KYUDO

by Andy Adams

The student seemed puzzled. He turned and lifted high the great longbow of Japan. The young man drew back the arrow, and it went whistling toward the target. “No,” said his instructor with a shake of the head. He explained patiently once again that the archer is never supposed to fire the arrow.

The student frowned. “I don’t understand. How can the shot be loosed if I do not do it?” he asked.

“It shoots,” the master replied. The arrow shoots itself? This is a strange concept to the Western mind. But in this brief bit of dialogue, Eugen Herregel, himself a Westerner, summed up the “moment of truth” in that fascinating system of Japanese archery called kyudo. Herregel presented his views in a brilliant little book, Zen in the Art of Archery. He points out that, according to kyudo doctrine, with proper concentration, man and bow fuse together until they are one.

Then and only then, at the right instant, the arrow will automatically be released.

If this seems a little difficult to grasp, don’t let it bother you. Not only Westerners, but also the Japanese for hundreds of years have been grappling with the tricky philosophical problems of Zen archery. The contrasts between Japanese and Western styles of archery are many and interesting. And an understanding of the differences goes a long way in helping to understand the Japanese.

Kyudo may not always have provided the best target shooters in archery, but the training and ideals it espouses have helped shape the Japanese personality and character.

The main thing to note about Japanese archery is that it is more than just a sport. Hitting the bull’s eye is not the main thing. Like all Japanese martial arts, the important points are how the shooting is done, the style and manner that go along with it, and most important, the benefits to a man’s character and spirit through a rigorous study of the bow. In short, Japanese archery is a combination of the physical art and the philosophical principles of Zen Buddhism—with a greater emphasis placed on Zen than in most of the other martial arts.

Although Japanese archery dates back more than 1,400 years, even today it is a popular pursuit, with more than half a million practitioners of this ancient art of aristocrats and emperors. To understand better what kyudo is all about, it helps to take a look at its background.

First off, it should be noted that archery is one of the 18 martial arts in which a samurai warrior was expected to be proficient. And the influence of the longbow has been closely tied with Japanese history.

Just as the English longbow turned the tide against the French crossbows at Agincourt in 1415, so too a century and a half earlier the even-longer Japanese bow played a key role in repelling Kublai Khan’s Mongolian invaders, who were also famed for their deadly crossbow shooting.
Since ancient times, the bow and arrow have been regarded as the instruments of good fortune in Japan. They were used symbolically to dispel evil, halt calamity and bring peace, happiness and success. The sounds from plucked bows and whistling arrows were also regarded as a sign of good luck, especially in connection with births. This folklore has persisted to the present day and is retained in various kyudo ceremonies.

Japan also has its Robin Hood or William Tell in the person of Nasu no Yoichi. In the 13th century, when the Genji and Heike clans were struggling for power, they came to a crucial confrontation in the Battle of Yashima along the coast of the Inland Sea. While the Genji were driving the enemy forces into the sea, one of the Heike nobles on a fleeing ship held aloft a royal-crested fan attached to a pole and dared one of the Genji samurai on shore to shoot it down.

Nasu took up the challenge. He sent an arrow flashing toward the small rising and dipping target. It was a fantastic shot, piercing the center pin where the ribs of the fan were held together. To the dismay of the Heike and the triumphant shouts of the Genji, the fan fell into pieces and dropped into the sea—an ominous omen for the Heike, who were crushed once and for all in the battle.

The use of the bow and arrow undoubtedly predates recorded history in Japan and probably follows the pattern in other parts of the world—being used first for hunting and then for war. The original inhabitants of the Japanese islands—the Ainu, or white aborigines—were skillful archers, both in hunting and warfare. In fact, the official Japanese poster for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, where the Ainu are concentrated, depicts a sturdy Ainu archer.

Archery equipment for use in warfare was entirely in the hands of the nobility and the samurai, and gradually tactics were built up for using archers as a potent unit of the army. At the same time, horseback archery was developed and reached a high point during the Kamakura period (1181-1332). The use of these two effective striking forces—infantry archers and horseback archers—proved an important factor in turning back the 13th-century invasions of the Mongols.

Samurai archers fighting as units also proved decisive in many battles during the turbulent 15th and 16th centuries. Several lines of archers would be arrayed on a field, and they would steadily advance against enemy forces by keeping up a continuous fire. Every other archer in the line fired, while alternate comrades knelt, nocked the arrows in the strings for the next shots and ran forward a few paces. This tactic of having alternate archers shoot their arrows as others reloaded simultaneously while advancing forward was the same strategy gun-wielding British troops employed with great effect in later centuries.

The famed ninja spies and hired assassins of the great lords were also trained as expert archers. The bows they used were smaller, however, since they had to be carried through a variety of obstacles. Portability was important to the ninja, who had to scale walls, climb trees, cross moats and so on with a minimum amount of equipment.

In the 17th century, the Tokugawa shoguns unified the nation and by means of iron rule began some 250 years of peace. Firearms had also been imported from Europe during the 16th century, and they helped spell the end to the bow and arrow as an effective weapon in warfare. Military archery—indeed, all kinds of archery except for the ceremonial variety—died. Samurai archery, or kyudo, was eventually developed into a ritual form after its battlefield effectiveness ended. Thus, the old form of archery, in a new philosophic guise, was saved.

Various schools branched out from kyudo, but most are offshoots of three main ones: Nihon, Kajima and Soken. Other important schools include Takeda, Shigo, Nichioku, Hioki and Ogasawara.

In 1895 the Great Martial Arts Society was setup under the aegis of the military, and kyudo was included. The society stimulated a revival of interest in kyudo, which continued into the 20th century. Another surge of enthusiasm came in 1933 after the National Athletic Meet.

The All-Japan Archery League was set up shortly after the end of World War II but was dissolved in 1947. A new federation was organized, but it has only been in the past 12 years that postwar interest has begun to mushroom.

One of the first things a Westerner notices about kyudo is the extreme length of the bow. It is one of the longest used by any people in the world. It is almost seven-and-a-half feet of laminated bamboo and wood, which would make it considerably longer than the famous English longbow. The length of the kyudo bow is even more noteworthy when it’s considered that the Japanese are a short people to be using such a big weapon.

In fact, when not astride a horse, many practitioners are too short to be able to position the bow so as to shoot the arrow from the center of it. As a result, many shots are made from off center.

The back and belly of the bow consist of thin bamboo strips, and the center is reinforced by three bamboo sections inserted sideways. Straddling the sides of these center sections are strips of waxwood. Wood is used at the ends, and the bowstring is made of hemp. The length of the arrows ranges from 36 inches to 40 inches, with 5-inch-long feathers. The arrows themselves are bamboo, while the metal tips are similar to those found on Western-style arrows.

The traditional costume worn by kyudoka consists of a long blouse called a monpoku, which is tucked into a long skirt called a hakama such as that worn by aikido students. Women wear leather breast plates to protect themselves from the snapping string on release. They also use white cords called tasuki to bind their sleeves back. Footwear varies from formal tabi to informal wear such as socks, which are sometimes worn by school girls. Men often go barefoot while shooting, even in tournaments.

Although the practical purpose in kyudo is to hit the target with the arrow, one should also stand erect in the proper posture and handle the bow so as to concentrate one’s mind, forgetting all else. At full draw, the kai maneuver (slow draw) is completed, and the archer awaits the hanare, the natural and sharp release of the arrow. Kyudo is a great favorite with women, for it is thought to enhance grace and manners.

“Kyudo implies a kind of spiritual concentration,” says Hisashi Murakami, managing director of the Japan Amateur Archery Federation. “Kyudo masters, therefore, are very particular about the trainee’s manners and poise—standing, walking, greeting, etc. Every motion should conform to the principle of kyudo. Every action should be synchronized with the rhythm of breathing. The bow should be drawn only after achieving the proper balance between mind and body. Breathing, or ikiai, is the most important thing in kyudo.

“Of some 30 currently popular sports, kyudo and shooting are the only ones emphasizing calmness. But shooting is not so accessible as kyudo for the general public. Calmness constitutes the purpose and value of kyudo. Anyone who practices kyudo is taught to control himself to an extreme extent. Complete concentration is required at the moment the arrow is released from the taut bowstring. It is not merely a sport in which one focuses on aiming and shooting at a target. It involves a severe struggle, a test to control the power of the mind and the power of execution.”

The 65-year-old director of the JAAF has spent more than half a century in kyudo, taking up the art when he was only 13 years old. Now a ninth dan, Murakami helps out at various dojo and teaches advanced students in addition to handling his JAAF duties. He was trained by the nation’s senior kyudoka—Sakae Urakami, one of Japan’s three 10th-dan practitioners and the recipient of a government decoration for his contribution to kyudo. This early training provided another reward for the young Murakami, who married his master’s daughter.

Various Westerners have tried their hand at explaining kyudo. Martial arts writer Donn Draeger put it well in an article titled “Zen: The Athlete’s Secret Weapon,” written a few years ago for the Asahi Shinbun. He calls Zen “positive spiritual power” and adds that “consciously or not, Zen is carried over into training by the athlete who adheres to the traditional training method. Zen is intuitively absorbed. Skills are passed down on a personal basis, master to student, without much reliance on books, study, training aids, etc.”

Draeger also notes that “deep abdominal breathing is done for physical and spiritual control.”

Indeed, under the Oriental concept, the abdomen—not the heart or brain—is the seat of the body and soul’s universe. Another way of putting it is to say it is the center of the ki. It is common for Japanese to wear a sort of woolen belly band, a sweater around their abdomen, to protect it.

Draeger also makes a good point when he notes that the Japanese athlete is a shugyasha, or an “austere practitioner.” He trains continually, regardless of the season, and is a lifelong devotee.

Among the various kyudo books written for foreign consumption, perhaps Herregel’s Zen in the Art of Archery comes closest to hitting the mark. The German spent five years studying and practicing kyudo in Japan in an attempt to learn the right way of releasing the bowstring. As mentioned before, the instant of release is kyudo’s “moment of truth” and the most difficult to master. In a typical conversation in the book between Herregel and his kyudo master, the Zen aspects of the martial art are vividly seen:

Herregel: “How can the shot be loosed if I do not do it?”

Master: “It shoots. You are entirely innocent of the shot. (after Herregel has just shot his arrow ...) You remained absolutely self-oblivious and without purpose in the highest tension (of the draw) so that the shot fell from you like a ripe fruit.”

Herregel: “Bow, arrow, goal and ego all melt into one another so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate them has gone. For as soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes so clear and straightforward and so ridiculously simple.”

Master: “Now at last the bowstring has cut right through you.”

The German kyudo student was faced with the contradiction of practicing without letup, but without trying, of releasing the taut string intentionally but without intention. The master insisted that kyudo couldn’t be learned unless the arrow “shoots itself,” unless the string is released wu-hsin and wu-nien (“without mind” and “without choice”). And then one day, it just happened. Herregel never really understood how or why.

According to Murakami, Zen philosophy aims at fixing the mind and body by the lotus position; kyudo is the same since its movements prepare the mind for shooting. Moreover, abdominal breathing is just as important in kyudo as in Zen, he points out. There’s an old Zen expression: Sharikensei, or “You can see your own character while shooting.”

One shouldn’t be confronted with the target, which is actually in your mind, according to Murakami. Supposedly, there is no real aiming in kyudo. One should never think about anything but should drive all worldly thoughts from the mind to attain complete peace and calmness, he says. There is no opponent—only a bow, an arrow and a target.