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Kyudo - August 18th - (Dojo) Back and forth

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.

  1. 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... 
  2. I only practice with 1 arrow in the garage but bow dropped both times on first arrow when I had an OTOYA in hand. Maybe unrelated. But also may point to an unconscious distraction.
  3. Focusing on shooting has allowed my other core skills to drop.

I don't want to introduce a second arrow into my garage practice. Especially not if that is part of why I'm dropping the bow. Better to try and fit some practice in at the fieldhouse on Saturday for that. At least there we will have the AstroTurf down if I drop the bow.

I'm also considering adding a self-requirement that in-between garage practice sessions I do at least some amount of practice on the basic postures and movements that I'm not incorporating into the shooting practice.

Lastly, helped one of the guys testing for 1-Dan time their sequence. And I'm reminded just how fast the pacing it for video shinsa to keep things under 3 minutes. I'm going to need to squeeze that into a practice somewhere as well. 

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