On Saturday, January 28th
I could only catch up on sleep a little before I had to be up and biking to Kose Sports
Park to watch my students
in a kyudo competition. Kyudo is
Japanese archery, and it’s so much more than hitting a target. I happened to hear of the competition from
one of Yuko’s students who had to read his composition to me (she likes to do
that with her writing classes so they have someone to communicate with, and
it’s fun).I’d been to Kose Sports Park before for the international festival but I’d
taken a bus from Kofu
with Rudy and it takes no small amount of time to take the train then the bus,
so I decided to bike the six miles there.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the ride was a straight shot down route
20 which has good sidewalks (a rare feature of Japanese roads). I finished my Pimsleur Japanese II tapes and
managed to find the building and my students.
I hadn’t planned on staying all day, but I did because it was so
fascinating. It deserves a better
description, but maybe I’ll write more when I know more.
I was able to hang out with the
students between events, which was great because there was a real need to
communicate. They were all very happy to
see me (four teams of three people: boy and girl 1st year and 2nd
year plus helping students), and by watching and asking questions in
English/Japanese I managed to learn quite a bit about it.
First of all, the audience sits in
a very dangerous spot with some people not five feet to the side of one of the
targets. Nobody was more than a foot off
the target, though, and the targets are not big! I still preferred to sit close to where the
students were shooting. It also allowed
me a better view of the graceful dance they did while walking on “stage,”
preparing, shooting, and leaving. The
absolute control and beauty of the whole thing is a large part of what makes
kyudo so cool to me. Boys and girls
alike wear a while shirt and black, flowing pants that look like a skirt. The bows (called yumi) are taller than the
students (with the exception of one huge boy who was taller than Jon!) and the
arrow (called ya) is placed below the center of the bow. Though there is much artistry in shooting,
that part is not judged. It is known
that the better your artistry the better you’ll shoot. It doesn’t matter where your hit the target
as long as you hit it. The targets are
about one foot in diameter and are set against a dirt background so that arrows
that miss don’t go very far. The hushed
atmosphere is only interrupted by the short cheers of teammates when an arrow
hits the target. You can tell by the
sound whether the arrow hit the target or the dirt. Together the supporters shout the school
cheer then are quiet again. For Shirane,
we said “sha.” Other schools said other
short one syllable cheers and some said “sha” followed by two or three
(depending on the school) claps in unison.
It’s SO not your American football crowd! Maybe it’s more like golf. The only time you can applaud is if someone
gets all four of his arrows in the target, and everyone claps no matter what
school they’re from.
I just had so much fun talking to
the kids and watching them shoot. I’m
not sure what exactly was so great, but it was wonderful to be so greatly
entertained for absolutely no yen!
Sadly, I didn’t make my way to the kendo competition that was going on
next door – my students were there, too!
I got a picture with my first year
girls and their victory flag – they one first place!
It was also great to have traveled
to the sight of entertainment with the power of my own two legs. I count it a privilege to be able to get
exercise, save the environment and money and it enjoy it all by not having a
car. I’m glad people have cars, but it
is a blessing to be car free!
I left shortly after the closing
ceremony because I had to get back for church.
Twelve miles on the bike and it was no big deal. Of course, the winter weather helps with
sweat control . . .
I asked the kyudo sensei later
(Kashiwaga sensei) if I could try sometime.
He lowered the time restriction from three years to six months of
practicing with the rubber practice bow.
Then he shortened that to three months of practice three times a
week. I wasn’t sure I could stay after
school that often, but he said I could borrow one of the schools practice bows
(I don’t know what their called). I’m
excited. Is this the natural way of
getting upper body strength that I’ve been looking for?
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