In Japan. by [Ninja Press] Gary Young - 2017.

Sherman Oaks, California:: Ninja Press,, 2017.. Edition of 75. 8.75 x 10.50; 36 pages. Letterpress printed in Meridien with Neuland for display on a Vandercook Universal I flatbed proof press. Printed on kitakata paper, handmade in Japan. Each text sheet folded at the foredge then painted by hand with walnut ink. Endsheets of kakishibu, a persimmon-washed, cinnamon-colored handmade Japanese paper. Bound in double layer of kyoseishi, handmade paper from Japan. Sewn using black silk thread exposed near the spine. Housed in a clear acrylic slipcase. Design, presswork, painting, and binding by Carolee Campbell at Ninja Press. Numbered. Signed by the poet. UCSC NewsCenter, April 19, 2017: "In Japan is the title of an elegant new collection of poems from UCSC humanities lecturer and alumnus Gary Young … published by Ninja Press.  "The poems were written while Young was in Japan working on a book of translations of the calligraphy of the Zen priest Kobun Chino Otogawa. During this time, he had the great honor of staying in the Hokyoji Zen Monastery, where he was given access to Zen Master Dogen's original manuscripts, calligraphy, and other relics.  "While traveling around Japan and working on the translations, Young also began to work on a series of original poems. "'This was only a few months after the earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster,' Young noted. 'My poems reflect my joy at being in Japan, but there is an undercurrent of grief and loss throughout the collection.'" Ninja Press: "These previously unpublished prose poems resonate with unerring clarity and a streamlined diction honed over years spent enveloped in the misty redwood forest and streams of his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. "Each faintly green text sheet is folded at the fore edge, then painted by hand with walnut ink. An enso (empty circle) inhabits each page and is printed in a second color. The enso is a brushed circular form common in Zen buddhist art representing the ultimate Zen theme suggesting both emptiness and completion.  "The snow white cover is a double layer of kyoseishi which means 'strengthened paper.' This handmade paper from Japan is coated with konnyaku juice, a form of starch derived from the konjac plant, also known as devil's tongue, voodoo lily, or snake palm. Konnyaku juice gives added strength and impermeability to the paper. Strong, flexible, and water-resistant, historically it has been used to make clothing as well as paper. "A clear acrylic slipcase protects the book while revealing the cover, its sewing, and the foredge painting.