Kyudo The Japanese Art of Archery
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Learn the ancient art of Japanese archery or Kyudo with this illustrated guide.The Japanese Art of Archery, is deeply rooted in tradition. It not only continues to enjoy widespread popularity in Japan, but is also attracting the interest of more and more foreigners, in much the same manner as Japan's other distinctive sports, such as judo, sumo, kendo, and karate. Kyudo: The Japanese Art of Archery offers a concise description of kyudo by an ardent American enthusiast, describing the aims, the techniques, and the philosophic basis of its ceremonial aspect, which is strongly influenced by Zen philosophy.Carefully illustrated, this is a practical text, giving all of the necessary fundamentals. The author clearly describes the basic difference between American and Japanese archery. He points out the superior neatness and schematic beauty of the Oriental full draw, in which the chest is fully extended and the shoulders are thrust as far apart as possible, inasmuch as the string is drawn to a point well back, as was done in the old English archery of Roger Ascham’s time.
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The Japanese Art of Archery
William R.B. Acker
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It has been done in what little time I have been able to spare from my study of Japanese art and language. Others became interested and helped translate and joined in the discussions. The first was Antoon Hulsewé, a fellow student of mine at Ley den who was in Kyoto for just a year, during which time he too studied archery. Dr. C. Fahs, a scholar in economics and government, was another. These two, Mr. Nasu, and I used to meet from time to time in the evening, and among us we translated a considerable part of the Shagakuseisō i.e. Orthodox School of the Study of Shooting, an old Chinese text on archery written during the Ming dynasty. Mr. Hulsewé was with us only at the start of that work, but Dr. Fahs continued working with us for many months. It is a very interesting text and I feel sure that American archers would much appreciate it.
This present book is not a treatise on Japanese archery in general, but a short statement of the aims and methods of archery as practiced in Japan, or at any rate as it has been taught to me. For there are many schools of archery in Japan with all sorts of different traditions. Some emphasize one thing, others another, but on the whole it would seem that they really differ only in nonessentials—small tricks of technique and matters of ceremonial form. When it is a question of holding at full draw and the release, for example, they are all in agreement and indeed could hardly differ.
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