Kyudo – Sunday

 

 I had received an email about Kyudo special practice this weekend. A senior student of Sensei was in town and was holding a practice session.

 

I had not been to practice in awhile so I was looking forward to it. Also the session was to be outside so we were able to do distance shooting. It was something I had not done since Japan. Cool! After a few last minute emails, things were sorted out and the practice was on. The rain was the only factor and they had plans to work around that. So I get back from LA and around 12:00 am I get a new email, the location has changed, it is now closer to me. Cool, very cool in fact, so I thought. The next morning I head over and see NO oNe.  I called and find it now has been changed again, back to the park  Ok… I was close to packing it in for the day, however… it was one of those things that Zen practice says “let it go” I did and set forth for the hour drive. After a bit of problem finding the place I finally made it. Yippee.

 

There were a couple of new people I had not seen before , who introduced themselves. Everyone said hi, (almost) it was good to see the group. It was a nice day. I watched for a while to refresh my memory on what to do. Then I had at it.

 

I spent most of the shots, getting adjusted, working on the form the draw, judging the distance. It was not easy. Even doing the form right does not mean you can hit  or even reach the target for that matter.  After a while Don, the Senior gave me some help. It made a difference in the feel of the shot, but I still needed a lot of work.

 Which is ok, because it is all about me, not a competition. Well at least not an outside one. I am my competition. Don told me something to do about aiming, I followed it and my shot went to the same place each time, but off to the side. I asked about that and made the correction suggested, better but still off… After a while of that, I keep the form instruction , but went back to my old way of aiming, now I was hitting the board at least.  I was also told something about the draw and release that was very similar to what was said in the book “zen and the Art of Archery”. By now it was getting heck a cold as the sun was setting. Everyone started putting on layers. Right now I got the cold bug from it.

 

 Anyway if there was more time I could have made the correct adjustments to hit the target dead on. As it was the shots that were right on target near the center, just did not made the distance. I think it was 23 meters, and I was using a light Yumi ( Bow).

 

There a Anyway, although a hassle getting there, it was worth it. I’m looking forward to the Spring Retreat at the Sonoma Zen center. Hopefully I can attend this year. I also have my Ch’an ( Zen ) retreat that month also, the following week. It should be a good month for centering.