Artwork

Clouds in the West
By Dave Lowry


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.