Cosine Thoughts

Practice at the dojo last night was very "kyudo". Some things got better, some things got worse. I didn't shoot a ton of arrows. But, of the ones I did shoot almost every arrow went into the mato perfectly straight. I didn't hit my chest at all. But I dropped my bow twice. Well, the second time I technically caught it by the string before it fell. Either would be pretty disastrous for my 2-Dan shinsa.  We also did a quick TAIHAI at the end. And apparently my walking/pacing was GARBAGE. Not their words, but they are were being polite. I don't need to focus on entering and exiting the dojo for video shinsa. But I clearly need more practice in this area.  This whole thing highlights a few things. Shooting practice in the garage can improve my shooting. Apparently my form was generally looking better (still not there though), I was still getting a decent amount of YUGAERI, arrows were flying straighter, releases were more natural, etc...  I only practice with 1 arrow ...

Class on Saturday was focusing on exercises to strengthen and correct movements and a bit of, what I would call "visualization practice". Which is, once again, not something I haven't been told in the past. For class, (the relevant part to this) we practiced TORIKAKE (grabbing the bow with the METE and setting the grip). We took quite a few turns at imagining exactly where we wanted our hands to end up and then attempting to move into that form without fidgeting. I hadn't realized how much faster some moves are when you don't waste time. This practice will be important for my shinsa, but also for everything else. Fast forward to today, and I started applying this to other areas of the HASSETSU where I was struggling. HIKIWAKI into DAISAN, then DAISAN into KAI and lastly, KAI into HANARE in particular.  At each stage I would focus on where I wanted to end and how I wanted to get there. From HIKIWAKE into DAISAN I was focused on getting my YUNDE rotated toward the t...

Didn't spend a lot of time on practice last night. I have regular dojo practice on Saturday and didn't want to be sore/worn out for that. It is always better to have people who know more than myself to lean on. I can only fix the things which I can, see, know they're wrong, and know how and when they're fixed.  But I did want to try out a few things. And the focus of last night was a lot more on posture and trying to not be in the way of the bow so much that it hits when I get some rotation in the bow. I had a little bit of luck. I don't want to intentionally ruin my form in other ways just to correct this. It is akin to not intentionally chasing YUGAERI directly. Which means I still ended up hitting myself. But none of the hits were anywhere near as bad as the worst I'd received previously. In fact I they probably wouldn't even have bruised me for the most part. And as a bonus, when I was getting a decent amount of YUGAERI, I was barely getting hit at all....

Today's lesson; it is always worthwhile to revisit old advice. For me Kyudo is a martial art where I'm not always ready to receive a piece of information. Either I don't fully understand or there are other things I need to fix first. My practice today was actually the culmination of a few different pieces of such advice. Some sliding into place and making room for new advances and others finally hitting home. The big items for today were: Posture Not extending my YUNDE too far out in DAISAN Raising the bow higher in DAISAN My primary objective this week has been fixing my draw. It is uneven and I pull my head and body back toward my METE during my draw. What I figured out last week was that the uneven draw (combined with the heavier bow) is a big part of the cause of that. When I'm drawing evenly, there is no need to compensate and the bow comes down cleaner and I stay more still. The first piece to fall in place was how far I was extending my YUNDE out during DAISAN. I...

So, everything is officially in order for my 2-Dan Video Shinsa. Our dojo will be taking the videos in a little over a month. Not a ton of time. Obviously, I would like to do everything  as good as possible. But realistically, I need to focus on what I can fix or change in that time which will bring the most value. I think my biggest issues (for shinsa) are probably around a lack of polish. My personal hit list is: Timing Fidgeting Daisan to Kai  General Thoughts: From the IKYF website directly, 2-Dan testing should show: Both the shooting form (Shakei) and formal movement (Taihai) should have good arrangement with evidence of spiritual energy (Kiryoku) in the application of the shooting technique (Shajitsu). There should be less uncertainty in the placing of the arrows (Yadokoro). Compared to 1-Dan: The shooting form (Shakei) and the formal movement (Taihai) should be consistent with the standard form. There should not be disarray in the placing of the arrows (Yadokoro)...

Tonight I tried to work in my findings from yesterday. Not too many arrows though. I was a bit fatigued from the day before still and I already have some bad practices that I need to unlearn. The primary ones I was looking at today were where my DAISAN was ending before starting progressing the rest of the way into KAI and a bit on my release and TENOUCHI. The DAISAN point really seems to have improved a lot of things. By extending too far out with my YUNDE at DAISAN I'm pulling the METE in further along which creates a lot of problems. Some of them I may have been able to force my way through with the 10kg bow from before, but with the 14kg, I'm forced to engage other muscles to bring things back on track. On top of that... they may have never been right in the first place. By leaving myself more room in that extension the METE ends up still above my head, and I have room to bring the YUNDE into my body as I draw. It also means I can open more or less evenly with both hands, a...