Cosine Thoughts

Trying to keep up on these posts. Not doing great, but also not failing spectacularly either. Saturday was no practice due to the holiday, but a group of us did meet up and talk Kyudo over coffee. This time was more about how we integrate with the various communities (our own dojo, public, KAC, etc...). Was great to get a lot of different perspectives on how others describe Kyudo to others. Tuesday was lots of video shinsa practice. Worked on getting timing down to 3 minutes. My better runs come in at 2:54 and 2:58. Apparently the 3 minute thing is not a hard time limit. But complacency is bad because I was able to find at least one reference online from another dojo talking about video shinsa and mentioning 3 minutes as a target and 3:30 as where things really start to get penalized. Official confirmation I cannot find one way or another. But I can blow past 4 minutes if I'm not trying to up my pace. We had a number of the runs recorded. Problems I see: YATSUGAE - YUNDE drops cons...

OK. Lots of feedback and lessons in the past several classes and garage sessions. At least half YUGAERI is like 100% now. Many more cases of full rotation and almost all of them are actually 75% or more.  I can't stress how much "don't try to get YUGAERI works". Fix the things you're told to fix and it will come. Will your SEMPAI/SENSEIS focus on a lot of other things before you start seeing progress? Probably. Most of us have more important form, posture or movement related issues that need to be fixed first. I say this because the one thing I did change, I thought would actually lead to me losing my rotation again. I've been dropping the bow a lot lately (sorry bow 😓). So, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't unconsciously allowing my grip to loosen or open at HANARE. Basically, pulling some of my focus on KAI from focusing on the progression into ZANSHIN and putting a little bit into making sure my grip remains unchanged. Did absolutely nothing to my YU...

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. 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...  I only practice with 1 arrow ...

Class on Saturday was focusing on exercises to strengthen and correct movements and a bit of, what I would call "visualization practice". Which is, once again, not something I haven't been told in the past. For class, (the relevant part to this) we practiced TORIKAKE (grabbing the bow with the METE and setting the grip). We took quite a few turns at imagining exactly where we wanted our hands to end up and then attempting to move into that form without fidgeting. I hadn't realized how much faster some moves are when you don't waste time. This practice will be important for my shinsa, but also for everything else. Fast forward to today, and I started applying this to other areas of the HASSETSU where I was struggling. HIKIWAKI into DAISAN, then DAISAN into KAI and lastly, KAI into HANARE in particular.  At each stage I would focus on where I wanted to end and how I wanted to get there. From HIKIWAKE into DAISAN I was focused on getting my YUNDE rotated toward the t...

Didn't spend a lot of time on practice last night. I have regular dojo practice on Saturday and didn't want to be sore/worn out for that. It is always better to have people who know more than myself to lean on. I can only fix the things which I can, see, know they're wrong, and know how and when they're fixed.  But I did want to try out a few things. And the focus of last night was a lot more on posture and trying to not be in the way of the bow so much that it hits when I get some rotation in the bow. I had a little bit of luck. I don't want to intentionally ruin my form in other ways just to correct this. It is akin to not intentionally chasing YUGAERI directly. Which means I still ended up hitting myself. But none of the hits were anywhere near as bad as the worst I'd received previously. In fact I they probably wouldn't even have bruised me for the most part. And as a bonus, when I was getting a decent amount of YUGAERI, I was barely getting hit at all....

Today's lesson; it is always worthwhile to revisit old advice. For me Kyudo is a martial art where I'm not always ready to receive a piece of information. Either I don't fully understand or there are other things I need to fix first. My practice today was actually the culmination of a few different pieces of such advice. Some sliding into place and making room for new advances and others finally hitting home. The big items for today were: Posture Not extending my YUNDE too far out in DAISAN Raising the bow higher in DAISAN My primary objective this week has been fixing my draw. It is uneven and I pull my head and body back toward my METE during my draw. What I figured out last week was that the uneven draw (combined with the heavier bow) is a big part of the cause of that. When I'm drawing evenly, there is no need to compensate and the bow comes down cleaner and I stay more still. The first piece to fall in place was how far I was extending my YUNDE out during DAISAN. I...

So, everything is officially in order for my 2-Dan Video Shinsa. Our dojo will be taking the videos in a little over a month. Not a ton of time. Obviously, I would like to do everything  as good as possible. But realistically, I need to focus on what I can fix or change in that time which will bring the most value. I think my biggest issues (for shinsa) are probably around a lack of polish. My personal hit list is: Timing Fidgeting Daisan to Kai  General Thoughts: From the IKYF website directly, 2-Dan testing should show: 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). Compared to 1-Dan: The shooting form (Shakei) and the formal movement (Taihai) should be consistent with the standard form. There should not be disarray in the placing of the arrows (Yadokoro)...

Tonight I tried to work in my findings from yesterday. Not too many arrows though. I was a bit fatigued from the day before still and I already have some bad practices that I need to unlearn. The primary ones I was looking at today were where my DAISAN was ending before starting progressing the rest of the way into KAI and a bit on my release and TENOUCHI. The DAISAN point really seems to have improved a lot of things. By extending too far out with my YUNDE at DAISAN I'm pulling the METE in further along which creates a lot of problems. Some of them I may have been able to force my way through with the 10kg bow from before, but with the 14kg, I'm forced to engage other muscles to bring things back on track. On top of that... they may have never been right in the first place. By leaving myself more room in that extension the METE ends up still above my head, and I have room to bring the YUNDE into my body as I draw. It also means I can open more or less evenly with both hands, a...

A lot of cancelled classes for the next little bit and the weather was a bit nicer so I decided to try and clean up the garage a bit and see if I could fit some practice in there. Generally, it was successful. Looking for better places to capture video from so I can improve my form. But, the Steam Deck + a webcam is looking pretty versatile. I took notes on where SHAI needed to be (otherwise my URAHAZU hits the rafters). And did a bit of tweaking of my target so that it would give back my arrows a bit more easily. Currently my process is: shoot one arrow, watch the video, find things I know I'm doing wrong, think of something to try to fix it, grab my arrow, rehydrate and do it all over again. Right now I'm struggling with the YUNDE pulling my METE too far during DAISAN. I suspect that I'm extending too far into DAISAN. Once the METE has been pulled too far out, it needs to travel further using different muscles. I tested with my GOMUYUMI in the mirror and it is so much eas...

Just a bit of reflection and some insight into what I'm doing at the moment and what is working.  I started practice by taking a look at some notes I had made from a video posted over the weekend and I started to understand some of the feedback I was getting from watching it. My sempai, who was giving me advice was at a bad angle to see it, but noted that I didn't have the space left in my draw to open properly into kai. At his angle though, he wouldn't have been able to clearly see my mete elbow being pulled with the bow. This meant my mete ended up further left and leaving me with more space to cover during the draw.  So, I wanted to fix that, along with a few other things today: Keeping my arms relaxed while maintain the ensou shape. Breathing. I have a tendency to not breathe enough. I clearly don't know how to live. During my first shots my yunde wasn't pushing "along" the arrow. I went and took 2 more arrows. Observed that correcting the mete require...

Today was a good day at practice. A very good day. I had mentioned previously that one piece of advice I had received was that I was making too many corrections. I got to start addressing that in practice this evening and something weird happened. Actually, two things. First, I don't feel like I've fired more than 1 or 2 arrows despite firing more arrows tonight than I do in a normal practice. And second, I was actually able to find time to think about and apply feedback. That first point is unexpected. I just kept practicing and firing more arrows and never seemed to get tired. The best I can guess is that the act of making all of those little adjustments was causing me to tense up far more than normal and that the corrections themselves may have been doing even more damage to my form than I had thought possible and thus increasing the wear and tear on my body.  Honestly though, I think it is the lack of tension. I wasn't able to completely stop myself from making adjustm...

I find writing down my thoughts helps to internalize things and get the most out of things like advice or observations. So, here is the first post in my run-up to testing for Ni-Dan later this year. Internally we had an internal "mock" shinsa at out dojo to see who the instructors felt were ready to challenge for their respective Dan in either the upcoming video or in-person Shinsas. My result? After a pretty good result in an earlier internal shinsa, I regressed a bit. I still got the green light to go forward with a few areas of note that I need to work on. Some from their perspective, some from my own, and some from a pair of guest instructors from the day of the mock shinsa that likely saved me from failing out completely. I'll start with my own thoughts. I always need to work on rhythm and timing with a TACHI . I'm doing video shinsa, so that is less important to testing this time, but would be critical for any in-person shinsa. And beyond Ni-Dan all testing is i...

A recent development in the past year or so at our dojo has been an "internal shinsa" to test for whether or not the dojo leadership would allow us to challenge for the next shinsa. I love the idea. My own feedback? I wish I had done worse. I have a problem. I don't like positive feedback. It doesn't tell me much. By no means was the performance perfect, and there were critiques. They were simply stifled by the positives. It deflates the sense of urgency and need for me. I suppose that there is an up side. It forces me to be the negative one. We didn't get to see the recordings, so I can only focus on what I was told and what I normally don't do well. And that too is a blessing in disguise. That performance was singular. Both in the literal sense and in the sense that I was feeling REALLY GOOD that day. I've never been able to perform so "freely". So, in some sense, focusing too much on that performance might not be as helpful. The critiques I di...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 r...

This past Tuesday I completed my first attempt at Shodan via Video Shinsa. It will still be weeks to months before I hear back on the results. The process, regardless of the outcome, has been enlightening. A few major points: Anxiety is apparently something I struggle with. Practice helps overcome anxiety, to a degree. I'm glad I had this experience, but I think I would prefer to do in person Shinsas in the future. The anxiety may seem like nothing worth pointing out. And for many it may not be. For me, I haven't really experienced it since around grade 10. There was a point where I was stressed about a test, I told myself that stressing wouldn't improve my grade and might actually make it worse. That stuck, and I haven't really been stressed or anxious about anything since. Until now. On top of that, I can't seem to shake it. Even if I identify that I'm panicking in the moment. Even if I know it is no big deal and that the panic isn't helping. I'm not s...

Odd discovery today. Having a stiff neck provides excellent incentive for good posture during Kyudo. Woke up with a neck so stiff that virtually any movement caused pain. It was amazing how good this made at maintaining my posture through a practice of the Taihai movements in my basement. Can't say I recommend getting a stiff neck on purpose. But if you happen to wake up with one anyway, I can recommend practicing Kyudo while it still hurts.

Right now my biggest (though certainly not only) issues are the fundamentals. The basics. Posture, speed and form. I know form is a very broad term, but I'm talking about specific forms like my ENSOU, or even TENOUCHI. On the posture front, I'm a software guy. I sit at a desk all day and have developed a bad posture for years. This isn't impossible to overcome. But it is far from trivial. And breaking out of a good posture mid performance can make an otherwise acceptable showing into a bad one. Correcting my posture, similarly, draws attention to its absence prior. On the speed front, this isn't technically a fundamental, but it is an area of focus at the moment. I'm doing video shinsa this year. And apparently I need from my YU at HONZA until my HANARE on my OTOYA to be about 3 minutes. Right now... closer to 4. My pauses between movements tend to be too long. I like to make my pauses pronounced to punctuate the division between one movement and the next. And this ...