Yoshiko Buchanan and E.Clay Buchanan III
While observing the 45th All Japan Tournament in Kyoto on May 2nd and 3rd, 1994, I was fortunate to witness a demonstration by one of the traditional schools of Japanese archery, the Bisshu Chikurin school.
The announcer, Mr. Takashi Fuchimoto, kyoshi 7th, began by introducing the archers and giving a short background of the Bisshu Chikurin school. The archers, in order of first to fifth were: Ichiro Uozumi kyoshi 8th dan, Kazuyuki Kawaguchi, kyoshi 7th dan, Tatsuhiko Nagae, kyoshi 7th dan, Yoshimitsu Usami, kyoshi 7th dan, Hideo Sibata, kyoshi 8th dan. The first assistant was Tsutomu Kato, kyoshi 7th dan, the second assistant was Iori Takagi, kyoshi 7th dan.
Like most non-Japanese archers, the overwhelming majority of my experience with ceremonial shooting has been with the modern All Nippon Kyudo Federation forms. So the impressions which follow should be taken as someone seeing things, in a sense, backwards i.e. a Bisshu Chikurin archer, practicing in a traditional school, probably looks at modern ceremonial forms as "new" or "different" whereas I see the Bisshu Chikurin forms as "different" from principles which I know.
The demonstration was the longest form I have ever witnessed; 33 minutes in total. Five archers shot two arrows from a kneeling position then two arrows from a standing position. A single target at 28 meters was used, forcing everyone except the middle archer to angle their stance to be in line with the target.
The archers knelt at honza sitting in seiza with the two assistants sitting behind them. Laying their bows and arrows on the floor beside them, they turned to the judges seat, bowed, then turned back to the targets. Since they were not holding equipment they were able to use both hands on the floor to help push their bodies while sitting in seiza. This pattern of sitting at honza in seiza and placing their bows and arrows on the floor was repeated after every shot. The archer would fire, return to honza, then lay his equipment down and wait until the fifth archer fired and also returned to honza. Then the line would pick up their equipment and walk together to shai to fire again. In my opinion, allowing the archers to return to honza to rest between shots instead of requiring them to wait in the kiza position results in a higher quality demonstration as the archer is not physically exhausted before firing. Indeed, when the entire form takes over half an hour, kiza sitting may well be humanly impossible to do and still express the beauty of the form.
The five archers advanced to shai and performed a most beautiful maneuver in the kneeling position. The June, 1994 issue of the ANKF Kyudo magazine has a perfect picture of this on the cover. While kneeling at shai, and before raising the bow to the front, the archers thrust their bows straight at the target. This movement is called "nakazumi" and can be done kneeling or standing. The bow arm is fully extended, the upper bowtip pointed to the center of the target. The upper bowtip is then aligned with the left toe, if standing, or the left knee, if kneeling. By extending the line to the right toe, or the inside of the right ankle if kneeling, the archer's ashibumi will be set in a line with the center of the target. Something especially important in a form which forces all but the middle archer to angle their stance toward a single target.
All five archers performed hadanugi, sleeve removal, together at shai. After nocking the first arrow the second arrow was dropped, literally, at the archers feet and not held in the hand while shooting. After firing one arrow, the second arrow was picked up and in a deft move the bow was flipped so the string was facing backwards, then the second arrow was momentarily held with the bow hand fingers, while the glove hand made a quick smoothing motion over the fletchings. Then the arrow was gripped with the glove hand again and the bow flipped in the hand so the string was now outside the wrist. This entire motion, taking far less time to perform than to write about, is called "yasabaki", literally arrow shuffling. I discovered later that the Bisshu Chikurin, like many traditional schools, does not have the zanshin step in shooting. Shooting consists of seven steps, the 8th step being added after formation of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation in the early nineteen fifties.
It was after firing the first arrow that, in my opinion, the most extraordinary thing occurred. The archer would stand, turn in place at shai until the archers back was FACING THE TARGET, and then, with his back fully exposed to the target, the archer walked back to honza.
I was stunned. In my wildest imaginings I would never have expected any school, much less a traditional one, to have a form where the archer, at shai, turns his back to the target. One by one each archer performed this maneuver. From the buzz in the visitors gallery I guessed I was not the only one surprised by this.
After firing the second arrow in the kneeling form each archer performed hadaire, replacing the sleeve, at shai and then the archer turned his head to look back at the target with a penetrating gaze that, depending on the individual personality of the archer, varied from serene contemplation to a ferocious stare. As explained to me latter, this staring back at the target after firing is a form of sumashi, mental clearing. The archer looks back at the target to clear his mind of any lingering worry or fixation about it.
After each shot the 2nd assistant quickly retrieved the arrow. By immediately retrieving each arrow the danger of one arrow hitting another is eliminated, a definite consideration with five top archers shooting at a single target. After the fifth archer shot his second arrow in the kneeling form and performed hadaire, he bent forward, touching his yugake to the floor and called out "O'nya" (ya meaning arrow and O'n being an honorific) to the 2nd assistant. The 2nd assistant returned to the dojo carrying the entire bundle of ten arrows which he handed to the 1st assistant. Behind me I heard questions raised of how the 1st assistant would tell which arrow belonged to which archer as all ten were in one unsorted bundle.
The solution was simple. The 1st assistant brought the entire bundle of arrows to the first archer who sat in seiza at honza with his bow on the floor beside him. This left both hands free and the archer took the bundle of arrows and laid the arrow points in his lap with the fletchings on the floor before him. Sorting through the arrows he found and removed his arrows, placed them on the floor, then handed the bundle to the second archer. This was repeated down the line. I noted that after the last shot was fired in the standing form however, the 2nd assistant did not wait for a signal but immediately returned to the dojo and took his position behind honza holding the bundle of arrows. He bowed holding the bundle and carried it from the dojo behind the exiting archers.
In the initial advance to shai from honza for the standing form the archers took two steps, knelt, then immediately rose again, and advanced another two steps to shai. In subsequent conversations with Bisshu Chikurin archers I was told that there is indeed a so called "chuza" or "middle line" in this form. Two steps from honza is chuza and another two steps from there is shai. I was told this kneeling of the line in unison at chuza allows them to coordinate kisoku, intentional breathing for the performance of shooting, before advancing to shai.
For the standing shooting, a standing hadanugi at shai was performed. In advancing to shai, only omai actually assumed the feet apart ashibumi stance. The other archers placed their left foot as normal but closed their right foot with the left. All four archers looked intently at the first and continued staring until he had fired. After the first archer fired, the second archer placed his right foot properly and assumed yugamae while the following archers now watched him. This continued down the line with each archer watching every archer before him shoot until it was his turn. This interaction between the archers, to my eyes at least, resulted in much greater cohesiveness and group feeling between the performers then I have seen in any ANKF form.
After shooting the second arrow of the standing form, each archer would perform hadaire, then back up and kneel at chuza to watch the archer behind them shoot looking up at the face of the archer standing behind them. This position was held until the archer had begun uchiokoshi then the kneeling archer would bow and return to honza, this time actually backing up instead of turning his back to the target. I was informed this maneuver is considered a proper gesture of etiquette to the following archer and was not something derived from a battlefield technique or other martial consideration. The effect of this was, again, to give a much tighter feeling to the form and unify the archers ki as they were, in a sense, interacting rather than just waiting for the person in front to finish shooting.
I must also comment on the graceful yugamae of the Bisshu Chikurin archers. In both kneeling and standing forms, after nocking the arrow to the string but before performing torikake each archer rotated the bow on the knee until the bow arm was pointing straight towards the target. To balance this motion, the archer simultaneously moves his right arm back almost to the kai position although the glove hand does not leave the chest. This is part of yugamae and is done to confirm the so called "yumi no butokoro" the space between the body and the bow encompassed by the arms and chest. By opening the chest and tightening the back muscles a large oval feeling is developed that was clearly noticeable in the bodies of the archers. Besides the practical effect of opening the chest, the smooth performance of this motion, combined with a serene gaze of the archer toward the target has a powerful influence on the aesthetic of the form producing one of the most beautiful motions I have ever seen in kyudo.
The Bisshu Chikurin school does not use the word sharei, ceremonial shooting, to describe this form, using the word taihai instead. I noticed the archers used sashin satai footwork, advancing with the left foot and also retiring with the left foot, whereas most ANKF forms use sashin utai footwork, advancing with the left foot and retiring with the right.
For the final bow to the judges seat, each archer reached over to their yugake with their left hand and pulled at least one loop of their yugake strap out, holding the strap end in the palm of their glove hand. After this they turned and performed the final bow. I found this an interesting way to signal the end of the performance.
The archer's, and assistant's exit from the dojo was also different from most ANKF forms I have seen. Only the first archer stopped at the doorway to turn and bow. The other archers, and the assistants, simply exited through the door without pausing or turning in any way. It appeared the first archer, who was the senior member of the group, assumed the "burden" of etiquette toward the audience.
My knowledge of Chikurin history is limited but as I understand it the Chikurin ha began around 1580 and grew from the teachings of Ishido Chikurinbu Josei who taught archery to the retainers of Matsudaira Tadaiyoshi, the then lord of Kiyosu Castle. Later in life he became a Buddhist priest in the Shingon sect. One archer historian has speculated that the Ishido was added because he lived in an area known as Ishido. Formally the Chikurin ha was known as the Heki ryu Chikurin ha indicating its clear origins from the Heki ryu. Strictly speaking the Bisshu Chikurin ha is a name used to describe the Chikurin ha as it developed in the old Bisshu provence which I believe was close to Nagoya. In fact, Chikurin's second son, Sadasugu served the ninth son of Ieyasu Tokugawa and followed him to Nagoya. Sadasugu finished four volumes of archery instruction started by his father and, combined with his relationship to the Tokugawa family, undoubtably contributed greatly to the spread of the Chikurin ha.
The only difference in the hasettsu from other shamen uchiokoshi archers that I could see involved yugamae. Instead of predrawing the bow while the lower bowtip is on the left knee, they drew and raised the bow simultaneously while moving to daisan. From there they drew smoothly into kai without pausing.
Finally I must mention the exquisite shooting of the third and fourth archers: Mr. Tatsuhiko Nagae and Mr. Yoshimitsu Usami. Mr. Usami's shooting is superb with a power and technical precision that has generated a well earned reputation for excellence all over Japan, particularly his performances in the All Japan tournament. The third archer, Mr. Tatsuhiko Nagae was a wonderful contrast to Mr. Usami with his serene, and calm expression of shooting skill. This lucky chance to see them shooting side by side provided me with one of the most thrilling kyudo experiences I have ever had.
If you are ever lucky enough to see either of these archers shooting you will be treated to an uncommonly good example of kyudo as art and budo.