Clouds in the West: Lessons from the Martial Arts of Japan [Hardcover]

Dave Lowry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004

CLOUDS IN THE WEST is a thought-provoking look at the essence of traditional Asian martial arts--and how it has been adapted, misunderstood, sometimes perverted, and sometimes enhanced in the West.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Thanks to movies and novels such as The Last Samurai and Shôgun, manga and anime, as well as ubiquitous "MacDojos" in almost every strip mall in North America, no one can escape being exposed to the martial culture of Japan. However, even as Westerners have become captivated by budo, the traditional martial arts of Japan, they've become more sophisticated. Once content with instructional manuals or tall tales of martial prowess, many readers today are searching for the deeper concepts of budo. In Clouds in the West, Dave Lowry continues the fascinating, lifelong philosophical journey through the essence of traditional Japanese martial arts that he began years ago in Autumn Lightning and Sword and Brush, and developed more fully in Moving Toward Stillness. Here Lowry addresses a variety of topics that demonstrate how varied and multifaceted are the lessons and insights gained from training, how the budo are integrated into daily life for the serious practitioner, and how they resonate, from ancient times to today.
Among the topics that Lowry explores in Clouds in the West:
Why Zen has very little to do with Japanese martial arts
Why johinsa, or "a cultured refinement," is as important as a good front kick
Gaman, or "perseverance"
Nakaima, or the "Eternal Present"
Austerity-the dominant aesthetic of martial culture
Kosei, or "individualism," in the context of martial arts
What martial arts and the art of flower arranging have in common
And much more, including discussions on the mythic origins of the ninja, creating kata, and kata as a protection against the arbitrary.

About the Author

DAVE LOWRY has been involved in a study of traditional and modern Japanese martial arts and Ways since 1968, and he is among the most prolific of writers on the subject in the West. In addition to eight books on budô, he has written for Karate Illustrated, International Fighting Arts, and Inside Karate and has written a monthly column for Black Belt magazine since 1986. He has also written for a number of other magazines including Playboy, Cosmopolitan, and Winds, the in-flight magazine of Japan Air Lines. Among his books are Autumn Lightning, Persimmon Wind, Moving Toward Stillness, and The Sushi Snob, A Connoisseur's Field Guide to Sushi. Lowry lives and works near St. Louis, Missouri, where he is the restaurant critic for St. Louis Magazine.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592285902
• ISBN-13: 978-1592285907
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,736,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Select Writings for a select few, January 1, 2005

By 

Jeffrey S. Hennessy (Toledo, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clouds in the West: Lessons from the Martial Arts of Japan (Hardcover)

I have to admit I am a great Dave Lowry fan. I have read and re-read all of his martial arts books to the point they are falling apart. His works to date have always been thoughtful and insightful. They are all upbeat and inspirational to martial artist of all styles. To say I was excited when I saw his new book Clouds in the West for sale on Amazon would be an understatement. I quickly ordered, and received my copy in only two days!

Clouds in the West troubled me. I quickly read through it and was left feeling unfulfilled. This book is not for the general once a week dojo visitor. It is for serious budoka only. Who else would be interested reading an entire chapter on how Shinmen Miyamoto Musashi Fujiwara No Genshin changed his name to Musashi Miyamoto, or a long heady discussion on kata? I almost felt that Mr. Lowry was writing to a very select group of friends and the book was not for general consumption.

There also were of course, for those knowledgeable of Mr. Lowry's writings, several chapters on his well known koryu snobbery. His chapters "Confessions of a Navy SEAL, "A Matter of Bathrobes", and comments in other chapters again tell us
that only a select group of people are privy to authentic classical martial arts training in a real koryu. Mr. Lowry tells us again that there are only a half a dozen authorities (we are never given names of course) of real koryu in the United States. I myself have run into charlatans, and both appreciate and agree with his views. It's not what he says, but how he says it. He appears very condescending. He apparently does not suffer fools lightly. I enjoy being taught, and Mr. Lowry is extremely knowledgeable and the one who can do it. However, I do not like being lectured to. The
point has been made. Let it go.

Overall, I am glad I bought the book and it will have a place in my bookcase with my other Lowry books. Again, this book is for the serious martial artist. If you have not read a Dave Lowry book before, I would start with my personnel favorite and one of the best books on the subject I have read, Autumn Lightning. Save Clouds in the West for when you get your black belt.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars look deeper and open your mind, August 28, 2005

By 

David W. Decker (western NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clouds in the West: Lessons from the Martial Arts of Japan (Hardcover)

Despite buying every book written By Dave Lowry I nearly passed on this one due to the negative reviews I had read. While there are some places where the connections seemed a bit strained between the text and concept (maybe due to a shortcoming of my own)I gave this book a five star rating. I never expect any book to to enlighten me page by page or from front to back. The trick is to find one that has that ONE passage that makes a difference in your understanding, one that makes you sit back and say "wow what was that all about." This book achieved that, for me, in chapter 12 "To Blossom and Scatter." No I am not going to tell you why, buy the book, look for your own inspirations. There are two paragraphs in this chapter that are so profound that I laid the book aside for a period to contemplate the full impact of those words. If you can not find similar passages between the covers of this book you are not reading deep enough, look deeper, open your mind.

dave decker
white shadow dojo

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitive at a more esoteric level, January 18, 2005

By 

Monster K - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clouds in the West: Lessons from the Martial Arts of Japan (Hardcover)

I have read and enjoyed all over Mr. Lowry's books and I was eagerly anticipating his newest collection of thoughts and writings. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by his latest effort. It seems like he has nothing new to say about traditional budo and instead is reaching further into the esoteric and rehashing with excrutiating minutia what he has already written in previous books. For example, the chapter about "what is in a name" just tells us about the convoluted origins of Musashi's various surnames. It seems like Mr. Lowry has exhausted all insights into the man's life and contributions to budo and is now latching onto the potential signifiances of his very very long name.

With that said, there are some interesting chapters in this otherwise tortuous book. The chapter on "Nakaima" or the eternal present is classical Lowry as he explains the link between past, present and future in the continuing lineage and legacy that defines traditional martial arts.

All and all I would recommend that the reader browse this book for the highlights at a bookstore. It is not worth buying and keeping on the bookshelf for future reference and re-reading.