Kyudo

By Ajay Sharma

A colleague and friend sent me this link.

After watching it I was amazed by the “real-life” application of archery as a combat system. The long history, practicality and versatility are astounding.

We often think of martial arts or fighting arts as being primarily eastern or Asian in origin. However, all humankind has engaged in fighting and warfare regardless of geography or culture. This has led to the development of distinct but strikingly similar styles and methods of fighting practices. This makes sense when you think about the universality of physics and human biology. The Japanese form of archery is called kyudo. It is interesting to note that some aspects of original combat archery have been preserved in kyudo such as holding arrows in the right hand and loading the arrow on the right side of the bow. This video also reminded me to continually search for meaning in martial arts and to sometimes question the “modern” modifications in terms of fighting merit. I am glad that Yoshukai and our dojo teaches the historical rituals and emphasizes the practical combat aspects (bunkai) of the martial arts. Excellence in the martial arts requires strength, stamina, flexibility, precision and mastery of technique – Lars Anderson is probably archery’s equivalent of Soke!

Osu!