Why a Booktrail?
1987: A writer spends a year in the city of Kyoto finding the Zen enlightenment he is looking for
The Lady and the Monk
What you need to know before your trail
“Four Seasons in Kyoto.”
Pico Iyer spent a year in the city to study the culture and people and to follow its philosophy. He studied its many angles and tones during the four seasons of that year. Would he find the Zen enlightenment he is looking for?
Travel Guide
Kyoto
Spending a year in the city of temples and monasteries this is a fascinating insight into Zen Buddhism
Kyoto is one of the loveliest old cities in the world and this is a city to find out about not cosmopolitan Japan but the quiet and deeper Japan. Kyoto seems to have such inner peace, with the temples and the time for reflection. It’s a city meant for contemplation through the seasons and in every other senses.
Kyoto and Japan are painted on the page with words and the words through literature. It’s a tour with a difference:
“The teahouses along the Kamo River were strung with lights this summer night, and large parties where gathered on their wooden terraces, set on stilts above the moonlit water. Along the darkened river bank, lovers sat side by side, space out at regular interval as self-contained as in some tableau vivant. I had passed through a looking glass and into a world of dreams”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Lady and the Monk
Destination: Kyoto Author/Guide: Pico Iyer Departure Time: 1986
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