Cid Corman (1924-2004)
Do you know the American sweets cafe called CC’s coffee shop in Kyoto, which was established in 1974 by the American poet and editor Cid Corman?
When he and his Japanese wife (Shizumi Konishi) left for America in 1980, his wife’s sister and her husband inherited the cafe. He returned to Kyoto again in 1983, but I’m uncertain if he took over the cafe or not. But he kept having poetry reading events at the cafe until he passed away. (Greg Dunne of Kyoto Journal, who now lives in Miyazaki Prefecture, became a friend of Cid and wrote a book about him called Quiet Accomplishment: Remembering Cid Corman.)
It’s more than 40 years since the establishment of the cafe but it still exists! Though there used to be home made ice cream, it’s gone. These days, there are home made cakes and bagel sandwiches. There are also various kinds of American-style cakes including pecan nut pie and apple pie. The slices are much bigger than the Japanese standard size.
The cafe stands on the north-east corner of Marutamachi St, and Shichihonmatsu St, which is not too far from JR Enmachi station. You will find a photo of Cid and his famous Japanese poet friend, Shinpei Kusano there.
The current owner is a sister of Cid’s late wife, who is now in her late eighties or even ninety something. So because of the current owner’s age, I recommend literary people to visit soon to savour the lingering feeling of the era of Cid Corman in Kyoto, before the cafe is gone. Many famous writers visited there, including Kenneth Rexroth and Edith Shiffert. In more recent times Taylor Mignon and Gregory Dunne too.
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Links
- Final letter and poems, with substantial listing of links
- A personal reminiscence by Gregory Dunne of Cid Corman
- Cid Corman did not speak, read or write Japanese, even though his co-translation with Susumu Kamaike of Bashō’s Oku No Hosomichi is considered one of the most accurate in tone in the English language. This link tells of his manner of translation.
- This link has photos and details (in Japanese) about CC’s Coffee Shop.