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Kyudo - 10-14kg is a big jump

Sometimes things make a lot more sense in retrospect. The difficulty jumping from a 10kg yumi to a 14kg yumi was one of those things for me.

For those whose jaw dropped reading that, I will preface this by saying that the draw weight I chose based on a recommendation by my instructor and that I actually went with a lighter draw weight than was recommended. I can't remember the exact recommendation but it was 15-16kg. I also did use a 15kg once before the purchase and was able to draw it. But I was already tired and couldn't tell how much of the difficulty was due to fatigue vs. the bow itself.

It has been over 2 months now. It is still somewhat difficult getting into DAISAN.  It isn't a completely alien feeling any more and it is much more manageable. I can also keep shooting through at least 2 dozen arrows now. Which is to say; progress. I do miss how much easier my 10kg dojo bow felt.

I'm actually considering getting a second bow; either a 12kg or a 16kg. The idea is to have a heavier one for strength training and KINTEKI and a lighter one for the normal dojo days.

I will probably go with the 12kg to go easy on our MAKIWARA.  

Back to my retrospective. The thought, at least originally, was that 14kg is 40% heavier than 10kg. Not false. The assumption (not explicitly contemplated) was that I would be able to shoot 40% fewer arrows and/or have 40% more difficulty drawing the bow or some mix. 

At the time, drawing my 10kg was functionally effortless and had been for some time. So I anticipated some resistance, but not much.

Reality was different. What I wasn't considering is that 10kg of force is more than my muscles have to work against in a regular day. That 10kg was likely close to my limit. And with muscles, especially at or near your limits, efforts and stamina are NOT linear. It is more parabolic. I would say that in terms of effort, it felt closer to 2-3x and in terms of stamina, closer to 10x.

I also used the 14kg bow exclusively for the 2 months up until last week when I asked a friend in the dojo to test her 10kg. I expected it to feel lighter. I expected it to feel ~40% lighter. It felt like the bow didn't exist. And that was when it clicked.

While I'm partially tempted to go up to a 16kg so I can work my muscles to get the 14kg easier, going the route of the 12kg will get me to a place where I can return to my prior form and ease with the bow more quickly and without devastating our targets in the dojo. The 14 is also fine for KINTEKI at the moment. I may grab a 16-17kg in a few years when the 14 feels easy and then probably stick with that and the 14kg. 

 

Glossary:

  • DAISAN - An intermediate step in between UCHIOKOSHI (raising the bow) and KAI (full draw).
  • KINTEKI - Standard 28m range shooting.
  • MAKIWARA - Close range, typically straw targets, used for training technique in Kyudo.
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