Persimmon Wind
A Martial Artist's Journey in Japan
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Persimmon Wind
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Narrated by:
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Brian Nishii
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By:
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Dave Lowry
About this listen
Persimmon Wind - part memoir, part martial arts history, and part travelogue - relates Dave Lowry's experiences as he travels to Japan to reunite with his sensei, visit the graves of others of his martial lineage, and explore a country and culture that profoundly influenced his life.
Lowry's account reveals a Japan unlikely to be witnessed by the average Westerner. Drawing on his deep knowledge of the martial arts, Lowry acts as an interpreter of sorts, deftly describing for the listener the myriad ways in which Japan's subtle, yet rich customs and rituals inform and enrich the seemingly mundane practices of life. On his journey, he interweaves musings from his daily encounters - his introduction to an old ryokan-keeper; a contemplative visit to Kyoto's Daitokuji, "Temple of Great Virtue"; he even spots a ghost or two - with reflections on local history and the philosophies and origins of the Shinkage-ryu, one of Japan's oldest schools of classical swordsmanship.
At the same time, Lowry's experiences in Japan serve as an unexpected opportunity, bringing him to terms with the extraordinary relationship that exists between teacher and student, with his own past, his place in the long line of swordsmen from whom he has come, and with the challenge he faces in integrating the cultural streams of East and West.
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- A Novel
- By: Richard C. Morais
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4 out of 5 stars 63
Growing up in a quaint mountainside village in Japan, Seido Oda spent his boyhood fishing in clear mountainside streams and helping his parents run their small inn. At the age of 11, Oda is sent to study with the monks at a nearby Buddhist temple. This peaceful, quiet refuge in the remote mountains of Japan becomes home for the introverted monk - until he approaches his 40th birthday and is ordered by his superior to cross the ocean and open a temple in Brooklyn. Ripped from the isolated, serene life of his homeland temple, Oda receives a shock to his system in New York - a motley crew of American Buddhists with misguided practices.
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4 out of 5 stars
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engaging listen
- By connie on 07-25-12
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Witches of America
- By: Alex Mar
- Narrated by: Amanda Dolan
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4 out of 5 stars 64
When most people hear the word witches, they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice Paganism today, it's a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day witchcraft. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern paganism.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Author Misses the Point!
- By jennifer on 12-04-15
By: Alex Mar
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Tracking Bodhidharma
- A Journey to the Heart of Chinese Culture
- By: Andy Ferguson
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
The life of Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, has, with the passing of time, been magnified to the scale of myth, turning history into the stuff of legend. Known as the First Patriarch, Bodhidharma brought Zen from South India into China in 500 CE, changing the country forever. In Tracking Bodhidharma, Andrew Ferguson recreates the path of Bodhidharma, traveling through China to the places where the First Patriarch lived and taught. This sacred trail takes Ferguson deep into ancient China.
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2 out of 5 stars
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a personal narrative of his trip through China
- By Craig Stepanek on 10-11-21
By: Andy Ferguson
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The Garden of Evening Mists
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 753
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 664
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 667
Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The best
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 03-11-13
By: Tan Twan Eng
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The Way of the Warrior
- Young Samurai, Book 1
- By: Chris Bradford
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 255
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 213
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 211
August 1611. Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan - his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates. Rescued by the legendary sword master Masamoto Takeshi, Jack's only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins. But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival. With courage in his heart and his sword held high, can Jack prove himself and face his deadliest rival yet?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great story, HORRIBLE Japanese pronunciation
- By Derek Sorenson on 12-24-20
By: Chris Bradford
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The Road to Sparta
- Reliving the Ancient Battle and Epic Run That Inspired the World's Greatest Footrace
- By: Dean Karnazes
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 567
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 504
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
In 490 BCE Pheidippides ran for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta to seek help in defending Athens from a Persian invasion in the Battle of Marathon. In doing so he saved the development of Western civilization and inspired the birth of the marathon as we know it. Even now, some 2,500 years later, that run stands enduringly as one of greatest physical accomplishments in the history of mankind.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Repetitive, no depth
- By Miles on 06-12-17
By: Dean Karnazes
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The Skystone
- Camulod Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Jack Whyte
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 776
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 693
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 690
Everyone knows the story-how Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, how Camelot came to be, and about the power struggles that ultimately destroyed Arthur's dreams. But what of the time before Arthur and the forces that created him?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating new series
- By Jim R. Whitt Jr. on 08-27-13
By: Jack Whyte
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Iberia
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 37 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 268
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 230
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Story4 out of 5 stars 232
Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Michener's Masterpiece
- By ahusmc on 09-14-17
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Green
- By: Jay Lake
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 369
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 277
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 283
She was born in poverty, in a dusty village under the equatorial sun. She does not remember her mother, she does not remember her own nameher earliest clear memory is of the day her father sold her to the tall pale man. In the Court of the Pomegranate Tree, where she was taught the ways of a courtesanand the skills of an assassinshe was named Emerald, the precious jewel of the Undying Dukes collection of beauties. She calls herself Green.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Gods, Cat People, Female Assassins, Whips--
- By Jefferson on 02-11-11
By: Jay Lake
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The Eight
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Neville
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 25 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 869
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 647
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 651
New York City, 1972: A dabbler in mathematics and chess, Catherine Velis is also a computer expert for a Big Eight accounting firm. Before heading off to a new assignment in Algeria, Cat has her palm read by a fortune-teller. The woman warns Cat of danger. Then an antiques dealer approaches Cat with a mysterious offer: He has an anonymous client who is trying to collect the pieces of an ancient chess service, purported to be in Algeria. If Cat can bring the pieces back, there will be a generous reward.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best Plot-Driven Novel I've Ever Read
- By Tango on 09-08-13
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African Samurai
- The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan
- By: Thomas Lockley, Geoffrey Girard
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 867
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 752
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 748
The remarkable life of history’s first foreign-born samurai and his astonishing journey from Northeast Africa to the heights of Japanese society.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not worth finishing
- By William Shehan on 06-12-19
By: Thomas Lockley, and others
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The King’s Gambit
- By: John Maddox Roberts
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 463
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 412
In this Edgar Award-nominated mystery, John Maddox Roberts takes listeners back to a Rome filled with violence and evil. Vicious gangs ruled the streets of Crassus and Pompey, routinely preying on plebeian and patrician alike. So the garroting of a lowly ex-slave and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant in the dangerous Subura district seemed of little consequence to the Roman hierarchy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great start to a series
- By P. Johnson on 09-21-17
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A Book of Five Rings
- The Strategy of Musashi
- By: Miyamoto Musashi
- Narrated by: Alec Sand
- Length: 1 hr and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,057
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 859
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 857
Legendary 17th century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi’s exposition of sword fighting, strategy and Zen philosophy. Required reading for any martial artist, business person or student of strategy. Includes the one hour Zen inspired soundtrack The Mysterious Sound of Wind in the Bamboo. Performed on authentic Japanese instruments.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Read all of it in one day, then read it once a day forever
- By Luis Roman on 08-08-17
By: Miyamoto Musashi
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Across the Nightingale Floor
- Tales of the Otori, Book One
- By: Lian Hearn
- Narrated by: Kevin Gray, Aiko Nakasone
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,308
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,276
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,295
A tour-de-force novel set in ancient Japan filled with passion, fantasy, and feuding warlords. The first volume in the highly anticipated Tales of the Otori trilogy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful epic story
- By Jody R. Nathan on 10-04-03
By: Lian Hearn
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Rides a Dread Legion
- Book One of the Demonwar Saga
- By: Raymond E. Feist
- Narrated by: John Meagher
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 542
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 475
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 476
The last remnants of an ancient advanced race, the Clan of the Seven Stars, are returning at long last to their lost homeworld, Midkemia—not as friends, but as would-be conquerors. Led by the conjurer Laromendis, they are fleeing the relentless demon hordes that are sweeping through their galaxy and destroying the elves' vast empire planet by planet. Only by escaping to Midkemia and brutally overtaking the war-weary world can the last remnants of a mighty civilization hope to survive.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Under A Rock, On A Deserted Island, In A Delorean?
- By Michael on 05-03-13
By: Raymond E. Feist
What listeners say about Persimmon Wind
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JK
- 05-16-24
ENJOYABLE
This is an interesting book.
Learning and reading about martial arts and Japan’s history and historical sites.
Only Brian Nishii could have narrated this book, he is such a pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mallory Greer
- 04-08-21
Thought provoking as always.
David never disappoints. Brian Nishi Is amazing and perfect for these books. As a student of the Bushido I enjoy the subtle insights that only a student will grasp. I have read many of David's books and will continue to read/ listen for years to come.
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1 person found this helpful