Shi Chi Do: The Seven Coordinations

 

Yo I: three lines, the Yumi, the person, the Ya (connecting heaven and earth)

Yumidaoshi:  lowering the Yumi

1) Ashibumi: Happiness (the target calls)

2) Dozukuri: Anger/Determination (plant the feet, set the torso)

3) Yumi Gamae: Want, Uneasiness (swinging up the Yumi in preparation)

4) Uchi Okoshi:  Expectation (raising the Yumi prior to the shot)

5) Hiki Tori:  Sadness (pull, as you draw the bow, "the separation")

6) Kai:  Terror (waiting, "the meeting")

7) Hanare:  Surprise (the release)

Zanshin:  Reflection

Yumidaoshi: lowering the Yumi once again

 

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If a beginner does not search for Truth, he does not study Kyudo.  When asked the question, "What is Truth?" a master archer would pick up his bow and arrow and shoot, because each shot truthfully reveals one's state of mind at the moment of the release.  Kyudo reveals one's inner self.

 

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With the following words, Yoshimi Junsei, a famous archer from Kishu who lived during the middle years of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), prefaces his seminal teaching on Kyudo, the Shaho Kun (Teaching on the Law of Shooting):

 

"To begin with, the discipline of Kyudo means this:  with a body and mind that are agitated and without composure, you use the bow and arrow, that are alive and can be pushed and pulled at will, to pierce the unmoving target.

 

From the outside, shooting seems exceedingly simple, but shooting embraces the three spheres of mind, body, and thoughts; and these spheres, being linked together one to the other, bring a thousand upon ten thousand changes to the inner workings of the art, making it difficult to strike the center of the mark.

 

That which is captured in the morning is lost in the evening; if you search in the target, it is unmoving and without delusions; if you search in the bow and arrow they are guileless, being of No Mind.

 

Searching only in yourself, you must cleanse your mind and correct your body, and, with singleness of purpose, nurture the proper spirit, train yourself in proper technique, and throw yourself into your training with all of the sincerity you can muster.  This is the only way."

 

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"When Yamaoka Tesshu, a great swordsman, calligrapher and stateman of the Meiji Era, sat in zazen (meditation) in his youth, the rats which ran wildly in his house would suddenly disappear. Tesshu sat as though he were armed with a sword, engaged in a life and death encounter. The dignity and power he exuded drove the rats away. In his later years, however, the rats played along his shoulders and arms while he copied Buddhist sutras (practicing calligraphy). People who came to visit him left uplifted and freed of distress; the power of Tesshu's kiai (cry when striking in martial arts) gave them fearlessness." from the website of Daihonzan Chozen-ji, International Zen Dojo