King River Press

13/07/2025

Haiku July, Day 10

13/07/2025

Haiku July, Day 4

13/07/2025

Join us for our talk on 23 July to discover the remarkable story of the Satsuma students, a group of students sent secretly from Japan to Britain in 1865.

They travelled to the UK to learn about British law, literature, science and mathematics. Their experiences played a vital role in the Meiji Restoration and the modernization of Japan.

Explore the historical background of the students and the legacy of their journey in this talk, led by Yoshimitsu Shōji, an expert on the foreign relations of the Satsuma domain.

The event will take place on 23 July 2025, 18:30 - 19:30. Book your free ticket here: https://bit.ly/3TkRyN1
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Image: Eight of the Satsuma Students in London, 2 August 1865
Back row (left - right): Hatakeyama Yoshinari, Takami Yaichi, Murahashi Hisanari, Tōgō Ainoshin, Nagoya Tokinari
Front row (left - right): Mori Arinori, Matsumura Junzō, Nakamura Hakuai

Courtesy of Kagoshima Prefectural Library

10/07/2025

I've been really busy the past 9 months becoming a City of Westminster Guide! I'll be taking groups on micro poetry writing tours about Westminster later on in the year. Had the best tutor, mentors and cohort one could ever wish for. Thanks to all the contributors of folk ku journal for your patience with me whilst I was very caught up in this very demanding course. xo Jodie

10/07/2025

folk ku 5: water PDF is already up on the website. Please note: we will be making a few changes (additions) this week to the current PDF copy to reflect the print copy of Issue 5.

Some of the changes are: edits to our introduction to Issue 5; two additional ku - a special tanka for the charity we will be supporting TBA - £1 from each print issue will be donated and any extra donations through BMaC Buy Me a Coffee. Our chosen charity is very close to my heart; we have been following them and sharing their amazing achievements on X and Insta for a few years.

The other ku is in memory of my brother Michael who we lost in a kayaking accident in 2021. As kids we grew up around the rivers, lakes and beaches of NW Tasmania. Our family has a long connection to water through transportation, the survival of our early pioneer families, shack-life, camping, fishing and recreation. We all kayaked as kids and adults. Our Mick was so deeply loved and is terribly missed by many.

Thank you again to all who shared their special water memories with us in Issue 5.

Watch our socials for updates.

https://kingriverpress.com/folk-ku-journal-free-pdf/

We're around a week out of publishing folk ku 民句 Issue 5: 水💦water😊 Again, Mili has done a super job on the cover - this is just a snippet; all will be revealed soon! Thanks to all those who submitted this time around and our loyal fans.

28/05/2025

We're around a week out of publishing folk ku 民句 Issue 5: 水💦water😊 Again, Mili has done a super job on the cover - this is just a snippet; all will be revealed soon! Thanks to all those who submitted this time around and our loyal fans.

04/04/2025

A sweet birdie just emailed me to inform of this wonderful news:
Huge congrats to our folk kuer Mariangela Canzi on making the 2024 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems — Long List!
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Ramadan sunset
sharing dates
in the ruins

— Mariangela Canzi, folk ku, Issue 3
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1405 distinct entries submitted from 43 journals, 8 contests, and 301 individuals in 31 countries. Many thanks to the distinguished panel: Gregory Longenecker, Marianne Paul, Agnes Eva Savich, Dan Schwerin, and Mary Stevens.

The Long List of the best poems published in 2024

29/06/2024

Virtual Exhibition
Often playful, sometimes comical, and always profound, Zen paintings represent one of the world’s most fascinating religious and artistic traditions. None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection explores the origins of Zen Buddhism through over four centuries of ink paintings and calligraphies by painter-monks, who expressed Zen Buddhist teachings through their art, including the celebrated Buddhist master Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768). The exhibition advances Japan Society Gallery’s history of presenting important Buddhist artworks and concepts, including from the 2007 exhibition, Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan, and the 2010 exhibition, The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin. Visitors will also be invited to engage with Zen Buddhist practices through wide-ranging public programming, from in-gallery meditation sessions to calligraphy workshops and tea ceremony demonstrations.

The exhibition takes its title from a legendary encounter between a Buddhist monk and a Chinese emperor. According to 8th-century Chinese sources, itinerant monk Bodhidharma, patriarch of Zen Buddhism, visited the court of Emperor Wu Liang. When the emperor asked how much goodwill his generous deeds had earned in the eyes of the Buddha, the monk’s curt reply, “None Whatsoever,” shocked the ruler. This exchange—seemingly casual and dismissive, yet also uncompromising, profound, and revolutionary—has come to embody the relationship in Zen Buddhism between student and teacher.

None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection explores the origins of Zen Buddhism through over four centuries of ink paintings and calligraphies by painter-monks, including the celebrated Buddhist master Hakuin Ekaku.

09/06/2024

民句 folk ku Issue 3: a journal in honour of Masaoka Shiki is now live. Thank you so much to all contributors for your sweet folk ku, patience and ongoing support 🙏🫂🥰 Thank you to our readers as well. The journal wouldn't be here without y'all.
https://kingriverpress.com/folk-ku-journal-free-pdf/

03/01/2024

FREE download of coast to hinterland - eurobodalla. A collection of haiku from Australia's NSW south coast shire of Eurobodalla. This collection follows a similar format to timeless shoreline - a haiku journey through Bali. It fits into the genres of poetry and travel and has a map at the end.

If anybody else has a collection of haiku that they have written about one place or are planning to write one, then we'd be happy to help you self publish them in this PDF format. They are a lovely introduction to a place that somebody is already familiar with or hasn't visited before but would like to.
https://kingriverpress.com/coast-to-hinterland-eurobodalla/

This lovely little collection of poems were captured on the New South Wales South Coast shire of Eurobodalla. You can download a free copy HERE. Enjoy! Cover – Eucalyptus stenostoma aka Jilla…

21/12/2023

I wrote this piece last year. I suppose because it was leading into a new year and it's that time of year we start reflecting on the year gone and the upcoming one. Anyway, hope it resonates with some. Every positive move or vibe counts, no matter the size; all ripples ripple. 😊

So many books have been written on the idea of 生き甲斐 or ikigai, which in Japanese roughly translates as reason for being or purpose of your…

01/12/2023

Great video of the final residence of Shiki - Shikian in Taito, Tokyo and information on visiting the museum. Shiki moved to this house in 1894, and lived in it until he died of illness on September 19, 1902.

Shikian is his former residence where he lived with Yae, his mother, and Ritsu, his sister, and died at the age of 34 and 11 months. Although a rented house (a secondary dwelling of the Maeda family in the former Kaga domain) which he moved in February 1894 was destroyed by an air raid during the Second World War, it was reconstructed and brought back to its almost original state in 1950 through efforts of Sokotsu Samukawa and others. (2-5-11 Negishi, Taito City)

Taito City in Tokyo, Japan is a rich cultural area, attracting craftsmen and merchants through the ages. It has Ueno Park and Asakusa.