Precious Mirror by Kobun Chino Otogawa and translated by Gary Young

This is poetry from Japan.

Precious Mirror by Kobun Chino Otogawa translated by Gary Young is published by White Pine Press. This is a Book originally written in Japanese. This was published in 2018.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781945680212E12.

Precious Mirror, by Kobun Chino Otogawa and translated by Gary Young, is a Japanese poetry volume that seems to ask for a slower reader than the world usually produces. Otogawa was a Zen teacher, and the title immediately suggests reflection, discipline, and the difficult intimacy of looking without trying to own what is seen. I would be careful not to read the book only as wisdom literature, because that can flatten poems into little lessons. Better to approach it as a field of brief attentions, where spiritual practice and poetic perception overlap without needing to announce themselves too loudly. Young’s translation likely serves the spareness by letting quiet remain quiet. The pleasure here is not in plot or argument, but in the clean pressure of presence.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.