Hands

"Me wa kuchihodoni monowo ii". This is a Japanese saying. The meaning is that the eyes can say as much as the mouth. It is true and in kyudo training "Mezukai" is listed as one of the five principles. There are other parts of the human body that are as good as the eyes to tell or express our feelings; such as hands, or more precisely, the fingers. When we speak, our hands move to make our description or expression more clear or correct for the listener to understand better. Drawing a circle, describing objects, accepting or denying, assuring or puzzling, the hands keep moving as the speech or conversation goes on. While we are thinking our hands will move to our heads, shoulders, hips, or cheeks and very often they cross each other. Hands move even when we want to be calm and still. Hands sometimes seem to be alive by themselves. While signing, pointing, signaling and drawing our hands are busy.

However, when I see a good speaker, demonstrator, or MC, their hands move objectively and purposely. Their hands are seen layered on top of each other. They are controlled and stay still and they do their jobs as they are needed. In kyudo practice, especially when we perform kaizoe or hadanugi or tasukisabaki, our hands express how calm or nervous our mental condition is. Hands should be subordinate to our mind and must be controlled yet, they should be enlivened. Archers with a great control of their mind have beautiful finger alignment whatever the movement he or she is in. Such control creates "Shahin" and shahin can be seen not only in the archer's posture of movement but it is also seen in the controlled enlivened fingers. In other word fingers can tell us how good a posture he or she is composing in a particular situation.

I have seen such hands twice while attending the 3rd Miyakonojo Seminar. I would like to introduce one of these excellent examples. When Mochimato Sharei was demonstrated by the five senseis there was a 6th sensei sitting in kiza form behind the archers. The area where this 6th sensei was situated was about 3m away from the 2nd archer and just by the side of the sensei's desk in the dojo. Some students, perhaps, could not spot him because of this angle but from my position the entire shajo was clearly seen and his posture caught my eyes. How reserved he was yet, he was alert. How intently his care was distributed to all the archers to assist them but his atmosphere was serene. I kept watching this sensei until the demonstration was over. This sensei, Kazuyuki Sanmaru sensei, hanshi 8th dan, who was one of the seminar instructors, kept his posture still and his fingers were kept on his thighs softly and quietly. His hands knew their master. His hands moved as he stood up at the end of the demonstration but his fingers were still quietly together and following their master. Sanmaru sensei's existence was probably unnoticeable through the demonstration but such a kaizoe is the best kaizoe to make the archers stand out. His kaizoe for the five archers was a living shadow and it was a valuable teaching to me. I was very happy and grateful to have had such a memorable lesson during the Miyakonojo seminar.

Sanmaru sensei suddenly passed away in August, a little over a month ago. He was 74 and still young to be a hanshi and could have trained many more kyudo students. He was one of the first instructors of the first Miyakonojo International Kyudo Seminar in 1992. I will remember Sanmaru sensei and his teachings. I will keep training myself and hope that I will be able to form such a posture with living fingers some day. I will also try to transfer this sensei's valuable teaching to my kyudo friends.

Note:

I wrote this article because my hands always move more than they are needed. I try to keep them still but it is difficult to do so. I observed many hands during our practice here and also in Japan and have noticed that even quiet hands can not be kept straight and enlivened. While standing, bowing and sitting I often see that our fingers are open. That is the evidence of an opening in the mind. We have many areas in the conduct of shooting that we have to pay attention to, to make them correct but we tend to forget or neglect how our fingers and hands should look like or we simply can not bring our attention to our fingers. Some of you may have noticed that the kyudo movement is referred to as "Shimai" and I agree with it. "Shimai" is one of Japanese dances which expresses the theme of the dance in extremely simplified movements. The dancer sometimes uses a space of only three square feet space to perform her dance. In such limited space and with simplified movements the dancer's fingers become a large part of her expression of the theme. We also extend our views of dances to the Indian, Thai, Balinese dances and even ballet and we are always surprised to find how expressive the dancer's fingers are and how importantly their hands move to tell a story.

To maintain proper looking hands and fingers we need to breath correctly. When you inhale and exhale, try to get a feeling that air streams not only through your nostrils but also your fingers. If you can, you will feel your fingers straightened naturally because such an air stream evokes the strength of your mind, "Ki" . Breathing brings up your ki in life and controls the flow of such ki. Also, air could stream through your eyes, which helps your proper gaze. This is just the beginning of your breathing practice, and as you practice breathing correctly you will feel that air comes in and goes out through your entire body and then finally you will find the center of your body.

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