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Kyudo Blog - Closer to yugaeri.

A new format and process for my Kyudo posts. I'm going to start by summarizing before I write. This is to keep me on topic before I write. Then I'll provide glossary of Kyudo terms at the beginning, followed by the post.

 

Glossary:

  • YUGAERI (弓返り) - The way the bow rotates as the arrow is fired, bringing the string around to the outer forearm.
  • TENOUCHI (手の内) - The proper way to grip the bow in Kyudo. 
  • YUNDE (弓手) - The (left) hand which holds the bow. 
  • METE (馬手) - The (right) glove hand. 
  • UCHIOKOSHI (打ち起こし) -  The fourth stage of shooting in Kyudo where the bow is raised up above the head.
  • HIKIWAKE (引き分け) - This fifth stage of shooting in Kyudo, where the draw of the bow begins.
  • DAISAN (大三) - A intermediate in stage during HIKIWAKE where there is a pause before proceeding into KAI.
  • KAI (会) - The sixth stage of shooting in Kyudo. Stretching out in forward and back into a full draw.
  • HANARE (離れ) - The seventh stage of shooting in Kyudo. The point where the arrow is released through the rotation in the shoulders causing the bow string to slip out of the glove.

 

Reflection:

Last practice I finally started seeing some progress in my YUGAERI. This one has been elusive to me. I always assumed it was either my TENOUCHI or simply gripping the bow too tightly. I'm not saying that these aren't still issues. My TENOUCHI is far from perfect and I wouldn't be surprised to find I'm gripping too much or not enough (or just wildly inconsistently).

However, I didn't materially change either of those things in my most recent practice. What I had been focusing on was some advice a guest instructor had given in the previous practice; to push with my thumb on my YUNDE while also rotating my right arm back and up. None of this is new advice. 

What was different was the way it was delivered. For the YUNDE he demonstrated without the bow and there was a nuance that to it that when pushing out with the thumb while maintaining the line outward along the arrow the bottom of the hand kind ends up rotating out to right, causing the bow to come off center. I was always focusing hard on keeping the bow perfectly perpendicular to the ground.

He also helped instruct me on the correct rotation of METE as well as helping me not to overdraw on the right side. I was thinking about the rotation wrong. Partly because I was drawing too deep before attempting the rotation. 

And I was working through these nuances when I noticed I was getting about 90-180 degrees of YUGAERI on almost every shot. One shot I actually would have gotten more but I panicked and gripped the bow tighter.

Previously, I would get no YUGAERI on many shots and a "good" shot might be between 45-90 degrees of rotation.  

I still have a long way to go.

The point I wanted to make was how, a lot of times in Kyudo (and in life), what makes a piece of advice sink in is getting the same advice worded slightly differently, or even just delivered at a different time.

In this respect I'm very lucky. We have 3 regular instructors and 2 SEMPAI who are trusted to give some instruction as well as a fairly regular guest instructor (2-4x a year) and seminars at least once a year. Usually with even higher ranked sensei.

And that is it for today.

よろしくお願いします 

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