Kyūdō
Kyūdō is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on kyūjutsu, which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, and following the example of other martial arts that have been systematizing for educational purposes, kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various forms of shooting that had been used up until then. Many practitioners may refer to themselves as yumihiki, or 'ones who draw the bow'. Kyūdō is practised by over a hundred thousand people worldwide. The bow used is called a. It has an asymmetrical shape and length of more than, and its use is characterized by the archer gripping the lower third of the bow stave to shoot.
History
The beginning of archery in Japan is pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are found on Dōtaku from the Yayoi period.Emergence
The changing of society and the samurai class taking power at the end of the Heian period created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyūjutsu ryū-ha, the Henmi-ryū, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryū and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū, Ogasawara Nagakiyo,During the Kamakura period, when Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate, archery became more and more popular, especially the three types of mounted archery: yabusame, inuoumono, and kasagake.
Sengoku period
From the 15th to the 16th century, Japan was ravaged by civil war. In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his new and accurate approach called hi, kan, chū, and his footman's archery spread rapidly. Many new schools were formed, some of which remain today, such as Heki-ryū Chikurin-ha, Heki-ryū Sekka-ha and Heki-ryū Insai-ha.16th century
The yumi as a weapon of war began its gradual decline after the Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543 bringing firearms with them in the form of the matchlock. The Japanese soon started to manufacture their own version of the matchlock called tanegashima and eventually it and the yari became the weapons of choice. However, because took a long time to load, were inconvenient in rainy weather when damp gunpowder would not fire, and were not exactly subtle in terms of noise, the did not go out of fashion and continued to be used as an important military force on the battlefield.The tanegashima however did not require the same amount of training as a yumi, allowing Oda Nobunaga's army consisting mainly of farmers armed with tanegashima to annihilate a traditional samurai archer cavalry in a single battle in 1575.
Edo period
During the Edo period Japan was turned inward as a hierarchical caste society in which the samurai were at the top. There was an extended era of peace during which the samurai moved to administrative duty, although the traditional fighting skills were still esteemed. During this period archery became a "voluntary" skill, practised partly in the court in ceremonial form, partly as different kinds of competition. During this period, an archery contest called Tōshiya was popularly held at the Buddhist temple Sanjusangen-do. Many samurai competed to hit an arrow at a target 133 meters away, nearly the width of the Buddhist temple. Today, this Tōshiya contest is held as an annual event on Coming of Age Day, January 15, with women archers participating, but with the distance to the target shortened to 60 meters.In the early Edo period, Morikawa Kōzan founded the Yamato-ryū, which was based on Ogasawara-ryū etiquette and Heki-ryū shooting methods, and also incorporated Shinto ideas.
Revival
During the changes to Japan brought by opening up to the outside world at the beginning of the Meiji era, the samurai lost their status. Therefore, kyūjutsu was considered obsolete and began to decline. Kyūjutsu practitioners established dojos to survive and began to spread among the common people. Kyūjutsu was first adopted as a subject in school education in 1895, encouraged by its beginning to spread among the common people. In 1896, a group of kyūjutsu masters gathered to save traditional archery. Honda Toshizane, the kyūjutsu teacher for the Imperial University of Tokyo, merged the war and ceremonial shooting styles, creating a hybrid called Honda-ryū. From 1919, the name of "kyūjutsu" was gradually replaced within clubs and events with the term "kyūdō", with "kyūjutsu" disappearing completely by 1933. A mixed-style form was created by blending Ogasawara-ryū, Honda-ryū, and Heki-ryū, which was called kyūdō yosoku. A ranking system for kyūdō was established in 1923. Kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various other forms of shooting. Due to the abolishing of the original Dai Nippon Butoku Kai after WWII, several martial arts disciplines created their own organizations. Guidelines published in the 1953 book Kyudo Manual define how, in a competition or graduation, archers from different schools can shoot together in unified form.Purpose
Kyūdō is practiced in many different schools, some of which descend from military shooting and others that descend from ceremonial or contemplative practice. Therefore, the emphasis is different. Some emphasize aesthetics and others efficiency. Contemplative schools teach the form as a meditation in action. In certain schools, to shoot correctly will result inevitably in hitting the desired target. For this a phrase seisha hicchū, "true shooting, certain hitting", is used.According to the All Nippon Kyudo Federation, the supreme goal of kyūdō is the state of shin-zen-bi, roughly "truth-goodness-beauty", which can be approximated as: when archers shoot correctly with virtuous spirit and attitude toward all persons and all things which relate to kyūdō, beautiful shooting is realized naturally.
Kyūdō practice, as in all budō, includes the idea of moral and spiritual development. Today many archers practice kyūdō as a sport, with marksmanship being paramount. However, the goal most devotees of kyūdō seek is seisha seichū, "correct shooting is correct hitting". In kyūdō the unique action of expansion that results in a natural release is sought. When the technique of the shooting is correct the result is that the arrow hits the target. To give oneself completely to the shooting is the spiritual goal, achieved by perfection of both the spirit and shooting technique leading to munen musō, "no thoughts, no illusions". This however is not Zen, although Japanese bow can be used in Zen-practice or kyūdō practiced by a Zen master. In this respect, many kyūdō practitioners believe that competition, examination, and any opportunity that places the archer in this uncompromising situation is important, while other practitioners will avoid competitions or examinations of any kind.
Kyūdō itself is not a religion, but instead has influences from both Shinto and Zen. Post Meiji when bows were no longer used for war, kyūdō in Japan was practiced for physical education, without any connection to zen or religion. However, since the Second World War, kyūdō has often been associated with Zen Buddhism, largely due to the efforts of a single book, Zen in the Art of Archery by the German author Eugen Herrigel. Herrigel spoke only a little Japanese, generally using a translator to speak with his teacher. His view on kyūdō is due his exposure to a contemplative form of kyūdō. Even so, Herrigel's book, when translated into Japanese in 1956, had a huge impact on the perception of kyūdō also in Japan.
Zenko is affiliated closely with Shambhala Buddhism and was founded in the United States in the 1980s by Kanjuro Shibata XX. It has groups practicing in the United States and a group in Canada.
Dōjō
Kyūdō dōjō vary in style and design from school to school, and from country to country. In Japan, most dōjō have roughly the same layout; an entrance, a large dōjō area, typically with a wooden floor and a high ceiling, a position for practice targets, and a large open wall with sliding doors, which, when opened, overlooks an open grassy area and a separate building, the matoba, which houses a sand hillock and the targets, placed 28 metres from the dōjō floor.Practice
Kyūdō is practiced in different schools and styles, and even between dōjō of the same style, the form of practice can vary. To harmonize practice and ceremonial shooting in 1953 the All Nippon Kyudo Federation formed an establishing committee from the main schools to take the best elements of each school and form the general style that is used today throughout Japan and in most kyūdō federations in the west. This standard form was documented in a manual, Kyudo Manual, Principles of Shooting, published in 1953. The ANKF is the governing body for kyūdō in Japan, and oversees the majority of kyūdō clubs and events in kyūdō.In kyūdō there are three kinds of practice : mitori geiko – receiving with the eyes the style and technique of an advanced archer, kufū geiko – learning and keeping in mind the details of the technique and spiritual effort to realize it and kazu geiko – repetition through which the technique is personified in one's own shooting.
Kyūdō is different to other martial arts, in that it is largely static. It can be enjoyed competitively, or as a simple recreation. It can also be enjoyed by those seeking to gain the beauty of form.
Beginners start with a rubber practice bow and by practising the movements of hassetsu. The second step for a beginner is to do karabiki training with a bow without an arrow to learn handling of the bow and performing hassetsu until full draw. Handling and maintenance of the equipment is also part of the training. After given permission by the teacher beginners start practicing with the glove and arrow. Next steps may vary from teacher to teacher, but include practising first yugamae, then the draw and last release and shooting at makiwara. A beginner starting to shoot at the mato may be asked to shoot from half or three-quarters of the usual distance.
Advanced beginners and advanced shooters practice shooting at makiwara, mato and some with omato.
Makiwara is a specially designed straw target. The makiwara is shot at from a very close range. Because the target is so close and the shot most certainly will hit, the archer can concentrate on refining technique rather than on the arrow's arc.
Mato is the normal target for most kyūdō practitioners. Mato sizes and shooting distances vary, but most common is hoshi mato thirty-six centimeters in diameter shot at from a distance of twenty-eight metres. For competitions and examinations, kasumi mato is used. For ceremonies it is most common to use hoshi mato which is the same as kasumi mato but with different markings.
Omato is the mato used for long distance enteki shooting at 60 m distance. The diameter of omato is 158 cm. There are separate competitions also for enteki shooting.
There are three levels of skill:
- Tōteki, the arrow hits the target.
- Kanteki, the arrow pierces the target.
- Zaiteki, the arrow exists in the target.