Skip to main content

Kyudo Blog - First bow

My bow arrived today. A 14kg Jikishin 2. Up 4kg from the bow I was using at the dojo. And I feel... humbled. Some of it was expected. Some was not. All of it is good though. Experiences.

Expected was the extra time to make my first nakajikake for the new bow. I haven't done one in over a year. I made a slight mistake in the direction I wrapped the top of the tsuru, but fixed it. Beyond that, I haven't had a chance to shoot with it yet, and while I did test out a similar bow at the dojo recently, I only fired two arrows with it. I expect to be humbled further the first time I need to make it through a full practice with it.

I also expected to hit issues with the nigirikawa. Never wrapped one before. It went a lot better than I expected. It isn't perfect, but it is actually a lot closer to perfect than I expected. Next time I need to go a bit slower in the wrapping and make sure the edges are flush. Perhaps even a bit more than flush. I don't remember seeing the tiny gaps I'm seeing now, so I think that there was some very minor shrinkage as the glue dried. 

On the unexpected side. Stringing the bow. I don't know if it is just a new bow thing, or this thing is just kicking my butt. Either way, string this thing is TOUGH compared to the 10kg. Now, I know you might be thinking "well, duh! it is a 40% heavier draw weight". The thing is, when I tested the other bow, it FELT about 40% harder to draw. THIS feel like it is 200% harder to string. 

I also apparently don't know all of the terminology for the accessories. At the dojo we just one bag we put the bows in. I assumed those bags WERE the yumibukuro. They are NOT in fact yumibukuro, but rather uchifukuro. I learned this because I ordered a yumibukuro as the listing lead me to believe that the bow didn't come with one. Then it arrived in a sleeve much like our dojo bows. 

So, I thought "hey, now I have two. What do I do with this?". Turns out, use both is the sort of the answer. The reason that we only use the uchifukuro at the dojo is because the ones we get with the bows are a bit bulky and make it very difficult to use them with a yumibukuro. And I am in kind of the same boat. A bit of a tight fit. I'll likely try to get by with both for a bit though. Especially during winter.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kyudo Blog #2 - Shinsa Prep

So, we're well past my first year. I decided to take the video shinsa for shodan at the end of the year. We also, have a new cohort joining the dojo. Things are getting interesting. This journey has not been at all what I expected. First, I had expected Kyudo to be both more and less introspective. Our dojo focuses more on Taihai, or the ceremonial/performance aspect of the art. And that comes with a lot of concern for harmony and beauty as a group. Making movements up to shai (firing line) in unison as much as possible.  At the same time the focus on the self is infinitely more than I could have anticipated as well. Posture, breathing, form and movements. Everything seems to have a right way of doing it. And none of those "right ways" come naturally. Beyond that there is also etiquette. Even things you might not associate with the practice itself are a part it. And all of these things then also need to be in harmony with everything else. Needless to say, I have a long wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

AI Loops?

I've already made my arguments against AI on a financial level and on a technical level. Now they've started suggesting that you combine these catastrophes into one big, uber-catastrophe: don't even write prompts any more, just write loops! The hubris! AI is not ready. Period. I'm NOT saying that AI will NEVER be ready. I'm saying that, at the current moment, we're not there. Not even close. If you thought the crazy AWS bills of the past were something, wait until the first engineering teams start taking this advice. I guarantee you that it will be epic. A little part of me actually wants companies to just take this advice and let Claude run without any token caps. Why? Not because I want to see those companies fail, but because I want to see how fast Anthropic can destroy itself when these companies suddenly can't afford the bills which they need them to pay to keep the lights on. It would be short term pain for long term gain in the software industry. A me...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kyudo - 1st weeks with my first bow

This will be more of a normal journal entry. I think it is worth stating these things, but it doesn't feel very formal or informational. Here are some things I've encountered so far: Humility Not knowing all of the terms for the associated equipment Equipment mistakes (poor tsuruwa construction) Concerns Storage and blind-spots in care/maintenance  Excitement New "toy" Learning new things and overcoming some of the above Knowing I still have even more to learn So, yeah "humility".  I will admit now that I was not properly prepared for this moment. I think that, for next year, I will recommend more equipment maintenance lectures. There is definitely more for me to learn with regards to how to maintain my equipment and even what all of the individual items are. The first mistake was confusing the uchifukuro with a yumibukuro. To be fair, we only use the uchifukuro in the dojo and they both have the same basic form. In fact, both even have VERY similar dimensio...
Post a Comment
Read more