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Roaring Silence
When you hit rock bottom in life, there is only one place left to go, and that's up. This autobiographical account illustrates how a young man's life was changed forever when he discovered budo. From the back streets of one of Britain's toughest cities, Manchester, to the dojo of one of the world's leading masters of karate on the tiny island of Okinawa, the author's failures and hard won successes unfold in a story that is sure to capture the reader's imagination. Roaring Silence is, more than anything else, a story of hope. It is the record of a journey started, though not yet finished, covering a ten-year timeline from 1974 through to 1984. It reveals the first decade of a life, emerging from a world of violence and incarceration into a life of direction and appreciation. Through his encounter with the 'way' of karate the author learns how to change his anger into effort and his aggression into achievement. From his example comes the hope that such a transformation is possible in an
148 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
6 people want to read
About the author
Michael Clarke
5 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (1958-1999)
By the age of 17, Michael Clarke, Kyoshi 8th dan was behind bars, a veteran street fighter serving a two-year sentence for occasioning grievous bodily harm. Turning 18 behind the walls of one of England's most notorious prisons 'Strangeways', was a wake up call that began his climb off the bottom.
Released back into society on parole in December 1973, he began training in karate in January 1974.
After ten years of training in the Japanese system of Tani-ha Shito-ryu, he travelled to Okinawa for the first time in 1984, in search of the more traditional training methods. There he was accepted into the dojo of the famed Morio Higaonna sensei. In 1992 he entered the Jundokan dojo of Eiichi Miyazato sensei, the dojo where Higaonna sensei himself had learnt karate, and became a student of the man who had received his instruction directly from the founder of goju-ryu: Chojun Miyagi. Six weeks before he passed away, in 1999, Miyazato sensei promoted Michael to 6th dan.
source: Amazon
Please see: Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (1958-1999)
By the age of 17, Michael Clarke, Kyoshi 8th dan was behind bars, a veteran street fighter serving a two-year sentence for occasioning grievous bodily harm. Turning 18 behind the walls of one of England's most notorious prisons 'Strangeways', was a wake up call that began his climb off the bottom.
Released back into society on parole in December 1973, he began training in karate in January 1974.
After ten years of training in the Japanese system of Tani-ha Shito-ryu, he travelled to Okinawa for the first time in 1984, in search of the more traditional training methods. There he was accepted into the dojo of the famed Morio Higaonna sensei. In 1992 he entered the Jundokan dojo of Eiichi Miyazato sensei, the dojo where Higaonna sensei himself had learnt karate, and became a student of the man who had received his instruction directly from the founder of goju-ryu: Chojun Miyagi. Six weeks before he passed away, in 1999, Miyazato sensei promoted Michael to 6th dan.
source: Amazon
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 26, 2018
"Roaring Silence" by Michael Clarke is a truly uninspired book. A storyline with little or no potential for "life" unfortunately met that standard all too quickly.
The layout of the book is an unfamiliar, and highly strange format. A simple example, neither who nor what is shown on the front cover is ever identified. The book is twelve chapters in length but no table of contents exists. The Further reading section (pp.8) was given between the Dedication-Photo page, and the Acknowledgements page rather than at the end of the book where it belongs. Before the Preface, or the story which Mr. Clarke eventually tells, he lists authors and the titles of other books which he recommends. There is a twisted irony to this placement... (i.e. read other books first).
Listing the date of publication, the ISBN, or any other identification number for any of Clarke's recommended books would have been obscenely useful. He failed to do so. Clarke's apparent contention these particular books are/were more geared for the mental development aspects of karate training rather than the physical per se is highly curious. He seems to imply that "Roaring" is about the physical?
Throughout the book are numerous black and white photographs. Some are full page, others are captioned. The purpose or function of many are quite unclear, if not outright unnecessary. What function does the full page, close-up photo of the author (?) in a quasi defensive posture on the second page of the book possess? If showing "dynamic" action was the intent then cutting off the top of the authors (?) head in that photograph does absolutely nothing helpful!
Excessive group photos (pp. 30, 48, 62, 68, 82, 108, 120, 121, etc.) and too many unnecessary photos of individual friends also fill its pages. Why does the reader care about the author "vigorously" demonstrating a front kick (pp.61)? What possible value does two pages of the author demonstrating still photography of postures (pp.126-127) jammed in the back of the book hold?! Such photography fills far too many pages without having any tangible value to them. While some photos could surely have made interesting chapter headings, majority should easily be done without.
The book is not entirely without some minor sparks of life however. The Forward is fairly eloquent. Clarke's sentiment that karate has serious potential as a tool to help youth heading down the "wrong path" (if cliched) always bears repeating. The stories of Morio Higaonna sensei an Okinawan karate personality as a normal human being, the authors host on Okinawan rather than some "mythical" or living legend of Okinawan karate are fairly unusual too.
So there are literal sparks of interesting information in "Roaring Silence". But too few sparks exist to give this work any true flame. Perhaps in the "next" edition mandatory, critical editing changes will be made.
If you want to understand the training experiences of a martial artist explore C.W. Nicol's Moving Zen: One Mans Journey to the Heart of Karate none have yet been done as well, nor even close!
The layout of the book is an unfamiliar, and highly strange format. A simple example, neither who nor what is shown on the front cover is ever identified. The book is twelve chapters in length but no table of contents exists. The Further reading section (pp.8) was given between the Dedication-Photo page, and the Acknowledgements page rather than at the end of the book where it belongs. Before the Preface, or the story which Mr. Clarke eventually tells, he lists authors and the titles of other books which he recommends. There is a twisted irony to this placement... (i.e. read other books first).
Listing the date of publication, the ISBN, or any other identification number for any of Clarke's recommended books would have been obscenely useful. He failed to do so. Clarke's apparent contention these particular books are/were more geared for the mental development aspects of karate training rather than the physical per se is highly curious. He seems to imply that "Roaring" is about the physical?
Throughout the book are numerous black and white photographs. Some are full page, others are captioned. The purpose or function of many are quite unclear, if not outright unnecessary. What function does the full page, close-up photo of the author (?) in a quasi defensive posture on the second page of the book possess? If showing "dynamic" action was the intent then cutting off the top of the authors (?) head in that photograph does absolutely nothing helpful!
Excessive group photos (pp. 30, 48, 62, 68, 82, 108, 120, 121, etc.) and too many unnecessary photos of individual friends also fill its pages. Why does the reader care about the author "vigorously" demonstrating a front kick (pp.61)? What possible value does two pages of the author demonstrating still photography of postures (pp.126-127) jammed in the back of the book hold?! Such photography fills far too many pages without having any tangible value to them. While some photos could surely have made interesting chapter headings, majority should easily be done without.
The book is not entirely without some minor sparks of life however. The Forward is fairly eloquent. Clarke's sentiment that karate has serious potential as a tool to help youth heading down the "wrong path" (if cliched) always bears repeating. The stories of Morio Higaonna sensei an Okinawan karate personality as a normal human being, the authors host on Okinawan rather than some "mythical" or living legend of Okinawan karate are fairly unusual too.
So there are literal sparks of interesting information in "Roaring Silence". But too few sparks exist to give this work any true flame. Perhaps in the "next" edition mandatory, critical editing changes will be made.
If you want to understand the training experiences of a martial artist explore C.W. Nicol's Moving Zen: One Mans Journey to the Heart of Karate none have yet been done as well, nor even close!
Displaying 1 of 1 review