When your bow is broken
and you no longer have an arrow,
then shoot,
shoot with your whole being.
Zen master Bukoku Kokushi
Bows and arrows have always been used as weapons for hunting and warfare in all corners of the world. However, in addition to their practical use, they were also used for ceremonial purposes in some cultures – among Native Americans, Indians, Chinese, Greeks… Bows and arrows were associated with something mysterious, hidden, or spiritual. In this spiritual sense, the use of bows and arrows developed significantly in Japan under the name kyudo – the way of the bow.
History of kyudo
The credit for the establishment of the first bow school goes to Prince Shotoku Taishi (574 – 622) who founded Taishi-ryu. The first person to systematize the training of archers was Sadamune Ogasawara in the 13th century. The Ogasawara style is based on the traditions and experiences of previous styles. It still has its followers today, and once a year a ceremony is held to demonstrate this style. It is precisely this school, as well as a bit… The younger Heki-ryu had the greatest influence on the development of modern kyudo.
Heki-ryu originated somewhere in the 15th century as an exclusively military doctrine that cultivated kyujutsu – the perfected use of the bow and arrow. Its founder was Heki Danjo Masatsugu (1443 – 1502). As the use of firearms gradually replaced the use of bows, the skill of kyujutsu mainly retreated to monasteries, where it acquired a new, spiritual dimension. It became an art of living, a skill of attaining and maintaining inner peace and tranquility. The bow became a weapon for winning the battle within oneself. These ideas laid the foundation for modern kyudo.
In the late 19th century, teacher Honda attempted to adapt the old spirit of kyujutsu to the modern age and new needs. His student Awa Kenzo completed the work started and changed the suffix jutsu to the suffix do, giving the renewed skill a new name. Thus, kyudo – the way of the bow – was born.
The essence of kyudo
The word “do” is actually difficult to translate. It is usually translated And like a path, a trail, perhaps it could also be described as a way, a method. Here’s how the concept is explained by Zen and Aikido master, Taisen Deshimaru: Do, the path, is a method, a learning that enables you to perfectly understand the nature of your mind and self. It is the Buddhist path, bucudo, which leads you towards discovering your true nature, awakening your primal ego (lower self, limited self) and encouraging it to give way to a higher, fuller self.
So the goal in kyudo is no longer to hit the target, but to transcend one’s lower ego. Kyudo masters, in accordance with Zen teachings, explain that the archer and the target become one. The archer, therefore, symbolically shoots himself. Perhaps these ideas, which are difficult for the Western mind to grasp, are the reason why this art has the fewest followers among Westerners compared to other Eastern practices. Fortunately, in 1929, German philosophy professor Eugen Herrigel embarked on learning this art from master Awa. The result of his true effort was a master’s diploma and the book Zen in Archery. The art of shooting an arrow helped us to partially anticipate what the path of the bow is. Professor D.T. Suzuki says: One of the most important factors in archery and other arts practiced in Japan, and probably in other Far Eastern countries as well, lies in the fact that they do not serve practical purposes and are not designed solely for aesthetic enjoyment, but rather serve to cultivate consciousness, which should be connected to ultimate reality. Thus, archery is practiced not only to hit the target, a sword is not swung to defeat the enemy, a dancer does not dance to perform rhythmic movements, but primarily to harmonize consciousness with the unconscious. Therefore, the path of the bow is in a way the path of human development, the path of educating one’s consciousness.
Various skills of a similar aim originated in ancient Japan. Thus, there is the way of tea (chado), the way of calligraphy (shodo), the way of the sword (kendo), and others. Depending on their inclinations, a person could choose one of them. from numerous paths. For raising awareness, it is important what happens within a human being, and the external, if directed correctly, only assists in that.
This is also explained by Herrigel in his book: “…shooting a bow and arrow under no circumstances can have the meaning of doing something from the outside, but rather that something is being done from within itself. The bow and arrow are, so to speak, just an excuse for something that could have happened even without them, just a path towards a goal, not the goal itself, but merely assistance for the final crucial leap.”
Equipment and technique
The clothing in modern kyudo consists of a specific kimono and hakama, wide pleated pants. The kimono differs slightly from the classic one in terms of fabric and cut, and has shorter sleeves. Hakama is standard, although in special occasions it can be worn differently.
The shape of the kyudo bow dates back to the 12th century and has undergone minor modifications to this day. The kyudo bow significantly differs from our usual perception of a bow. It is much longer than European bows and its height is ver two meters long and is not symmetrical. It is usually made of multilayered bamboo, whose parts are joined together with special inserts made of another type of wood. On each side of the bow, there are wooden slats, usually made of maple. The middle part consists of two layers of bamboo, two layers of leather, and again two layers of bamboo: the wooden fibers of one lamella go in the opposite direction from the fibers of the other lamella. All of this is glued together using traditional glue made from the excrement of a musk deer. The bowstring is usually made of hemp.
The thickness and width of the bow depend on its purpose, size, and the skill of the user. Interestingly, the bow is held at the beginning of the lower third, rather than in the middle. The reason for this is its asymmetrical shape. It is also interesting that this bow is much harder to string than any Western bow. Masters use bows that are harder to string and require much more skill. They claim that it is not physical but mental strength that is key to this.
Shooting with closed eyes
“Then you would also have to have your eyes tied up. “I’m just guessing,” I blurted out. The master looked at me with such a look that I was afraid I had offended him. He said, “Come tonight!”
…The master finally got up and signaled for me to follow him. The training hall was brightly lit. The master told me to stick a mosquito repellent candle, thin and long like a knitting needle, into the sand in front of the target, but not to light the candle at the height of the target. Outside, where the target was placed, it was so dark that I couldn’t make out its outlines, and if it weren’t for the tiny spark of the mosquito repellent candle indicating where the target was, I might have guessed, but I wouldn’t have known for sure where it was. The master “danced” the ceremony. His first arrow was shot from the bright light into the dark night. I realized from the impact that he hit the target. And the second arrow hit as well. When I lit the light at the base of the target, to my surprise, I discovered that the first arrow was in the middle of a black field, while the second one split the first one in half.
From the book by Eugene He rrigela, Zen in the art of releasing an arrow
The bow also has symbolic meaning: its upper end touches the sky, while its lower end touches the earth, while the handle represents the person who symbolically connects the sky and the earth with its position. And the arrow was crafted according to special rules where manual work was never separated from spiritual work. Arrows were made from bamboo cut during the winter solstice. Then the wood would be dried for two to three months. Arrows were shaped differently, and their length was determined by the length of the bow. In Shinto ceremonies, the kaburaya is used, an arrow with a hollow tip that whistles as it flies through the air. According to Japanese belief, this special sound drives away evil spirits.
In the classical archery ceremony, two arrows are used. The shooting itself is done in a ceremonial manner, meaning it is only a ceremonial shooting. Each school has its own ritual, and usually starts from the seiza position (kneeling position). After that, a whole series of prescribed mov We will describe the external side of a technique prescribed by the All Japan Kyudo Federation.
The practitioner is in a kneeling position. The bow and arrows are in front of him. Then follows the prescribed procedure: he performs a ritual greeting, rei; he takes the bow with his left hand and the arrows with his right hand; he rises softly; straightens up by bringing the bow and arrows close to his body; holding the bow in a semi-crossed position in front of him, he places one of the arrows on the bow and holds the other with his little finger of the same hand, so that it does not interfere when shooting; he raises the bow upwards until his hands are slightly above his head, while bringing it into an upright position; he slowly lowers the bow until his hands are slightly below eye level and at the same time tightens it.
The next step is the most important. It is releasing the arrow. Masters say that the archer must not consciously release the arrow. It must fly out when “it itself wishes”.
Toh-shiya
In the Buddhist temple Sanjusangen-do in Kyoto, the ritual of toh- shiya – archery competition. The competition consists of hitting the target with a diameter of one meter, which is located 60 meters away, as many times as possible. The competition lasts 24 hours – from one evening to the next evening.
In 1669, Hoshino Kanzaemon shot a total of 10,242 arrows, of which 8,000 hit the target. The fact that no one was able to surpass this number for seventeen years speaks to the difficulty of this achievement. Only in 1686, Wasa Daihachiro, a shooter of exceptional strength and endurance, managed to break this record under dramatic circumstances:
After shooting arrows for hours and firing 7,850 of them, Wasa took a break. However, when he tried to continue, he could no longer shoot the arrows with the necessary speed due to the bruises on his hands caused by immense effort. Seeing the difficult position he was in, Hoshino, who was watching the competition, came to his aid by using a small knife to cut the bruises, allowing the blood to flow out. e. This eased the pain and eliminated the disturbance, so Wasa continued shooting. By evening, he managed to release a total of 13053 arrows, of which 8133 hit the target. Thus, Wasa broke Hoshino’s record, and Hoshino achieved a victory of honor.
This is how Awa Kenzo, Herrigel’s teacher, describes the moment of releasing an arrow: You must hold the bowstring tight, just like a little child holds out its finger. It holds it so tightly that one is constantly amazed by the strength of the little hand. And when the child lets go of the finger, it happens without any jerk. Do you know why? Because the child does not think – let’s say like this: now I will let go of the finger to grab something else.
After releasing the arrow, peace, tranquility, and relaxation arise…
And hitting the target? Masters of kyudo say that the essence of this art is not to hit the target, but to experience the moment of perfection, truth. In this sense, practitioners of kyudo consider it as steps towards perfection, steps towards the true essence of a human being.
Kyudo is the path to the same. Indeed, the teacher Anzawa spoke with authority, eloquence, and grace.