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Confirmed GII dates have been received thru Oct. 2010 and the schedule has been updated.

Schedule

Photos

All pictures deleted for now.

Testing?

I created three example American test application forms in Microsoft Word format for a seminar in South Carolina. I also included a page of notes for each one explaining how to fill the fields out. Note these examples now use the current ANKF overseas forms and I've updated them for the 2006 seminar in South Carolina.

Sample Mushitei Test Application Form

Sample San Dan Test Application Form

Sample Renshi Test Application Form

And of course the ever popular: sample written test questions can be found by clicking here!

The Kyudo Alliance announces a national seminar for Jan. 13 thru 16, 2011, Long Beach, California

I was forwarded this information from Marcus Bossett in California announcing a national kyudo seminar from the Kyudo Alliance, an independent kyudo study group founded by Aaron Blackwell sensei in South Carolina and Ed. Symmes sensei in Georgia. Note the price is too be decided so if you are interested in going please contact Mr. Bossett and indicate your interest. I’ve taken this text from the full announcement which you can read as a Microsoft word document by clicking here. There is also a flyer which you can see by clicking here.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hello,

Friends of Kyudo

This is the first wave of announcements about this event... please take a moment to read it ..

We had a less than great showing in Japan with the USA Team and we wish to do something about it. We want to make Kyudo in the Americas great. We want to improve our overall training practices, improve our personal technique and shooting hitting percentage. Also we wish to build pride and respect for our art in the Americas.

The big question is how?

Taira Takahashi Kyoshi 6th Dan from Kumamoto, Japan will be the lead instructor. We have asked him to teach us the best technique for shooting 28 M and 60 M. We will also go over equipment and teaching Kyudo to a higher level. This will be one of the best intense seminars in the USA.

We have a commitment to bringing high level instruction to American Kyudoka more than once a year.

We want to make this a notable event for Kyudo. Our goal is not just to host another event but help get Kyudo in the Martial Arts Public Awareness here in the America’s.. We are inviting all of the local and national media and all of the martial arts magazines to our event.

Please let me know what you think.. Your voice counts …I hope to see you there..

The Kyudo Alliance along with University of Archery and the El Dorado Park Archers will host:

The National Kyudo Alliance Seminar in January 2011

The event will take place in Long Beach, CA from January 13-16 (Thurs-Sun).

The event will begin with demonstrations for first timers and people curious about kyudo with questions and answers afterwards. (There will be media invited) club sign up’s welcome…

Special Test In Germany, September 2010, Open to American Kyudo Renmei Members!

This information has just been posted to the AKR web site and using the normal guidelines of filing test paperwork the time is short. Blackwell sensei has received information saying that, possibly for the first time ever, Americans can travel to Germany and participate in a special promotion test given by IKYF judges. This is a bit of a milestone in the development of the IKYF and is significant news in its own right but with a deadline of the end of July there isn’t a lot of time and what’s more, we don’t even know which town in Germany the test is going to be at! But here is the announcement.

All,

SPECIAL TEST IN GERMANY ON SEPTEMBER 11 OPEN TO AKR MEMBERS.

According to the IKYF information center I have been informed by Aaron Blackwell sensei that American Kyudo Renmei members will be allowed to participate in a Special Test in Germany on September 11, 2010.  I believe this may be the first time that AKR members are officially allowed to test outside of the US other than in Japan.  Considering that Germany is one of the IKYF federation countries, like Japan itself, those who want to take the test in Germany should prepare their test application forms in the same manner as that of someone applying to a test in the US or in Japan.   Application forms should be signed by the appropriate federation head. Unfortunately we do not yet know the name of the city in Germany where the test is to be held but the deadline is the end of July which is very soon.

Please contact Blackwell sensei (SCKYUDO@aol.com ) for further details such as the place to send application , test fees and the location. He will need your name and the name of your federation.

Sincerely,

Yoshiko Buchanan

AKR president

Kyudo Seminars in Brazil and Argentina, September 2010

Yoshiko Buchanan, President of the American Kyudo Renmei along

with Junko Kurita, will be giving kyudo seminars in Buenos Aires, Argentina,

and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which will take place in September, 2010.

The Brazil Kyudo Kai is offering a weekend seminar on the 18th

and the 19th of September in Rio.  The BKK is growing and their

friends will gather in Rio from Sao Paulo and also Brasilia. Their web page is

here: http://www.kyudo.com.br/

The seminar in Buenos Aires has various programs: an intensive

seminar on the 25th and the 26th, lectures during weekdays

and a courtesy call to the Japanese embassy plus a lecture.

Instructor: Yoshiko Buchanan, renshi rokudan/NCKF

Assistant: Junko Kurita, godan/NCKF

Passing of Philippe Reymond, Renshi, 5th dan of the Swiss Kyudo Federation

Dear National Representatives

It is my sad duty to inform you that Philippe Reymond, renshi 5th dan, founding member of the Swiss Kyudo Federation and Kyudojin of the early days in Europe died last week at the age of 93.

You will find an obituary (in French) on the federation's website: http://www.kyudo.ch/informationsfr.php

Please feel free to inform your members and old friends of Philippe's

Kind regards

Gérald Zimmermann

Association Helvétique de Kyudo

Schweizerischer Kyudo Verband

Gérald Zimmermann, Präsident, L

Web: www.kyudo.ch World Cup So

Hiroko Urakami, Hanshi promoted to 10th Dan.

Earl Hartman sensei of the Seishinkan dojo in Northern California, made a facebook posting that deserves wider notice. Hiroko Urakami, Hanshi, was promoted to the rank of 10th Dan on May 1st. She has instructed at American national seminars and as Hartman sensei points out, this may well be the first woman ever promoted to that rank. Hartman sensei also included a wonderful picture of sensei which you can see by clicking here!

From a facebook posting:

This is to announce that Urakami Hiroko Hanshi was awarded 10th
dan in Kyoto on May 1st.

I believe that this makes Urakami Sensei
the first female Hanshi 10 dan in history. It is an honor richly
deserved, and is of special significance to me personally, since I am
lucky enough to be able to call her my teacher.

I hope you will join me in celebrating this important milestone.t ALL World Cup Soccer in South Africa!

It’s not ALL World Cup Soccer in South Africa!

Mr. Jade Thorpe of the Kyudo Renmei South Africa emailed me to say that last month they were invited to demonstrate as part of the Japanese embassy’s 100th centennial celebration and the Japanese Ambassador was very pleased to see this part of Japanese culture being shown to the public. And this weekend (June 26th and 27th) there will be a kyudo seminar in Cape Town with 49(!) people attending. That is a good size seminar actually. Despite the impression you get from television not everyone in South Africa is kicking a soccer ball this weekend!

http://kyudo.co.za/

The IKYF Volcano Seminar

The June, 2010, issue of the ANKF magazine had two tables that I’ve been looking for ever since I heard from Yoshiko that many people could not make it to the first IKYF world tournament in Tokyo Japan because of the volcano eruption in Iceland. There were a LOT of people who could not make it. Note that in the B seminar some arrived late and were able to attend a special one day seminar that was created just for them.

Update: John Born and other A seminar attendees have told me that many of the B seminar “late” attendees were able to participate in their own special mini seminar which was created to run alongside the A seminar so they were able to get more than just one day of instruction. Also, some of these numbers seem a little off but I won’t change them as this was published in the ANKF magazine. There are many stories in these numbers. People from South America getting stuck trying to connect through London and other people declining to fly routes that were open on a test basis for example. I can’t imagine the uncertainty of people stuck in airports wondering if they are going to make it to this once in four years event!

Update 2: Mr. Marcelo Frischknecht of the Kyudo Kai Bariloche, Argentina, has emailed me comfirming some significant errors in the Group B seminar table concerning Argentina attendance. Despite the listing of all six of the Argentina participants as absent in the table Mr. Frischknecht says that in reality only one participant was absent for personal reasons. Three attended from the beginning and another two managed to arrive the last day of the seminar despite volcano delays. Mr. Frischknecht mentions the effort required for his group to reach Japan. It required some three days of travel from a country that isn’t a formally recognized member of the IKYF yet. The sheer size of Argentina is something that is hard to appreciate until you’ve visited the country and I’ve only been to Buenos Aires. I remember looking out of the plane’s window and being astonished at just how vast the steppes of Argentina are and how sparsely populated, as a whole, the country is. It is not surprising it takes three travel days to reach Japan even when a volcano isn’t going off! Here is a good map of just how big an area we are talking about: Patagonia region of Argentina. So the truth is that most of the Argentina attendees did manage to reach Japan and did so by overcoming considerable obstacles of distance and nature!

B Seminar

	Actual Attendees	Absent	Late	Registered
Italy	4	1		5
America	25	13		38
Argentina		6		6
Canada	4			4
Finland	4			4
Austria	1			1
Hungary	2			2
France	30	31	8	69
Taiwan	5			5
Germany	10	14	5	29
Latvia		2		2
Poland	6			6
Russia	8			8
Ukraine	1			1
Luxemburg			3	3
Holland	1	4	1	6
Spain	1	5	3	9
Sweden	5	7	1	13
United Kingdom	5	11	4	20
New Zealand	2			2
Belgium	1	2	5	8
Switzerland	24	4	1	29
Norway		2		2
Denmark			1	1
Total	139	102	32	273

A Seminar

	Actual Attendees	Absent	Registered
Argentina	1		1
Belgium	9		9
Finland	2		2
France	28	5	33
Germany	6	6	12
Iceland	1	1	2
Italy	4		4
Holland	5		5
New Zealand	1		1
Norway	1	1	2
Spain	1	1	2
Sweden	2	1	3
Switzerland	12		12
United Kingdom	7	1	8
America	21	1	22
Total	101	17	118

Kyudo seminar at Sonoma Zen Center in California

Don Symanski sensei will be leading kyudo retreats for beginners and intermediates next week from June 3rd thru June 6th, 2010.

Flyer can be found by clicking here!

Post IKYF seminar thoughts and comments from Liam O’Brian sensei of the UK

Thoughtful and kind words from O’Brian sensei that he wished published:

Greetings - Liam O'Brien

Dear E.Clay:

I would just like to say how having our American friends at the 
International Kyudo event at the Meiji Shrine dojo this April made a 
great difference. Their enthusiasm and sincerity was very moving and I 
was glad to make new contacts there. I must especially thank your 
wife, Yoshiko Sensei for her hard work and the support that she gave 
to us and Hartman Sensei for his immaculate and clear interpretation, 
which made things move very smoothly. I hope we have many more chances 
to practice together.

Regarding the competitions, there must always be a winner and a loser, 
but in kyudo (and in competition) it is more important  to always   
reflect on our shooting more than to think about position. When I 
returned home, I thought ah if only my daisan was higher and if I had 
kept the expansion in the elbows, my shooting could have been better, 
and also I recollected all the stupid mistakes that I made on the 
shajo. But we learn -hopefully - from this and little by little we 
make progress. My teacher always said that the dojo is the place to 
get embarrassed, and this embarrassment make it more memorable so that 
we work on our errors.  In this respect competition is a good place to 
study our kyudo. President Suzuki Mitsunari said that the non-Japanese 
need a better understanding of the difference of maai, nagari and 
taihai between competition and examination, and this good advice was 
further supported by Princess Takamado. Also it is important to know 
how to basically hit in kyudo and how important the focuses of the 
tsunomi  and use of hand power effect this as well as making yurumi 
(collapsing) in hanare. I remember when I practiced in Japan that high 
school and university students had these elements in their shooting 
and had a consistently high hitting average. They lacked other things 
but these fundamentals were there. I noticed this especially on the 
second day when the non-Japanese competed in the Individuals - with 
the exception of one American, Cynthia Shannon.

Please excuse these thoughts on the event but I just wanted to share 
them with you and hope that you will post them to your site.

Very best wishes

Liam O'Brien

Kyudo seminar at Daihonzan Chozen-ji in Hawaii

Dr. Kenneth Kushner sensei has just notified me of a kyudo and zen seminar in Hawaii! Here is the text of the announcement and the web page can be found at http://www.institutezenstudies.com/Seminars.html

Issha Zetsumei - International Kyudo Seminar

Daihonzan Chozen-ji, 3565 Kalihi Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
Oct 7 - 11

Of all the Asian martial arts, perhaps none is as closely identified in the West with Zen as Kyudo, the "Way of the Bow."  Much of this is due to the popularity of the book, Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel.  In it Herrigel eloquently described Kyudo as a "Way" beyond technical proficiency, leading the student to the realization of his or her True Nature.  Issha Zetsumei, an international Zen Kyudo seminar, is intended for practitioners of Kyudo who are interested in deepening their experience of Zen and Kyudo.  In addition to training in Kyudo on the grounds of a Zen temple, instructionwill include zazen (sitting meditation), fine arts (calligraphy, shakuhachi, chanting), and talks by Zen masters and experienced Zen priests. 

Instruction will be in English.  The seminar is open to anyone with the  minimum rank of shodan (or equivalent) in Kyudo and an interest in pursuing an experience in Zen and Kyudo training. 

Fee:  $500

Update: Dr. Kushner just emailed an updated flyer you can see here!

IKYF World Championship Team Competition Results.

#1 France
#2 UK
#3 Finland

This was just emailed to me from Japan and I’ve asked for confirmation that in fact, team Japan, was not in the top three but two separate emails have arrived with these results so I’m going to post them. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE TEAMS at the first IKYF world championships!

Woo hoo!

New President and Vice President for the NCKF.

At the March 21st, 2010, board meeting of the Northern California Kyudo Federation new officers were elected.

President: Maria Peterson

Vice President: Earl Hartman

The board thanked Steve Scott for his 10 years of service as NCKF president.

The board also discussed who would be the NCKF representative to the American Kyudo Renmei and it was decided that Maria Peterson would also fill that role.

Congratulations to the new officers!

The Passing of Hirotako Ono, hanshi 10th dan.

A member of the first group of kyudo teachers sent to America by the ANKF has passed away. I have heard from the family that Hirotako Ono sensei has just passed away. He came to American national seminars twice and many American archers will remember him for his powerful shooting which would draw crowds around the makiwara and his kind and supportive instruction. He instructed myself and my wife, during our trips to Japan and we enjoyed staying in his home and attending the Shado Kenshu Kai kyudo study group in the Okayama area. No details about funeral arrangements are available at this time. (Evening of Jan. 10th, 2010, approx 7:45 PM).

Yoshiko and I would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ono sensei. Ono sensei touched so many lives both inside Japan and overseas with his kyudo teaching that we are sure there will be many people with fond memories of such a great archer and teacher.

(Update – The funeral will be on Jan. 13th).

“Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen and the West” author, Prof. Shoji Yamada, appearing at the Univ. of Berkeley, Nov. 3, 2009.

Earl Hartman Sensei informs me that Prof. Shoji Yamada, author of “Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen and the West” will be in person at the Center for Japanese Studies at Berkeley University.

From the book description on Amazon.com:

Product Description

In the years after World War II, Westerners and Japanese alike elevated Zen to the quintessence of spirituality in Japan. Pursuing the sources of Zen as a Japanese ideal, Shoji Yamada uncovers the surprising role of two cultural touchstones: Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery and the Ryoanji dry-landscape rock garden. Yamada shows how both became facile conduits for exporting and importing Japanese culture.

First published in German in 1948 and translated into Japanese in 1956, Herrigel’s book popularized ideas of Zen both in the West and in Japan. Yamada traces the prewar history of Japanese archery, reveals how Herrigel mistakenly came to understand it as a traditional practice, and explains why the Japanese themselves embraced his interpretation as spiritual discipline. Turning to Ryoanji, Yamada argues that this epitome of Zen in fact bears little relation to Buddhism and is best understood in relation to Chinese myth. For much of its modern history, Ryoanji was a weedy, neglected plot; only after its allegorical role in a 1949 Ozu film was it popularly linked to Zen. Westerners have had a part in redefining Ryoanji, but as in the case of archery, Yamada’s interest is primarily in how the Japanese themselves have invested this cultural site with new value through a spurious association with Zen

http://www.amazon.com/Shots-Dark-Japan-Buddhism-Modernity/dp/0226947645

November 2009

---

"Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West"

Shoji Yamada, International Research Center for Japanese Studies

DATE:	Tuesday, November 3, 2009
TIME:	4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
PLACE:	IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
FORMAT:	Colloquium
SPONSORS:	Center for Japanese Studies

http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/cjs.html

AKR Members are Invited to the 4^th Open German Enteki Kyudo Taikai.

Dear national represantives, dear Kyudo-friends!

The German Kyudo Federation (DKyuB) has the pleasure to invite kyudoka of your federation to participate in the

4th OPEN GERMAN ENTEKI KYUDO TAIKAI

and Training to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, during the weekend of the 12th/13th September, 2009.

Event and application details together with the competition guidelines are attached.

Best regards

Sorin Jurma

vice-president of Deutscher Kyudo Bund e.V. (German Kyudo Federation)

The enteki event cover is here: Enteki09 cover.pdf

The event schedule is here: Enteki09 eventdetails.pdf

The application form is here: Enteki09 application.doc

Advance Information on the 2010 IKYF Seminar in Japan?

onal Seminar Now Open to Sandans Appar

All,

I have received the following draft proposal for next years IKYF seminar in Tokyo

B seminar                      April 20 - 22 Up to sandan

B seminar testing           April 23

International tournament  April 24,25

A seminar                     April 26-28  yondan and up

A seminar testing          April 29      testing through 6 dan

If there is a great deal of interest they will make a C seminar.

Either the 24th or 25th there will be a banquet. The banquet is only open to yondan and up.

Fees are   seminar Y30,000    banquet Y5,000   taikai Y5,000  Test fee_____

Also each "nation" will have a Y5,000 fee.

Registration must be completed by the end of January.

I have made the following inquirys:

Payment method: By bank transfer or when we arrive?

Hotels:  Are they going to find hotels or do we need to provide our own and transportation as well?

Taikai:  Will it be in the fashion of a typical Japanese taikai or more of a demonstration as last time?

"Nation": Is America one nation or does the Y5,000 fee apply to each state renmei?

I will let you know when I get more information.

Aaron Blackwell

      IKYF

US National Seminar Now Open to Sandans Apparently?

In an astonishing breach of Kyudo student/teacher etiquette, the president of the South Carolina Kyudo Federation has apparently been sending emails directly to American sandans (but not to the instructors of the sandans!) inviting the sandans to the extended national American seminar which officially is only open to yondan and up.

The lowering of eligible rank from yondan to sandan was apparently motivated by both face saving, (small attendance for three hanshi instructors) and the lower income from a smaller group.

There has been no official announcement but to quote from one of Blackwell sensei’s emails “I am opening the extended seminar to any sandan that can attend. If you are interested please let me know.”

Sandans interested in attending the seminar should DEFINITELY check with their sensei first about this!

The question about who is actually in charge of the American national Kyudo seminar is left as an exercise for the AKR board. ☺

Open Invitation to the MNKR Mini Seminar – Saturday, June 20th.

Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 8:43 AM

Subject: Invitation to MNKR Mini Seminar - Saturday, June 20th

Hi all,

I would like to extend this invitation to all AKR and KAC members.  Please share this with your dojo members.  

The MNKR will be holding a small mini seminar on Saturday, June 20th, to help it's members prepare for the national seminar.  There will be  small registration fee to help pay for the facilities, no more than $20.  I will fix the cost once I have an idea of how many people are coming (the more that come, the less we need to charge each person).

The event will be held on June 20th at the Northfield High School gymnasium in Northfield, Minnesota.

Here is the tentative schedule:

11-11:30am Dojo Setup

11:30am Shūgō (Opening Assembly)

11:30 - 1pm Individually-paced, guided practice

1 - 3pm Taihai practice

3 - 4:30pm Open Shooting

4:30pm  Kaisan (Closing Assembly)

4:30 - 5pm Dojo Teardown

If people are interested, we can go find dinner at a restaurant downtown Northfield after the seminar.  If there are significant numbers attending the seminar, I will arrange for a dinner of the appropriate size.

Those who may need lodging, can visit the Visiting Northfield website for information on local hotels, etc.  

All AKR and KAC members are welcome to join us, please email Carly at carly (at) mnkyudo.org if you are planning to attend.  Those interested who are not already members of the AKR or KAC are welcome to apply for membership to the MNKR at the seminar.  Please feel free to forward this to any eligible person if you think they would be interested.  

If you have questions, contact Carly at carly (at) mnkyudo.org.

Carly J. Born

Minnesota Kyudo Renmei

www.mnkyudo.org

Shots In the Dark by Professor Shoji Yamada is published!

Earl Hartman sensei sends word that his translation of the book: Shots In the Dark, has been published and should be available in book stores in 2 to 3 weeks and should be available from Amazon now. He says:

"Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen and the West" is an interesting examination of how foreign perceptions of Japanese culture ("all of Japanese culture is Zen") have influenced how Japanese perceive their own culture. The author, himself a 5th dan in kyudo,  looks at how this process has played out in the realm of kyudo and rock gardens. He dissects in great detail how and why "Zen in the Art of Archery" was written the way it was and offers the very first in-depth research on its author, Eugen Herrigel. Although the book is not strictly about kyudo only, it sheds a lot of light on how the idea of "Zen archery" came into being. It also has an extremely interesting chapter on the relationship between kyudo and Western archery and how the desire on the part of the ANKF to compete head-to-head with Western archery in the Olympics affected that relationship."

The Amazon link for the English version is here.

And the Japanese version at Amazon Japan is here.

2009 American Seminar Information From Blackwell sensei.

Seminar applications are now posted on the SCKR web site, http://www.sckyudo.com/Kyudo2009.htm .

Note that I have sample test application forms available for download on the left side of this page. I put a lot of work into them and added very useful notes at the bottom of the examples. It never hurts to review the notes before filling out your test application forms!

Information copied from the SCKYUDO seminar page:

Dear Kyudo friends,

I am glad to be able to invite you to Kyudo 2009. Two extra days of training are being offered to Yondan and up. The seminar will be held at the University of South Carolina Upstate. The dates for the seminar are July 27- 31, with testing on the Aug 1^st.  July 27 and 28 will be open only to Yondan and up.

If you are testing Rissha you must have a note from a healthcare professional. Rissha must be written in red ink at the top of the test application.

Here in the south we like to create a comfortable atmosphere. We hope for a casual friendly atmosphere that encourages an easy exchange of ideas. We have found this to be a successful format and hope you learn many new things.

The cost of the seminar will be $325.00 per participant for the three day seminar and $450.00 for the five day seminar. The cost for non participants will be $200.00 for the three day seminar and $300.00 for the five day seminar.  This cost will include room and board from supper on arrival day to breakfast on Sunday (Aug 2^ND ).  Since test applications must be in Japan 2 months before the test applications must be received by May 15^th. Late registrations will be accepted only for those not testing until July 10^th with a $25.00 late fee. Registration for a successful test must be paid in Yen.

All of the facilities are air-conditioned and in SC we believe in using it. The dorms that we normally use are being renovated. We do not know if we will be able to get them. If we get them they will be arranged in blocks of two rooms, two people to a room, with a common living study area. If we can get these dorms there will be an extra fee for a single room.

The entire USC Upstate Campus is smoke free.

We will be able to pick participants up from both Greenville Spartanburg airport (GSP) and Charlotte NC (CLT). Since we will be participating in the seminar ourselves the latest we will pick up is for flights arriving no later than 11pm at GSP and 10pm for Charlotte.

Each member is responsible for sending his or her own application back.  So, once you have obtained the proper signatures and filled out the forms included in the packet, please place them in an envelope and return them to me (with enough postage, please).

The president from one of the following organizations will need to sign your application forms:

Georgia Kyudo Renmei

Indiana Kyudo Renmei

Minnesota Kyudo Renmei

Nanka Kyudo Renmei

Northern California Kyudo Federation

North Carolina Kyudo Renmei

South Carolina Kyudo Renmei

Aaron Blackwell

South Carolina Kyudo Renmei

Sad News From DeProspero Sensei.

Dan DeProspero Sensei has just sent email to the American federation presidents announcing the untimely death of his first student, D. Mark Gabel. Mark was a fixture in the American Kyudo organization for many years serving as an officer in addition to being a good friend and supporter to many students over the years. Anyone attending a national seminar will probably remember Mark standing outside during breaks with his smile, his pipe, and a kind word for anyone who wanted to talk about kyudo and spritiual quests they were on.

Dan Sensei gives this address for Mark’s widow:

Adriana Stralen
1318 Saint Mary’s Road,
Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278

Update from DeProspero sensei:

I wanted to inform you of the memorial service for Mark at 11:00 am

Saturday, December 27th, at:

White Memorial Presbyterian Church
1704 Oberlin Road
Raleigh, NC

Sincerely,
Dan

2009 is the Year of the Cow.

And as usual, Little House Graphics has the best Japanese New Year clip art.

Just click here: Little House Graphics

The cow clip art starts on page 5.

Kyudo Master needed for TV show.

I just received this ad from a TV show looking for a Kyudo master!

My name is Thomas Stemrich with Morningstar Entertainment.  We are casting a new television show for Spike TV that aims to both educate and entertain, exploring fighting arts from all around the world.  We are looking for someone of Japanese descent, skilled in Kyudo, who is fluent in English, to be an on-screen expert in the matter.  If you live in the Los Angeles area, please give us a call at (323)243-1113 and ask for our casting director, Mindy.  You can also e-mail Mindy at mbazar ( at ) morningstarentertainment.com and set up a casting session.  Thank you very much for your consideration.  

Thomas Stemrich
Morningstar Entertainment

Will you be in Duluth, Georgia, Sept. 27 and 28th?

If you are near the Convention Center at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, Sept. 27th and 28th keep an eye out for the Georgia Kyudo Federation who are planning demonstrations during the event.

The festival web page is here: http://www.japanfest.org

Contact the Georgia Kyudo Renmei here: http://www.kyudo.com/gkr.html

Will you be in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on August 17, 2008?

If you are near St. Paul's Como Park then visit the Japanese Lantern Festival on Aug 17 and watch a demonstration by the Minnesota Kyudo Renmei.

The festival web page is here: http://www.comozooconservatory.org/cons/jll.shtml

Contact the Minnesota Kyudo Renmei here: http://www.mnkyudo.org/

Congratulations to the new officers of the American Kyudo Renmei!

After many years as president of the AKR, Dan DeProspero sensei decided not to run for relection this year. As a result several new officers were elected:

President: Steve Scott sensei, Northern California Kyudo Federation

Vice-president: Joseph Reid, Georgia Kyudo Renmei

Secretary: John Born, Minnesota Kyudo Renmei

Tresurer: D. Mark Gable, North Carolina Kyudo Renmei

Many thanks to DeProspero sensei for his many years of help and guidence to the AKR and good luck to the new officers in their efforts to lead and grow the AKR over the next two years.

Pictures from Kyudo USA 2008?

I’ve uploaded all my pictures from Kyudo USA 2008. Click on the thumbnail and a larger picture will appear. Click on that picture and the raw image file from my camera will fill your screen. If you want to make hard copies of the picture then that is the image you want to save to disk.

http://www.ocdirect.net/eclay/html/kyudousa2008/index.html

And I see that Daniel Kim has been uploading his pictures to his flickr account also:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=2008%20kyudo%20seminar&w=all

And Paolo Moscatelli has uploaded the slide show to myphotoalbum!

http://kyudousa2008.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album02&utm_source=share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=album

And even MORE pictures, test day and banquet!

http://kyudousa2008.myphotoalbum.com/slideshow.php?set_albumName=album01&utm_source=share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=slideshow

Flying into LAX for the 2008 American Kyudo Seminar?

Then all I can say is good luck!

Hi Doug and Jannette!

I have some last minute instructions to the people who are flying.  Can you please email to the renmei heads to give to their members, and also if possible post on the website?  It's important that all those who are flying and getting transported by us see the letter below.  thank you very much!

Leslie

  --------------------------------------------------------

 Dear Seminar Attendees,

The seminar is only a few days away now, and we are looking forward to your arrival.  If you are arriving by airplane, I have included a list of attendees with flight information and arrival/departure times.  Please take the time to review this list and email me with any changes or corrections at lkoyama@verizon.net as soon as possible.

There are a few items I have to clarify with you all, regarding arrivals and departures by plane:

1.  LAX is quite a distance from UCI, perhaps 45 to 50 miles.  In rush hour traffic, this trip one-way can take as long as 2-3 hours.  Luckily there is a carpool lane on the 405 freeway, but it can still take a long time.  Due to the distance that LAX is from UCI, and the sad fact that we are short of very large cars and drivers to transport you all as you arrive, we cannot shuttle everyone to UCI as soon as you arrive.  I am very sorry, but some of you will have to wait for the cars to arrive as we shuttle back and forth between LAX and UCI.  This delay time can be as long as an hour and a half.  For most flights, I will try to arrange for a person to meet you at baggage claim when you arrive, but please be prepared to wait there.  Please make yourself comfortable, and bring a good book.  We will arrange for transportation to pick up attendees at 8:00 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 3:00 pm, 3:45 pm, 6:00 pm, 7:30 pm, 9:15 pm, and 11:00 pm.  Pick-up times are subject to change depending on traffic conditions.  If you are concerned that no one has come by and that you have been left at the airport without a ride, please contact Erin Rivera at (805) 390-4571.  She will have a list of drivers and pick-up times and can make sure you get picked up.

2.  SNA is a small airport and extremely close to UCI.  There should not be any problem with picking up seminar attendees flying into SNA.  Please wait at baggage claim and someone will be by shortly to transport you to UCI.  If you are concerned that no one has come by and that you have been left at the airport without a ride, please contact Erin Rivera at (805) 390-4571.  She will have a list of drivers and pick-up times and can make sure you get picked up.

3.  Most of our drivers will be wearing a kyudo tee shirt -- white with a black circle, and the kanjis 'Ikkyu' (one yumi) in it.  If they are not wearing a kyudo tee shirt, they will have a little 'Kyudo' sign.  Hopefully this will help you spot them.

4.  If your flight is delayed on the 15th or you have any deviation (such as flight numbers, etc) from the information you have previously given me (i.e. unexpectedly changing planes), please call Erin Rivera as soon as possible to notify her, so that she can notify the drivers of your change in schedule.

5.  In the unfortunate event of a flight cancellation and you cannot arrive until July 16th or later, after the seminar begins, please call Rick Beal at 800-847-0332 and he will try to arrange pick-up for you.

6.  LAX requires a 2 hour time allotment for 911 security purposes for when you depart.  This means you will be arriving 2 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.  Since UCI is 45-50 miles away from LAX, you will have to leave UCI 3 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.  For attendees who have scheduled departure flights at 7:15, this means you will have to leave UCI at 4:15 am.  Please be prepared to get up very early in order to catch your ride.  Please do not be late.

7.  Again, because of the unfortunate lack of large cars, we will be leaving in assigned groups on Sunday (much like Tuesday).  This means that some of you will be arriving at LAX very, very early -- perhaps as much as 3 1/2 hours before your departure time.  Please be prepared for this, and bring a good book.

8.  SNA requires a 1 hour time allotment for 911 security purposes for when you depart.  You will be leaving UCI 1.5 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.  Again, because of the unfortunate lack of large cars, we will be leaving in assigned groups on Sunday (much like Tuesday), so some of you might arrive 2 hours before departure time.  Please be prepared for this, and bring a good book.

I deeply apologize for the inconvenience, and I appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.  We will do our best to accommodate you all.

Sincerely,

Leslie Koyama

Pictures From A Dojo Biraki in Paju, Korea.

Feliks Hoff sensei in Germany is attending MUCH more interesting dojo biraki (openings) than I am. He seems to travel the world visting Kyudo dojo openings and one of his recent outings was to a dojo biraki in Paju, Korea, a city North of Seoul. Hoff sensei attended the opening with Mori sensei of Tsukuba University who brought two of his students.

Mr. Daniel Seong studied Kyudo at the Alster Dojo in Hamburg, Germany, last year. He was an experienced archer in traditional Korean archery and after studying Kyudo in Germany he returned to Korea and started a small dojo in a portion of land located in a city park. Tents were used as the city did not allow permanent structures to be built and he constructed a three target dojo.

At the opening ceremony there were traditional Japanese archery ceremonies which Hoff sensei described as Meigen, Shiho-zume, the 7-5-3-ceremony and Reisha/Yawatashi but there were also demonstrations of different kinds of traditional archery and modern archery too. In a news article published in an online Korean archery magazine you can see some very interesting pictures.

Click here to see the dojo biraki pictures!.

Web Page for A Heki Ryu Insai Ha dojo in Italy.

Mr. Giuseppe Costa emailed me recently to announce a web page for an independent School in Italy of the Heki Ryu Insai Ha. Not all Kyudo dojos, either inside Japan, or outside Japan, are affiliated with the International Kyudo Federation (IKYF) or the All Nippon Kyudo Federation (ANKF). There are still traditional schools of archery in existence and there certainly does seem to be a growing interest in Kyudo in Italy lately.

Click here to see the Scuola delle quattro Foglie web page.

A New Kyoshi in the UK.

Liam O’Brien sensei has emailed me news of a significant event. Ray Dolphin sensei of the UK passed the kyoshi exam this May in Kyoto. It is always news when someone passes their kyoshi (senior instructor rank) test but even more so when it is someone training primarily outside Japan with all the hardships that implies. Congratulations to Dolphin sensei! Formal awarding of the rank will be upon acceptance of his thesis. For those not familiar with the kyoshi exam, the candidate who successfully completes the shooting, written, oral interview, and sharei portion of the exam is then assigned a thesis to write and when that is submitted and approved then the rank is formally awarded. But there is certainly no problem in giving the congratulations now!

Also, in the email, O’Brien sensei informs me that the UKKA has received formal government recognition through membership to the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR) as the governing body for IKYF Kyudo in the UK.

The Confusing Mushitei test!

As Kyudo USA 2008 approaches those taking a Kyudo rank test for the first time always have the same question: what rank do I write in that “Dan Required” box on the test form?

The answer is almost always “mushitei”, but exactly what IS the mushitei rank anyway?

The best answer to that question was written by Steve Scott, president of the Northern California Kyudo Federation, as part of his excellent Kyudo USA 2005 Test Information instructions. His instructions were so good in fact that I’m going to quote the mushitei instructions here:

(begin quote)

Dan Required: (Explained below)

The ANKF promotion test will be given according to the ANKF test regulations as explained in Chapter 6, Articles 20 thru 23 in the Zen Nippon Kyudo Renmei Test and Regulation Book (Shinsakite). The test will be given to the following categories of participants:

1) Mushitei Shinsa (Open Test): The Mushitei Test is given to those who do not have any rank (neither Kyu nor Dan) and who are taking a test for the first time in their Kyudo history. According to the result of the test, 5th kyu thru 1st kyu or Shodan may be awarded. THOSE APPLYING FOR THIS TEST SHOULD WRITE “MUSHITEI”ON THE TEST APPLICATION FORM IN THE SPACE AFTER “DAN REQUIRED”.

2) Shodan: No matter which kyu the test candidate may currently have, 5th kyu thru 1st kyu, the candidate may take the shodan test. This will be a pass/fail test for the shodan rank. Alternatively, the candidate may test for the next kyu rank by writing in the appropriate kyu. (e.g. Ikkyu)

(end quote)

Those two items are the best explanations on the subject I have ever seen in English. But another question then arises, what test fee does the mushitei candidate pay? If they are awarded ikkyu then they owe one amount but if they are awarded shodan then they will have to pay twice as much. So what is the test fee amount that should be sent in with the test application?

The exact procedure and test amounts are, of course, up to the federation hosting the test. In the case where the NCKF hosted the test the mushitei candidate was asked to send in the test fee for ikkyu and if they were awarded shodan instead (congratulations!) then at the test site they were asked for the additional shodan test fee money as an adjustment.

I cannot speak for NANKA of course as I am not the seminar coordinator for Kyudo USA 2008 but I would not be suriprised if this same procedure were being followed. As always, check with your federation president first if you have a question.

Sharp eyed readers will note that one of the three sample, correctly filled out, test application forms listed on the left side of this page is a mushite test application example!

Good luck to everyone testing in Kyudo USA 2008!

The 2008 American Kyudo Seminar Is Official!

Subject: Official 2008 Seminar Announcement

Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:53:30 -0800

Hello Senseis, Board Members, and Representatives,

We hope you are all well and that you have had a prosperous and

healthy start to 2008.

Please see the announcement from Sensei Doug Sakurai below.

Thank you,

Jannette

Nanka

Nanka Kyudo Renmei would like to officially announce the dates of the

American Kyudo Seminar for 2008 to be held in Southern California. The

seminar dates are July 16-18th and the test date is Saturday July 19th.

The banquet will be held on Saturday night, so the seminar essentially

goes from the 16th-20th. We will be celebrating Kyudo's 100 year

history in Southern California.

The location is at the University of California, Irvine in the heart

of Orange County. The anticipated cost of the seminar will be in the

$350.00 range. The nearest airport is John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana,

but we will provide transportation from LAX also. We can possibly arrange

transportation from Long Beach Airport and Ontario Airport too. We are

currently looking into scheduling dorm rooms before the seminar for

those of you that would like to come early and enjoy Southern California.

Registration forms and all other information will be out in the next

few weeks. We hope to see all of you there.

Doug Sakurai

President, Nanka Kyudo Renmei

Web page for the Bukyukai in Hungary.

Mr. Ruszthy was kind enough to email me the URL for the web page of the Hungarian Kyudo-club 'Bukyukai'. He pointed out that it is maintained in Hungarian, English and German!

Click here to see the Bukyukai web page!

National American 2008 Seminar Dates Announced.

Email received from Nanaka in Southern California:

Sorry this is getting out so late. We have confirmed the dates for the kyudo seminar in Southern California for 2008. I hope that everyone will come out and join us in celebrating 100 years of kyudo in Southern Cal. We are excited to be hosting this event and look forward to seeing all of our friends in kyudo. The dates are July 16th-18th with the test on July 19th.

The location is at the University of California, Irvine at the Bren Center. Yes, the dates are correct and the test is on Saturday. We are trying to alleviate the problem of arranging transportation immediately after taking the test and missing flights. We tried every combination of days to accommodate everyone, and this was the best way to do it. This will allow us to have our banquet on Saturday night after the seminar, so everyone can truly relax and enjoy the event. We are also working on having a couple of bow makers come out to give demonstrations on how bows are made and also how to take care of your bow.

More information will be out shortly about airports, transfers, dorm arrangements, cost and such. For now, all we can confirm are the dates.

Hope to see you all in July!

Doug Sakurai

President, Nanka Kyudo Renmei.

IKYF 2009 World Championships Canceled.

In a recent email sent to the European and American IKYF liason officers the IKYF canceled the 2009 World Championship event. The reasons given were not specific but the email mentioned that 2009 was the same year as a project to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation. As a result of this, various factors caused the IKYF to cancel the World Championships for that year.

One obvious problem of the newly formed International Kyudo Federation is a lack of almost any meaningful budget to finance events and immediately after the formation of the IKYF overseas seminars were cut in half. Again, likely due to budget considerations. It is reasonable to assume that the world championships and the 60th ANKF anniversary celebration would all take place at the yearly taikai in Kyoto and the IKYF just doesn’t have the resources, money or otherwise, to hold both events.

Web page for the South African Kyudo Federation.

Once a year or so I receive an inquiry about kyudo in South Africa. Well, now I have a web page to refer them to!

Click here to see the South African Kyudo Federation web page!

First Kyoshi In America?

I’ve heard nothing official but if I’m reading this test result document correctly that has just been posted on the ANKF web page, Aaron Blackwell sensei of the South Carolina Kyudo Federation has just become the first kyudo kyoshi in America! Can anyone confirm this?

Click here to see the Japanese document.

Update: It is official! I’ve just received email from Mr. Phil Swain, the vice president of the American Kyudo Renmei, announcing that Blackwell sensei did indeed pass his kyoshi test in Japan. Congratulations to Blackwell sensei who passed his kyoshi exam while living and practicing in the kyudo wilderness of America. For those who may not know, Blackwell sensei is the president of the South Carolina Kyudo Renmei.

Archers need (quickly!) for the Heroes TV show!

Alex Reid, the Production Supervisor on the Heroes TV show, needs Japanese archers and he needs them fast. If you are in the Los Angeles area, or you’re going to be visiting there next week and you look Japanese and know kyudo he probably wants to hear from you immediately. Here is what he emailed to me today. I don’t feel safe posting his cell phone number but anyone interested can email me and I’ll send it to you.

Good luck!

I am looking for 6 male archers of Japanese decent that are proficient in

archery who would be interested in working on our show. The first day

of work would be this Monday, June 25th and they would be paid for

their time. There would be additional work on upcoming episodes. They

would need to come in for an interview and be fitted for traditional

armor with our costume department. We are located at Sunset-Gower

Studios in the middle of Hollywood. Time is running out and I have

only heard back from one person so far.

I can be contacted via email at axlereid@verizon.net

or on my cell phone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx at

any time.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Alex Reid

Production Supervisor

"HEROES"

The most absolutely breakable porcelain figurine ever!.

The Lladro figurine company has just made the most fragile, most breakable figurine ever. No kidding.

Click here to see it!

Update: Okay, I finally saw one of these in the Matsuya department store in Asakusa, Tokyo, and the bow is actually made of metal so it is not as breakable as I thought from looking at the picture. The retail price was 64,000 yen I believe.

Retirement of IKYF president Kamogawa sensei.

Although I have not heard an official IKYF announcement yet, an observer at the IKYF board meeting on April 14th informs me that Kamogawa sensei officially stepped down as the president of the IKYF and Suzuki Mitsunari sensei, the current ANKF president, has assumed his duties as IKYF president.

For those of you who, like myself, remember the decades of service to kyudo that Kamogawa sensei has given to the art this really is the passing of an era. I'm told he left the board meeting when his resignation was accepted so I'm sure this was all known in advance. Given the recent events in his personal life his desire to retire from public involvement in kyudo cannot come as a surprise but still, for many overseas kyudo practioners, Kamogawa sensei was the distinguished public face of the ANKF and the official representative of kyudo to the world. His retirement will be marked with a feeling of some sadness. I'm sure that many people wish him well as he retires from his official kyudo duties.

Saving the world through Kyudo!

Saving the world through Kyudo! Now I ask you, just how totally cool is that!!!!!

Hello.

We will held the 7th UNICEF Charity Kyudo Meeting(Taikai) in Fukui,Japan, on April 29, 2007. Please see our official homepage and we are happy if you will announce our activity in your homepage.

Thank you.

http://www.hokuriku.ed.jp/kyudo/unicef/english.htm

Hiroto Nakamura

Hokuriku Junior/Senior High School Kyudo Club

1-8-1 bunkyo, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, 910-0017

E-mail：h-nakamura<at>hokuriku.ed.jp

New web page from the Enshin Dojo in the Netherlands.

About 11 years ago Professor Naito retired from his job at Sapporo University and has traveled both to Europe and Asia studying both Japanese archery and Asian archery. Feliks Hoff sensei of Germany kindly emailed me pictures of the dojo biraki (dojo opening ceremonies) from Naito sensei's latest project in mainland China: a kyudo dojo in the city of Zhuhai in China's Guandong province!

In addition to Hoff sensei from Germany, invited guests included Noro sensei from Sapporo who traveled there with several Japanese students. You can see Noro sensei performaing a Yawatashi with Hoff sensei and Naito sensei assisting. Traditional Chinese and Korean archers also demonstrated during the opening. The opening was held in December and you can tell from all the green plants in the pictures just how far south the city of Zhuhai really is.

I believe this is actually Naito sensei's second dojo opening in China. If memory serves me correctly I saw pictures of Kamogawa sensei of the ANKF (at the time) visiting Naito sensei's kyudo dojo which he had just opened in Tientsin, China. Naito sensei had published a book on Japanese archery in Chinese and obviously the Chinese government must have been pleased with the results because he was invited to start kyudo classes at the Zhuhai Campus of Peking Normal University and this dojo is obviously the fruit of his labors.

I often refer to America as a "kyudo wilderness" because of the lack of facitilies and equipment and all the other problems which always occur. It is inspiring to see a retired Japanese professor overcome what must have been considerable hurdles to establish a kyudo dojo in mainline China!

You can view the pictures by clicking here.

New web page from the Enshin Dojo in the Netherlands.

A member of the Enshin Dojo, located in the city of Utrecht, emailed me to let me know of their dojo’s new web page where the letters fly faster than arrows!

Note you will have to have Macromedia’s Flash Player installed on your computer to view the webpage. Navigating the site feels like playing a video game so I’m not giving you any hints! J

The page can be seen by clicking here.

Pictures from the 2007 NCKF New Year’s Tournament.

The Northern California Kyudo Federation held a 2007 New Years’s Tournament on Jan. 7th and I took many pictures with my new digital camera of course. This year’s tournament was marked by an outstanding performance by the new Renshi Jon McAlister who hit 16 of 20 arrows (and received his big Renshi certificate as part of the awards ceremony). At one point Jon hit 12 arrows in a row and his last hits were distinguished with his second arrow striking the nock of his first arrow in the target! 2nd place went to Earl Hartman sensei who won a shootoff with Rik Center who took 3rd. In the sandan and under category, Belinda Leung won 1st place and in a great shootoff, Sakura san from the Seishinkan dojo struck the center circle to take 2nd place over Keiko Franklin san who took 3rd place.

The cute New Year’s hanamato was made by Yoshiko Buchanan sensei and featured a seasonal boar (Ino Shi Shi) among the maple leaves theme (it’s the year of the Boar).

You can see the pictures . Note that clicking the smaller pictures only takes you to a slightly larger picture that is still quick to download. Clicking on that picture will bring up the original picture which is much higher resolution and will take much longer to download but it is the one you want if you are going to save the picture to your local hard disk and make a print from it.

Also, those of you looking for Japanese specific clip art with a new year’s theme should bookmark the Little House web page. The New Year’s graphics are password protected but they give away the user name of “house” and the password of “sozai”. The New Year’s web page clipart is at:

https://homepage1.nifty.com/kumamis/jan07.html

Year after year they produce the best Japanese themed New Year’s clip art by far. Those of you looking to decorate New Year’s scoresheets, certificates, hanamatos, etc. should start there.

Shinnen Omedeto Gozaimasu!

Happy Year of the Boar!

Kyudo Videos on YouTube!

I occasionally scan photo sharing sites looking for good kyudo pictures but I had completely ignored video sharing sites like YouTube. A recent email from a reader pointed out some real gems.

First is a clip of Awa Kenzo sensei shooting at what I believe is a New Year's Celebration (Shinnen kai) in Japan. You can see the video by clicking here

And yes, Awa Kenzo was the instructor of Eugen Herrigel who wrote Zen And The Art of Archery. But remember:

While kenshõ (see true nature; i.e., attain awakening) is a Zen term, it
is practically impossible to detect any Zen elements in Awa’s teaching.
Surprisingly, it appears that Awa never practiced Zen even once in his
life. SAKURAI (1981, p. 223), who has conscientiously studied Awa’s life,
wrote that “No evidence can be found that Kenzõ ever trained with a
Zen priest.”

- taken from The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery by YAMADA Shõji and excellently translated by Earl Hartman sensei.

http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/jjrs/pdf/586.pdf

In most of the yabusame videos the camera bounces more than the horse but one podcast appears to have filmed inside a training hall (An Ogasawara dojo perhaps?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHrAxArqWE

And there are tourist videos that can be useful training. This makiwara sharei video shows what happens when you don't take a big enough step back after firing your first shot. You'll have to adjust your position after standing up for the second shot so students of taihai take note:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3W7XTtGlY

Finally, before being carried away with all the videos you should always have an appreciation for the well written kyudo web page

The International Kyudo Federation Has A Webpage!

Question for the day, what is so special about this percentage:

98.122175354022295872250677915035 %

If you said that is the percentage of people in the International Kyudo Federation who are native speakers of Japanese then I would say...CORRECT!

Which goes a long way to explaining why the new web page for the International Kyudo Federation is almost entirely in Japanese!.

You can see the web page by clicking on this link: http://www.ikyf.org/

Extraordinary Special Test For Renshi Candidates.

As most readers will know the ANKF shogo (instructor i.e. renshi and kyoshi) test consists of two shooting tests, if the candidate passes the first shooting test they attempt the second shooting test which is almost always a sharei form of some kind.

What many overseas kyudo participants may not know is that once a year there is an 'Extraordinary Special Test' given in Japan for all those renshi and kyoshi candidates who passed the first part of their test but failed the second shooting test. Once a year, in Japan, a test is given for all such test candidates and this test has existed for many years but with more and more overseas test candidates taking (and failing!) their renshi tests this is a good chance to introduce the details of this special test to the non Japanese kyudo community. For example, at this year's American seminar there were three renshi test candidates who qualified for the second shooting test but then failed. So those three candidates are eligable for this year's Extraordinary Special Test in Japan. I know for a fact that at least one European passed his kyoshi test and one American passed his renshi test in years past at this special test.

The test is only given once at the end of the year and is a one time test open only to those renshi and kyoshi test candidates who failed their second shooting test during the current year. And you only have once chance to take the test. If you fail it you are back to zero and have to take the renshi or kyoshi test from the beginning.

Here are the details of the renshi test translated into English. If anyone out there needs the details of the kyoshi(!) test just email me and I'll forward those too.

Good luck to all the test candidates for this year!

The renshi test information is as follows:
 
1. Date: Sunday December 24, 2006 .
 
2. Place: 
 
Shiseikan Dojo, Meiji Shrine Budojo, 1-1 Kamizonocho, Yoyogi, 
Shibuya ku, Tokyo. 03-5302-5865. 
Closest station is Yoyogi station by JR line Yamanote line or 
subway Uedo line. Alternative route is Sangubashi station by Odakyu line.
 
3. Test Schedule: 
 
Test begins at 9 AM (registration begins at 8 AM). 
 
4. Test Eligibility:
 
Those who passed the renshi first test during 2006 (Heisei 18).
 
5. Test details.
 
(1) Shooting test, written test, and interview test will be given. 
Pass/no pass decided by total score.
Shooting test will be the 2nd part of the Renshi test 
(no sharei information given - Yoshiko).
(2) Interview test will be on instructional ability and general 
kyudo knowledge will be examined.
(3) Written test will be given.
 
 
6. How to apply:
 
(1) Application form - The offical test application form must be used 
(In my opinon this means the green ANKF form - Yoshiko). The test fee 
of 6000 (six thousand) yen must be attached.
(2) Deadline: The application must arrive by the 11th of December.
(3) Application should be sent to: 
Attention to Tokyo Tokubetsu Renji Shinsa Gakkari. 
ZNKR/Kishi Memorial Hall
1-1-1 Jinnan Shibuya, Tokyo
Japan
03-3481-2387 tel
03-3481-2398 fax
 
7. Notes:
 
(1) Deadline is strict.
(2) Print application clearly.
(3) Application contents must be true and accurate. Any false information may cause failure.
(4) Candidates must be at the test site on time.
(5) Testing candidates must wear wafuku and wear an ANKF pin.
(6) Failure to respond to the test assembly call may be considered abandoment of the test.
(7) In the case of rissha the rissha must be wirtten in red on the application form. 
A doctor's letter must be attached. The letter should be dated within one year. 
The federation president must approve the rissha request.
(8) Parking will be in the Meiji Jingu Bunkachushajo.
 
8. Misc:
 
Personal information on the application form may be used for the following purposes:
1) Publishing in the test candidate list and related materials such as names, renmei, 
age, title, date title obtained and so on.
2) The test candidate list and time announcement with identifying number.
3) The announcement of test results to official publications such as the kyudo magazine 
(name, renmei, title and dan).
 
End of test information.
 

Passing Percentages From Kyudo USA 2006!

Many thanks to Carly Born for passing on this information. And big congratulations to the new renshis!

 
Howdy,
 
If you are interested, here are the passing stats for this year's 
shinsa. Please feel free to forward to anyone else who you think may be 
interested.
 
Mudan
 7/15 got Shodan (47%)
 4/15 got 1 kyu (27%)
 2/15 got 2 kyu (13%)
 
 
Kyu
 9/9 got Shodan (100%)
 [1 from 2 kyu, all others from 1 kyu]
 
 
Shodan
 14/14 got Nidan (100%)
 
 
Nidan
 6/12 got Sandan (50%)
 
 
Sandan
 1/4 got Yondan (25%)
 
 
Yondan
 2/10 got Godan (20%)
 Our new godan are Bill Reid (NCKR) and Rick Beal (NANKA)
 
 
Godan
 6/12 proceeded to the interview and second test (50%)
 3 passed Renshi (25%)
 
 Our new Renshi are Douglas Sakurai (NANKA), Jon McAllister (NCKF) and 
 Tomio Kato (GKR).
 
-- 
Carly Born
Minnesota Kyudo Renmei
http://www.mnkyudo.org

Dojo Biraki at the Alster Dojo in Hamburg, Germany!

A recent email from Hoff Sensei announced the opening of a second shajo in the Alster Dojo in Hamburg, Germany, and the email came with pictures! The amount of work necessary for such a large dojo must have been considerable. The interior picture shows the windows that can be raised to allow shooting and I suspect the boxes at the bottom of the windows are heaters. Winters are VERY cold in Hamburg. Exterior pictures show how the windows are raised on the outside. Note the size of the fences! The Alster Dojo clearly belives in a good neighbor policy. I have made a slide show of the pictures but if you have the bandwidth, try clicking on the pictures to see details of the handsome arrows being used in the meigen ceremony.

Dear EClay,
last weekend we had the dojo biraki for the second hall 
in the Alster Dojo Hamburg. I performed it according 
to the tradition of the Heki-To ryu (Meigen, 
Shiho zume, Yawatashi, 7-5-3, after this everybody did a hitote).
Some pictures of it are in the attachment.
The indoor picture of the dojo was taken in March but now the 
yamichi is green.
 
We can now offer 12 mato and can serve bigger seminars 
but first of all our own members much better. Luckily the 
number of memberships of the kyudo branch in the Alster 
Dojo has increased to 130!
 
Kind regards
Feliks

You can see the pictures by by clicking here

Results from the 2nd Open German Kyudo Enteki Taikai

We have just received this email from Feliks Hoff sensei if the Alster Dojo in Hamburg giving the results of their recent enteki taikai (long distance competition). And what is more, two pictures came with the email. These are very interesting pictures as they show in some detail the very cleverly constructed outdoor shooting area. The pictures are large but the detail is worth seeing.

You can see the first picture by by clicking here
And the second by by clicking here

***
On Sunday, 18.06.06, the Alster Dojo Hamburg held the 2nd Open German Kyudo Enteki Taikai . The winner was Mr. Boris Proppe from Berlin after winning two rounds of a tiebreaker against Mr. Jan Graaf from Stockholm.

Third place went to the winner from last year, Mr. Peter Knipper from North Rhine-Westphalia. The Kyudoka of the guest dojo had to be content with 4th and 5th place.

Feliks F. Hoff
***

Isshou (single pine tree) Opening Ceremony

D. Mark Gabel emailed me recently with a link to pictures of the opening ceremony of his dojo: Isshou which means single pine tree. In the kyudo wilderness of America a kyudo dojo can be a one person shooting platform and that is what Mark has constructed on his property in North Carolina. He asked his teacher, Dan DeProspero sensei, to perform a dojo biraki (dojo opening ceremony) for the dojo and you can see scenes from that in the pictures. I'm also told that DeProspero sensei made the handsome carved wood sign as an opening gift for the dojo too.

You can see the pictures by by clicking here

Planning to Test In Japan?

With the canceling of overseas seminars and tests in the year there is an International Kyudo Federation event it is likely more people will travel to Japan to test. I'm assuming that the IKYF will still allow overseas members to test in local promotion tests in Japan.

If so then it helps to understand how the All Nippon Kyudo Federation (ANKF) organizes tests in Japan. Strictly speaking the ANKF only offers tests for renshi candidates and higher. Tests for kyu through 4th dan are the responsibility of local federations, usually one federation per prefecture. To test in one of these local federation tests you'll have to obtain the schedule either directly from the local federation or request the schedule from the ANKF who will refer you to a local official if they don't have that federation's testing schedule at hand. You'll have to meet the local federation's test application deadline and don't assume there will be someone there who can translate the written test questions from Japanese into English. Try to verify as many things ahead of time as possible because you will definitely be the odd person out and your attitude should be one of trying to cause as little disruption to the local test as possible.

Godan tests are usually administered by several local federations joining together to jointly administer the test such as Tokyo + Yamanashi pref., Southern Kyushuu (Kagoshima+Miyazaki+Kumamoto) and so forth. Finding the dates of these is the same process as finding kyu thru 4th dan tests, you'll have to contact one of the local federations.

Renshi tests and higher. Ah, now we get to the so-called "central" tests i.e. tests administered directly by the ANKF. There are two types of central test: the Teiki Chuoh Shinsa ("fixed" tests) and the Rinji Chuoh Shinsa ("special" tests). The Teiki Chuoh Shinsa tests are called "fixed" because there are four and their locations and months are "fixed" with the exact date falling on a particular weekend of the month. The four tests are given in Kyoto (May), Sendai (July), Fukuoka (Sept), and Tokyo (Nov). Of the four, the most well known to overseas participants is the Kyoto Taikai in May. Overseas Kyudo students frequently just say "Kyoto Taikai" when they refer to the archery competition always given in Kyoto but the Japanese word "Taikai" (Great Gathering) can be taken literally here. The archery competition is only one of many events which take place in Kyoto. There are several divisions of tournament available (starting with yondan and up) and typically there are archery demonstrations, and so-called "enbu" or demonstration tournaments. For example, hanshi are not expected to compete in regular tournaments so there is a hanshi enbu where each hanshi shoots two arrows and judges award an excellent performance award to a select few. There are so many ANKF officials and sensei attending this annual event that usually several overseas Kyudo students can be found in Kyoto meeting old friends and teachers and making new relationships as well. This popularity has a price. The Kyoto promotion tests are huge, typically over 400 people testing just for one rank alone in a single day. Finding space just to sit and string your bow can be hard. Taking a promotion test at the Kyoto Taikai is definitely a Kyudo character building experience.

The Rinji Chuoh Shinsa vary by time and place and there are more than a dozen of them. Their schedule is usually printed several months in advance in the Kyudo magazine but fortunately the ANKF now has a web page where all of the events in a fiscal year are listed.

You can see the ANKF event schedule by clicking here

The ANKF has thoughtfully labeled the promotion tests with little triangles. For example, on May 6th and 7th we see a promotion test. The location is given in parens in the fourth column which is Kyoto. Note the kanji following Kyoto. Those kanji are for "Teiki Chuoh Shinsa" in other words this is the fixed test held in Kyoto every year. In the fifth column we see that on the 6th the Kyoshi and 8th dan tests will be given. On the 7th is the 6th dan and 7th dan tests. Note the absence of a renshi test. Picking another date we see a renshi only test on May 28th in Kinki (Osaka vicinity). The test is called a Renshi Rinji Chuoh Shinsa, i.e. one of the renshi only tests whose date and location are not fixed from year to year.

Hopefully this quick overview of the ANKF's test scheduling practices will help you in planning your Japan trips. And good luck on your promotion test!

Pictues of the 2006 Kyoto Taikai Overseas Enbu medals.

As part of the inaugural events of the International Kyudo Federation a special overseas members "enbu" was added to this year's Kyoto Taikai. All overseas IKYF members who registered could shoot two arrows in a demonstration tournament. All those hitting both arrows received a small medal. But there were judges for the enbu and six people were choosen to receive a special "excellent performance" award which was a rather hefty medal with ribbon and certificate. The face on the medal was a Japanese archery from mythology. Yoshiko Buchanan from the Shiseikan dojo was one of the six and showed the dojo members her awards at the last dojo practice.

And of couse I have pictures which you can see by clicking here.

Here is a link to the ANKF page listing the other winners of the overseas enbu. Scroll to the bottom of the page which you can see by clicking here.

Highlights of the inaugural meetings of the International Kyudo Federation.

The inaugural meetings of the International Kyudo Federation (IKYF) took place at the Hotel New Kyoto, Kyoto-Shi, Japan on the 2nd of May, 2006. The IKYF was approved as an organization so there is now an official international organization in charge of kyudo worldwide.

Highlights of the meetings are:

There were 17 member countries of the IKYF: Japan , Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, UK, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA. Of those 17 countries, Portugal and Norway were absent and appointed proxies ahead of time.

There were minor changes to the IKYF bylaws:

(1) Honorary officers have been added. In particular, Takamado no Miya Hisako Denka (Her Imperial Highness princess Hisako Takamado) has been accepted to be the honorary president of the IKYF. Another two honorary officers are Yoshiro Mori (former prime minister) and Mayumi Moriyama (member of the House of Representatives).
(2) The numbers of vice chairman has been changed from "two" to "within three".
(3) The number of auditors has been changed from two to three.

The new IKYF officers are:
Chairman - Nobuyuki Kamogawa,
Vice Chairman - Ichiro Uozumi, Munenaga-Seki and Liam O'Brien (UK) IKYF Board members: Mitsunari Suzuki (ANKF president), Sadao-Suda, Shouichiro Nakatsuka, Kiyosada Ogasawara (Head of Ogasawara School), Kohei Irie (Honorary Professor, Tsukuba Univ.), Yoshikuni Yamada, Masashi Koyama, Takeo Ishikawa, Tooru Miyata, Yoshimitsu Usami, Masao Iijima, Shunichiro Ooe, Felix Hoff (Germany), Tryggvi Sigurdsson (Iceland), Oriou Charles-Louis (France), Dan DeProspero (USA) and Aaron Blackwell (USA).
IKYF Auditors: Jin Okamoto, Tadao Yoshiwara and William Reid (USA).

The Board of Director's meeting presented business plans and a budget for fiscal year 2006 and 2007. As IKYF general meetings are every two years, budgets and events are planned two years ahead. This is something overseas member countries will have to adjust to as events should be planned for up to two years ahead, not one year as was previously done in dealing with the ANKF.

The fiscal year 2006 business was the inauguration meeting of the IKYF and related events such as the Celebration Dinner and the 57th All Nippon Kyudo Taikai "Kaigai Kyuyu no bu in Kyoto with participation by Her Imperial Highness Princess Hisako Takamado.

The IKYF event in 2007 will be the first IKYF International Seminar and related events. This event takes place from April 10th to the 15th of 2007. The detailed information will be distributed in June, 2006. The current draft of the event is as follows:

4/10 - 12, 2007 Seminar at the ANKF Central Kyudojo, Meiji Shrine, Tokyo
4/12/2006 Reception for the Taikai to commemorate the inauguration of the International 
 Kyudo Federation
 Welcome party for participants of the Taikai at the Hotel New Otani, Tokyo.
4/13 - 14, 2007 A Taikai to commemorate the inauguration of the International 
 Kyudo Federation which will be held at the
 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo.
4/15, 2007 All Nippon Kyudo Federation Special Examination.
 The location will be at the "Chuoh Dojo" (Central Kyudojo of
 the All Nippon Kyudo Federation, Meiji Jingu Shrine,
 Tokyo). More details will be available in June, 2006. 

The eligibility of overseas participants will require them to be members of one of the registered country federations. But there will be no limit on ranks, nationalities or numbers of participants from the registered countries.

The World Kyudo Championship in 2009 is still being planned and its preparatory committee will be established. The event location will be in Tokyo, Japan.

Kyudo and the Olympics.

Kyudo as an Olympic sport is a straw man which arises every so often in discussions of the art. After all, if tug-of-war and croquet used to be Olympic sports then why not kyudo? (I am not making this up. The picture at the top of the web page is wonderful and be sure to click on the smaller pictures at the bottom to see pictures of some old Olympic games.

Alas the requirements for a sport to be included in the modern Olympics are somewhat stricter:

1.1 only sports widely practiced by men in at least seventy five
countries and on four continents, and by women in
at least forty countries and on three continents, may be
included in the programme of the Games of the
Olympiad;
 
1.2 only sports widely practised in at least twenty-five
countries and on three continents may be included in the
programme of the Olympic Winter Games;

From the above requirements you can see that few people living today have to worry about kyudo being included in the Olympics unless there is stunning growth in kyudo overseas in the very near future. There is one requirement however which is about to be met:

3.2 To be included in the programme of the Olympic Games,
events must have a recognised international standing
both numerically and geographically, and have been
included at least twice in world or continental
championships.

Country representatives are now gathering in Japan for ratification of the bylaws and other administrative procedures to form the new International Kyudo Federation. One of the major activities of the new IKYF will be the holding of a world kyudo championship every few years with the first one to be held 2009 if all goes well. In theory that would satisfy the world championship requirements. But there is yet another requirement for Olympic sport:

1.3 only sports that adopt and implement the World Anti-
Doping Code can be included and remain in the
programme of the Olympic Games;

Ah yes, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and the indignity of urine testing. I must confess that before and after kyudo tests and tournaments I have indeed spent much time peeing into urinals but the idea of someone actually collecting my urine, taking its temperature to be sure it's mine and not someone else's and then analyzing it just makes me want to say eeeEEEEWWWWWW! Where kyudo begins with a bow and ends with a bow, sport kyudo will now end with...well, you get the idea. For those interested in Olympic sport requirements you can click here.

There is one exception of course to Olympic eligibility rules. Host countries can nominate so-called exhibition sports. And sure enough, that is exactly what Japan attempted for the 1940 Olympics. Judo, kendo and kyudo were added to the Olympic games and had the games not been canceled kyudo would finally have made it to the Olympics. Who knows what would have happened but I have visions of crash courses in kyudo being given to every gaijin in Japan to keep the event from being 100% Japanese.

In researching kyudo and the Olympics I did find a very interesting article on the Olympics and Judo. The article is about issues surrounding the Olympics, Judo and the effect of TV and funding. But if you substitute the word "kyudo" for "judo" in the article I suspect it may well reflect the state of sport kyudo in a few years. I especially like the opening:

In 1922 judo founder Jigoro Kano resigned from his position as head of the Japan 
Amateur Athletic Association because he disagreed with its policy of encouraging 
professionals to enter international competition in hope of inflating Japanese medal 
counts. [EN1] A few years later, Kano told Olympic leader Pierre de Coubertin that 
judo was inappropriate for inclusion in the Olympics because it was not a sport but 
a school of life: judo, said Kano, was not a game, but instead it was "like a church, 
it teaches a man a moral sense." [EN2] In 1933, Kano told the young British judoka 
Trevor Leggett that, while he had nothing against competition, he was against 
championships; to his thinking, championships degraded people by placing too much 
emphasis on winning. [EN3] Finally, during a luncheon speech given at the 
Pan-Pacific Club in Tokyo on June 14, 1935, Kano complained that "competition 
sometimes makes men go to extremes and results in their doing themselves serious 
internal injury."[EN4]
 
So, despite the International Olympic Committee announcing on March 16, 1938 that 
judo, kendo, and kyudo (Japanese archery) would be demonstration sports 
featured at the 1940 Olympics, [EN5] it seems clear that in his time, Jigoro Kano 
never wanted judo in the Olympics. 

You can find the article by clicking here.

Suzuki Mitsunari sensei president of the ANKF.

This month's kyudo magazine has announced that Suzuki Mitsunari sensei, will be the new president of the ANKF starting in May, 2006. Presumably the current president, Kamogawa sensei, is making plans to head the new International Kyudo Federation when it is created.

The 2007 American and European Kyudo seminars have been canceled as expected.

The American Kyudo Renmei has been officially notified of the canceling of next year's national seminar in America and Europe. This was mentioned in previous IKYF meetings but is now official. The IKYF is thinking of having an international seminar in Japan in 2007 during the second week of April but no official announcement has been made on that yet. Obviously, just because there is no official ANKF seminar next year in America or Europe doesn't prevent the various national federations from organizing their own seminars in 2007.

Sample test application forms are back!

I've finally gotten around to updating the sample ANKF overseas test application forms. The new examples are MUCH smaller than the old and are based on the new form (which has been used for two years now so that shows you how out of date my examples were.) I created kyudo histories for three people: a mudan testing for the first time, a nidan going for their san dan test and someone going for their renshi test. Then I attempted to correctly fill out a test application form for each person. Please note the "notes" I've appended to the end of each form. Every year there are some very poorly filled out test application forms so I've tried to make these as current as possible by assuming that each person will be testing in the American 2006 seminar in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The hyperlinks to the forms are on the left side of this webpage.

Kyudo Photos on Flickr

Several people have uploaded their kyudo pictures to the Flickr photo sharing service owned by Yahoo. I recently did a search on the tag "kyudo" and was presented with a nice slideshow of photos. You can see the slideshow yourself by clicking here!

Applications for the 2006 American Seminar available

Applications for Kyudo USA 2006 have been posted on the South Carolina Kyudo Renmei web page. The page can be found by clicking here!

Note: although the direction says to mail the paperwork directly to South Carolina, Shiseikan dojo members should NOT do that. Experience has shown that previous applications, especially the test applications, are almost never filled out correctly. Completed applications for Shiseikan dojo members should be given to Yoshiko who will review them before mailing to South Carolina.

Missing Australians Found...In Austria!

Sharp eyed Austrian kyudo practitioner Robert Ruszthy has solved the mystery of the 68 missing members of the Australian Kyudo Federation after noting that Austria was missing from the list and had, you guessed it, 68 members!

Checking with my wife who read the table to me in Japanese I discovered that indeed she had said Austrian and not Australian but my gaijin ears were not sophisicated enough to understand the difference. Now that Yoshiko has boxed my ears with the November 2005 edition of the Kyudo magazine I know even more Japanese words, like "baka". The correctly translated table appears below.

An interesting table of membership totals, by rank and by country, was published in the November 2005 Kyudo magazine which I am reprinting here.

 Dan and
Country Hanshi Kyoshi Renshi Mudan Total
------- ------ ------ ------ ------- -------
Japan 107 1,794 4,361 124,005 130,267
USA 9 233 242
Austria  68 68
Belgium 1 81 82
Finland 58 58
France 1 12 345 358
Germany 1 5  1,126 1,132
UK 1 2 77 80
Iceland 1 0 13 14
Italy 1 4 146 151
Luxemburg 1  13 14
Holland 1 2 67 70
Norway 25 25
Portugal 15 15
Spain 52 52
Swiss 2 109 111
Sweden 21 21
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 107 1,800 4,399 126,454 132,760

Nihon Kogi by Masatomo Takagi for sale.

I was recently contacted by Ms. Lynne Hadley who has a antique Japanese book on archery for sale. As I have no expertise at all on antique books I will post her description of the book as emailed to me:

Dear Mrs. Buchanan,
 
I have in my possession, a copy of Nihon Kogi by Masatomo Takagi. 
This book is extremely rare, and I believe that there are only twelve 
copies in Japanese libraries. It is my intention to sell this book, 
and I would be very grateful to you if you could advise your 
membership of this, in case any of them may be interested in purchasing 
it? It really is a beautiful book, and is in excellent condition 
for its age. I can provide scans, should anybody be interested. 
A full description follows. Thank you.
 
Warmest regards,
 
Lynne Hadley.
 
Australia.
 
 
five maki bound in one volume in traditional fukuro-toji style, 262 x 185 
mm. 105 full page and 22 double page woodcuts and numerous smaller 
illustrations. Original orange wrappers with title slip in black and red. 
Published by Tamiya Raneido of Osaka and dated ninth year of Tempo (1838). 
This work has been regarded as a classic on the history of archery in Japan 
and has been used as an essential textbook by students of bushido, the way 
of the samurai. It covers many aspects of this traditional martial art that 
it constitutes an encyclopaedia on the subject . Various headings include: 
ceremonial etiquette, philosophy, antiquities and legends, making of bows 
and arrows, the annual festival of competitions and equipment, costumes and 
other accessories. There are numerous line drawings faithfully copied from 
old paintings or from life. The illustrator, Shitomi Kangyu, was a painter 
from Osaka. The Kokusho Somokuroku records twelve other copies as being 
preserved in various libraries in Japan. This copy has the library seal of 
Bujutsu Semmon Gakko,the Special College of Martial Arts, Tokyo. There is 
minor worming in a few blank margins, in a few page it extends just into the 
woodcut frame touching a few letters
 

Ms. Hadley can be reached at prowse@hotmail.com

Shiseikan 2006 Shinnen Shakai.

New Year, new software! I've updated my photo album software to the latest JAlbum freeware version and I'm now displaying the photos in a slide show so that the current slideshow picture doesn't blow everything off the user's browswer screen. I've uploaded pictures of the Shiseikan 2006 Shinnen Shakai practice and tournament. 2006 is the year of the dog so the prizes (and the prize wrappings) were a clever mix of western and Japanese dog images and dog squeeze toys. Some were very cute and there is one picture of Shiseikan members holding their just delivered dan certificates which just arrived from Japan.
You can see the pictures by clicking here!

Now for those of you who want to view and perhaps save individual full size pictures you still can. At the bottom right of the picture being displayed is a blue down arrow. Clicking on that will bring up the full size photo JPEG file which can be saved locally to your computer.

Pictures from the Seattle Kyudo Kai.

I am always interested in where people do kyudo in the kyudo wilderness of America. When I heard archers in Seattle were shooting in an old aircraft hanger I immediately asked for pictures and now they've been posted on the internet. You can see the pictures by clicking here!

Passing of Yoshihiro Shishime sensei.

With sadness I must report that a kyudo friend in Japan has informed Yoshiko and myself of the passing of Yoshihiro Shishime sensei, Hanshi, 10th dan, from Kagoshima Prefecture on January 2nd, 2006, at the age of 90. Shishime sensei was very active in the ANKF and some of you may remember his instruction of the senior group during the last Miyakonojo seminar. He was also the father of Mr. Koya Shishime, the ANKF office manager who I know that many of you have met and corresponded with over the years. Shishime sensei was always gracious to us and other foreign kyudo practioners so I thought it would be good to make this announcement so that overseas kyudo friends could get this information in a timely manner.

Pictures from the Shiseikan 2005 Shuku Shakai (Year End Practice).

As per Japanese tradition, at the end of every year the Shiseikan dojo has a Shuku Shakai, a year end practice. It is the final practice of the year and a chance to recognize all those members who passed their promotional tests some time during the year. The new rank holders wear ribbons and the other dojo members perform a congratulations shooting performance for them. Then the new rank holders return the favor by performing a "thank you" shooting performance and a year end sharei, called a nosha, is performed and class ends. After class everyone is invited to a dinner at a local resturant. A special note was made of dojo member Hiroki Fujita who passed his san dan test this year. Even though he now lives in Japan he was noted with the other successful dan promotions of the dojo for this year. Omedeto gozaimasu to everyone.

This year was no different except that, unlike previous years, I did not take an excessive number of pictures. The restrained number of pictures can be seen by clicking here!

Pictures from the Shiseikan 2005 Harvest Tournament.

Why yes, I do have an excessive number of pictures from the Shiseikan 2005 Harvest Tournament. Thank you for asking. The pictures can be seen by clicking here!

Yoshiko is recovering from surgery.

A bit of news from the home front. Yoshiko had surgery this morning (Nov. 3rd, 2005) to repair the primary rotator cuff muscle in her right shoulder. Years of archery practice had simply worn it out. It is an occupational hazard for archers or any athlete with repetitive overhead arm motion. The surgery went well, and while there cannot be a guarentee of 100% recovery the surgeon was optimistic and very experienced in the procedure. Yoshiko is now at home trying to figure out how to move around the house with all that equipment (infuser, sling, cryocuff) hanging off one arm!

Pictures from Kyudo USA 2005.

Why yes, I do have an excessive number of pictures from Kyudo USA 2005. Thank you for asking!
The pictures can be seen by clicking here!

Invitation to the Dutch Open Tournament Celebrating 25 years of the Dutch Kyudo Renmei!

I received this email today from Hans de Wekker sensei, President of the Kyudo Renmei Nederland:

Dear frends,

KYUDO RENMEI NETHERLANDS

Organize for the occasion of her 25 anniversary
Kyudo Dutch Open On October 15 & 16 in the city of Haarlem
For this accasion I have the pleasure to invite you to celebrate this together.
I hope for a positive responce.

Kind regards,

Hans de Wekker
President Kyudo Renmei Nederland

De Wekker sensei also sent this invitation which you can see by Clicking here!

International Kyudo Renmei will be an item of discussion in July.

My Japanese reading skills are minimal but if I understand what the news item on Page 5 of the May 2005 Kyudo Magaz