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Kyudo - 2-Dan Shinsa Thoughts

A bit late on the retrospective but, I took a look at the video submitted for my 2-Dan shinsa and wanted to reflect a bit.

Honestly, I think 50/50 or worse odds to pass.

In a lot of ways, there was noticeable progress over my shodan testing. But the areas where it fell apart are the areas where the 2-Dan criteria does draw some specific attention.

Here is what the IKYF Shinsa Regulation say about 2-Dan:

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).

The biggest things I think will hurt me are:

  • Over shooting my walk up to SHAI
  • Going over 3 minutes
  • Pacing/Spiritual Energy
  • Adjusting bow upward in KAI
  • Shoulder up in UCHIOKOSHI
Things which are improved:
  • Aside from KAI, less wasted movement overall
  • Achieved good amounts of YUGAERI on both arrows (full on HAYA)
  • Both arrows parallel, grouped very close at similar heights
The ones I think are the most impactful are going over 3m and overshooting SHAI. While there is no formal rule about the 3m and I only went over by 9s, it is also a fairly widely accepted "rule". And while people have passed despite going over, I suspect it reflect poorly at 2-Dan as this is the higher of the 2 levels permitted for testing via Video Shinsa.

Overshooting SHAI may actually be the worse of the 2 though. Given how little of TAIHAI is covered in a video shinsa messing up this component in my own dojo does not reflect well.

The adjustments during KAI seem more minor to me. It does boil down to how refined they expect the overall and individual stages to look, but it is also the only other obvious examples that I could see.

The other areas feature real growth and improvement, but they make it look like I focus exclusively on shooting over TAIHAI. I limited the list to the ones actually worth pointing out. The biggest are probably the other areas where there is much less wasted movement and the placement of the arrows.

YUGAERI is unlikely to play a factor until 3-Dan or higher. IE - I don't think I'll get bonus points just because it may not be required at 2-Dan. 


I would probably fail myself.


But the bigger question is, what are my takeaways?

The day of, we did a lot of leg exercises. I'm not blaming them. In fact, I am to blame. And for multiple reasons. I haven't been strengthening my core and legs at home as much lately. But even more importantly, they were even hurting during the testing. Partly time to heal and partly adrenalin. The biggest factor was actually just worrying that it might be a factor. It got in my head. 

Even with that, I also shouldn't have overshot Honza. Since we were shooting at the Omae Makiwara, the markers we have for Honza and Shai are a lot more visible than they would be anywhere else in the dojo. I should have known my queues better. It isn't relevant that I wasn't focused on all of the right things. I had everything else stacked in my favor.

For the pacing/energy, I really need to watch some higher ranked individuals and then practice either in front of a mirror or on video. My pacing looks very flat and lifeless. This is one I haven't had a ton of time to focus on in the dojo either. It doesn't come up often.

And as for the adjustment during Kai, I don't even feel myself doing this one. I think I need to try going slower from Daisan into full Kai. Maybe I'll find the line at my lip much more naturally that way without the adjustment.

The shoulders creeping up I can't explain. At least, not conclusively. I know I have been working on the height of my Uchiokoshi among other things, but I'm not sure if that was the problem or not.

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