Connecting Kyudo to Western Archery

A couple of weeks ago I competed in an indoor archery tournament in which scores from across the country would be compiled and compared and from this, the top three scores in each division would be awarded either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal.  So what does this have to do with Kyudo? Nothing really as Kyudo is not about hiting the target, its about personal growth and the development of inner strength.

Eugen Herrigel in his book Zen in the Art of Archery spoke of the concept of  mushin or "no mind."  The 7 coordinations of Kyudo are prescribed with each movement having a purpose, so much so that the concentration required to perform these movements transforms what is seemingly the simple process of shooting an arrow into a form of moving meditation.  Its this concept of mushin that I want to explore as I believe that it is this that is the common bond between the Kyudoka and the high performance archer.

A mind that is unconsious of itself is a mind that is not disrupted by affects of any kind.  It can also be said that mushin or munen ("no thought") is a state in which the mind keeps nothing in it.  I find this very similar to what high performance archers call "being in the zone."  It is a state of being in which one's focus is solely on the task at hand. 

Applying the concept of mushin to western archery really isn't that much of a step.  Like Kyudo, executing a good archery shot requires the archer to follow a prescribed sequence of steps we have come to call "form." By focusing on executing each step in the shot sequence, we can quickly find ourselves in the zone and this can lead to success.  The problem exists when we allow distractions such as other archers affect our focus.

This bring us back to the regional championships two weeks ago.  I was competing in an equipment division referred to as "Bowhunter Unlimited."  What this means is that, competitors in this division are restricted to using equipment that would commonly be used by a bowhunter in the field.  This requires that sights have multiple pins and no lenses and that stabilizers are restricted be being no longer than 12 inches.  During these tournaments, they place athletes in groups on the shooting line according to equipment class and as such I found myself shooting with an archer in my divsion who was using a sight that had a scope with a magnifying lens.  In other words, this archer was cheating.  To add insult to injury, I was calling the scores and the archer in question was agressively challenging each and ever arrow I scored.  Needless to say, I was angry.

My anger with this situation had caused me to lose my focus and despite turning in high scores in training leading up to this tournament, my results this time out were mediocre at best.  If I had only practiced the lessons I learned in Kyudo, I would have had better success.  As Sensei says, the yumi is the great teacher.