, is entirely volunteer and pays contributors with a one-year subscription." John Einarsen is both the editor and art director, and both aspects of this superb publication are professionally rendered and delightful to consume.

Kyoto-Journal has recently embarked on publishing one "bookzine" on a special topic a year, included with subscription. The following are some of the previous bookzines that are available:

#22, "The Radicalism of Cultural Continuity," explores the forgotten indigenous peoples of Asia: the Ainu of Japan, the Toraja of Indonesia, the Rukai of Taiwan, the Yi of China. The reading can get depressing: horror stories of genocide in Burma told by Rohingya refugees; the Penan's rain forest home disappearing within the decade due to logging by Mitsubishi and Sumitomo; and Japan's savage colonial era in Korea and China. Also included is a deconstruction of Indonesia's transmigration program, a mass relocation of ethnic Javanese to New Guinea and outlying islands at the expense of the original inhabitants, This much is clear: the world view of indigenous peoples is in conflict with our own, and indigenous peoples are being systematically eradicated.

#25, "The Sacred Mountains of Asia," is much more uplifting. The mountains of Asia were never seen strictly as wilderness, but as ground for arduous spiritual practice. This 156-page volume examines a wide range of traditional practices: pilgrimages to Tibet's Mt. Kailas, the "world mountain"; the marathon monks of Kyoto's Mt. Hiei, who run one thousand twenty-to thirty-kilometer marathons over a seven-year period; a Korean shaman's initiation rites; the manmade mountain in Shinto; and Gary Snyder on Yamabushi, Japan's mysterious mountain men. Two monochrome photo essays on Himalayan monks and the Yellow Mountains of China will take your breath away. You won't see mountains in the same light after reading this.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group