Back to shooting

There was a reporter from Northfield, MN's newspaper at the Wednesday Kyudo practice, so I managed to convince myself to get up early enough and let my manager know I would be late for work and actually get to practice.

It was good to pull a bow again even though my posture was horrid, I failed miserably at sitting in kiza and was sloppy at basically everything. Maybe getting to practice more often would make a good (belated) New Year's resolution.

Kyudo is a great sport... if you have the temperament. This person in the video takes over 3 minutes to shoot two arrows in the quickest method available: Normally you shoot sequentially in groups of up to five instead of solo, often you will sit (Japanese style, on your knees) between shots, and depending on your natural rhythm, your pace of actually drawing and shooting might even be slower than his. In fact, these two videos show the type of ceremony usually performed at the start of a seminar or tournament. It's a martial art, but it's the slowest martial art you'll ever see. It makes grandma's tai chi look positively frenetic!

One of the aspects that I find most interesting is that everybody shoots the same way. From the ceremonial style in the second video to casual practice in the first, between setting their feet lowering the bow after release, every action is the same. There are some well defined variations, but they're limited to two methods of knocking your arrow, two methods of setting your feet, two methods of raising your bow and starting your draw, and some variations of how you hold your hand depending on the type of glove you use. Those aren't even mix and match options, if you knock your arrow in one way, you will set your feet and raise your bow in a specific method.

All the different ceremonies and tests add things around the shooting, but the actual shooting is always the same.  Everything is very formulaic, you spend years practicing kyudo working on nothing but perfecting those same eight steps. It's a wonderful sport if you're the type of personality that enjoys constantly refining and improving how you do a specific set of tasks.

But never forget, kyudo is a shooting sport so at the end of all that focus and concentration and stillness, you end up shooting stuff. It's very much like Zen meditation with instant gratification. (Or frustration, there's always plenty of frustration when accuracy's involved. ;P  )