Kyudo in Los Angeles

Kyudo in Los Angeles:

Kyudo came to the United States from Japan in the early years of the 20th Centery, reaching Los Angeles as early as 1908 with the Rafu Kyudo Kai.

As early as 1916, Mr. Suda Chokei had founded the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai. From 1920 to 1928 Miwa Tanechiko Sensei taught the Heki style of archery. The group met at a dojo located on what was then Jackson Street in Little Tokyo. A second dojo was located in Boyle Heights on St. Louis Street, near Hollenbeck Park.

In the 1940's the Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, like all the other Americans of Japanese ancestry, and placed in internment camps. Many of the bows and arrows were seized as weapons by the federal government. Fearful owners of these weapons often either burned or buried their equipment.

In 1973, Koen Mishima Sensei arrived in Los Angeles as a minister at the Higashi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. At first he practiced by himself in the temple's basement.

The Jackson Street martial arts center was closed and eventually demolished, and for the duration of the war, Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps. After the war, individuals resumed their practice in isolation without the help and support of an instructor, and there was no official kyudo dojo in Los Angeles for over thirty years. . In 1973, Rev. Koen Mishima, a kyudo practitioner of many years' standing, arrived in Los Angeles from Japan to minister at the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple. He practiced kyudo in the temple's basement by himself for a long time; one day, he was photographed as he was practicing. Iwao Iwata saw that photograph displayed at an exhibition, and he became Mishima-sensei's first student. Eventually the two of them were joined by Rev. Hirokazu Kosaka (a priest from a neighboring temple), Rev. Kiyomaru Mishima (Mishima-sensei's younger brother), and an American man named Mike Stanley. In 1975, Mishima-sensei and Kosaka-sensei officially reinstated the old Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and weekly taught a growing number of students in a variety of locations: from 1973–1978, at the Higashi Honganji Temple; from 1978–1981 in the basement of Koyasan Temple in Little Tokyo; from 1982–1992, in the beautiful wood-paneled church hall of the Nichiren Temple in East Los Angeles, at the corner of Fourth Street and Saratoga; from 1993–1999, in the Rafu Chuo Gakuen Community Hall on Saratoga. From 2000 to the present, the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai has met with the Nanka Kyudo Kai at the Pasadena Japanese Cultural Institute. The Nanka Kyudo Kai was formed by Rick Beal with permission from Kosaka-sensei to represent the growth of their group beyond Los Angeles to include all of Southern California. Nanka is the word used by the local Japanese Community to mean "Southern California." The group now has classes in San Diego, Orange County, Palmdale/Lancaster area, Pasadena, and West Los Angeles. In addition, the Nanka Kyudo Kai represents the group nationally and internationally with as a member of the American Kyudo Renmei and the International Kyudo Renmei in Japan. Instructors of the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai (1973–Present) Rev. Koen Mishima Rev. Koen Mishima was born and raised in Takayama, Japan. His father was a Buddhist priest, with his own temple and congregation, and all three of his sons became Buddhist priests and kyudo practitioners. When their father died, according to custom, the eldest son inherited the temple; Mishima-sensei immigrated to Los Angeles in 1973 and began his ministry with the Higashi Honganji Temple. In his youth, Mishima-sensei was taught kyudo by two teachers. One of these followed the Honda and the Ogasawara styles, and the other taught a style called Muyo Shingetsu Ryu. Mishima-sensei did not at that time embrace either of these disciplines entirely, but rather took elements of each and incorporated them into his own practice, which became a blend of his teachers' styles and which became the style practiced by the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai from 1975 until 1995. In 1988, Mishima-sensei immigrated to Australia and lived in Brisbane for eight years, which provided him the first opportunity in many years to think deeply about what he was looking for in kyudo. During this time he built a temple and a kyudo dojo on his own property, and he practiced with a growing number of students in what he called the Brisbane Kyudo Kai. In 1990 on a visit to Japan, he met with his old teacher, Master Sagino of the Muyo Shingetsu Ryu, and attended a kyudo seminar that his master was giving. When the master stood in front of and helped him open the bow, imbuing it with his spirit and experience (as is the custom that style), Mishima-sensei felt he experienced enlightenment in his kyudo. Abandoning the Japan Kyudo Federation because of its focus on sport as opposed to spiritual discipline, he began his commitment to Master Sagino and his master's school of kyudo. In 1995 Mishima-sensei returned to Los Angeles for a visit, and persuaded Kosaka-sensei to change Los Angeles dojo to his new style. For the next five years, all members of the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai practiced Muyo Shingetsu Ryu exclusively, and this style is still practiced by the senior members. In 1996 Mishima-sensei moved back to Japan, settling in the city of Nigata. He was adopted as a son by the temple that he inherited through his second marriage, and consequently he has changed his last name to "Hosagawa." He has built a dojo on the temple grounds, and once again teaches kyudo, always in the Muyo Shingetsu Ryu form. Mishima-sensei taught kyudo continuously throughout these years until he emigrated to Australia in 1988. At that time, Kosaka-sensei took over the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai. Mr. Hirokazu Kosaka Mr. Hirokazu Kosaka was born in Wakayama, in the south of Japan. Wakayama is located only a few miles from the town of Tanabe, the city in which aikido was founded, and where kyudo is still zealously practiced today. It was in this Mecca of martial arts that the young Kosaka-sensei grew to understand and appreciate the many different aspects of the bushido ("The Way of the Warrior"). The form of kyudo practiced by members of the Kosaka Family was Kishu-Chikurin-Ha of the Heike-Ryu from; the young Hirokazu Kosaka was, however more fond of the ceremonial from of Ogaswara-ryu, and so spent much of his time learning this form. Kosaka-sensei is the fourth generation of his family to come to America. His great-grandfather came to Seattle in 1890, his grandfather in 1910, and his mother came to Tacoma in 1921. In 1958, when he was ten years old, Kosaka-sensei came to study English in Los Angeles for a year, and then returned again in 1967 to attend the Chouinard Art Institute. In 1970, he returned to Japan and entered a monastery, where he became a Buddhist priest; and in 1975 he once again returned to Los Angeles to minister at the Koyasan Temple in Little Tokyo. There were only a few young Japanese priests in the area at the time, and they were all well acquainted with each other. One day, Kosaka-sensei was invited by Mishima-sensei to practice kyudo, and this invitation began a long relationship during which they developed a deep bond of friendship and a common kyudo ideal, and they spent much time in discussion of how to teach kyudo to westerners. From the time that Mishima-sensei moved to Australia in 1988, Kosaka-sensei has been the head of the Los Angeles kyudo Kai. He is also a multi-media artist, and as the Exhibitions Director of the JACCC-Japanese American Community Cultural Center he is very involved with the cultural life of the Little Tokyo community. As a consequence, in recent years he has had very little time to devote to teaching and managing the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and has given his senior student, Rick Beal, permission to teach kyudo. Rick Beal Rick Beal began training in Japanese Budo at a young age in 1966. But his real revelation came in the early 80’s with his sword teacher Hirotaka Okubo (Okubo-sensei). Okubo-sensei had studied kyudo with Kosaka-sensei and Mishima-sensei in Los Angeles; so Okubo-sensei incorporated the basic movements of kyudo into his warm up exercises for the sword classes. When asked why, Okubo-sensei replied, “If you lay down your sword and practice kyudo for ten years, then pick up the sword again, your sword will also be ten years better. No other martial art will do that, only kyudo.” Prior to meeting Okubo-sensei, Rick had owned and operated a small karate/kobudo school. Okubo-sensei and insisted that if Rick wanted to train with him, he must close his school. Rick closed the school and traveled around the area to find places for each of his senior students to train. One of those students (one of Rick’s top students) couldn’t find any other instructor he wanted to train with, or any other art that he would rather study. So Rick took him to meet Okubo-sensei in hopes that they could train together. The student had no interest in the sword, and really didn’t bond with Okubo-sensei; but upon seeing the kyudo warm up he exclaimed, “What is that? I want to do that!” Okubo-sensei wrote a letter of introduction for the young man to Mishima-sensei and sent him to the Higashi Hongwanji temple to begin kyudo. Being one of Rick’s previous karate students, he asked Rick to come along for moral support. Rick came and the two of them were told to sit down and watch (it was customary at that time in the class to have prospective students watch for three classes before they could begin instruction). But for some reason, Mishima-sensei approached them and asked them to join the other beginning students that he was teaching to walk. Although Rick’s friend stood up immediately, Rick explained that he had no interest in training in kyudo, but he had only come to offer support to his friend. Mishima-sensei insisted that Rick should also train, but Rick demurred, saying that he did not want to waste the-sensei’s time and that he would only be there for one day and then be gone. Mishima-sensei said, “One day of practice is one day of practice.” Rick practiced with the group that day, and has practiced with them ever since.

We've been shooting at the El Dorado Dojo quite often on Sunday mornings.

A few years ago we performed several ceremonies to inaugurate the El Dorado Dojo. This was not the first time kyudo has been done at the archery facility, The Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, before the archery range was built at Rancho Park, used to shoot at El Dorado Park every Sunday morning.

While Rancho Park is being renovated, I have returned to this early home of the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai to practice at the El Dorado Park once again.

What I really enjoyed about the last few practice is that my best shots, those with the longer kai and straight nobiai, fly into the target; those that are too short of a kai or nobiai is off do not. This is different than a few years ago when only my short kai periods would hit. With the more proper shots hitting, it brings a wonderful positive reinforcement to continue with a nice kai and polish the nobiai more and more.

Ikkyu 1991: Newsletter published by members of The Los Angeles Kyudo Kai

Los Angeles Kyudo Kai 1929

"Better known as Japanese Zen Archery, 'Kyudo', came to the United States via Seattle in the early years of the present century [20th century].

The word kyudo  literally translated means 'the way of the bow'. Kyudo  is knows as Zen archery because archery in Japan was deeply influenced by Zen philosophy. Kyudo is an art, a discipline, a form of moving meditation. In the past times kyudo was also called 'kyujitusu'.

Not much is known about kyudo in its first birth in this country [United States of America], but we do know it had reached Los Angeles by 1910, with scattered individuals practicing around the city [we now also have learned that there was a Rafu Kyudo Kai as early as 1908, having seen a newspaper article that referenced them with that year]. [We also now know that between 1903 and 1908 the Hawaii Kyudo Kai was formed]. In 1916, the first Los Angeles Kyudo Kai was founded by Suda Chokei.

In San Francisco in 1925, the original owner of the Japenese Tea House in Golden Gate Park asked the archer Imaizumi Wazaburo to begin instrcuting a local group in the 'Heike' style of kyudo [we also know that the style of the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai was also Heike-ryu]. The group of 40 individuals named itself Shinno Kai and practiced once a month. In the spring and summer they also presented Shinto Ceremonies in the city. In 1926 another group, the Satsui Kai, was formed by Ebina Shunshuro and Yamazaki Senkichi. An Oakland group was formed by Shiozawa Tetsushiro and Aoki Saneharu. By 1930 there were well-established group[s] practicing in San Francisco,  Oakland and Los Angeles [and Hawaii].

World War II caused a grave disruption of this ancient and solemn practice. As kyudo was considered a martial art, their  'weapons' were seized by the government. the  bows and arrows which escaped confiscation were either  burned or buried by their fearful owners [there is a great story of how Kosaka Sensei was able to recover some of these treasures, which we still have as part of our 'inheritance']. All Japanese Americans were sent to relocation camps.

The history of kyudo in the United States after the War is obscure, It is not known if any groups were formed again or practiced until 1975 when the Reverend Koen Mishima arrived in Los Angeles. As a miniser of the Higashi Hongwanji Temple, and coming from a faimly of kydoi practitioners, he reinstated the art of kyudo under the name Los Angeles Kyudo Kai [the story of how this name and legacy was offered to them by members of the first Los Angeles Kyudo Kai is quite interesting as well]. The group has been practicing continuously from that time and presently meets on Friday nights at the Nichiren Buddhist Temple in East Los Angeles. the group fluctuates between 10-20 members.

In 1989 Rev. Mishima immigrated to Australia and formed the first kyudo group on that continent in Brisbane. Presenlty his close associate since 1975, Hirokazu Kosaka, is the instructor of the group.

In May 1991, the group celebrated the 75th anniversary of kyudo in Los Angeles. [2016 they will celebrate their 100th anniversary].

Los Angeles Kyudo Kai 1991

[my own notes (by rick beal)]

Los Angeles Kyudo Kai 2009

Los Angeles Kyudo Kai

Kyudo came to the United States from Japan in the early years of the twentieth century, reaching Los Angeles as early as 1908 with scattered individuals practicing around the city and the beginnings of a group called the Rafu (the local Japanese pronunciation of “L.A.”) Kyudo Kai. As early as 1916, Mr. Suda Chokei had founded the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and the group practiced together regularly. From 1920 to 1928, Mr. Miwa Tanechiko taught the Heike style of archery. Students met at a dojo located on what was then Jackson Street in Little Tokyo, near the intersection of San Pedro and First Streets. A second dojo was located in Boyle Heights on St. Louis Street, near Hollenbeck Park. Vintage photographs and a collection of artifacts from the first dojo survive to this day. World War II caused a grave and decades-long disruption in the practice of kyudo in Los Angeles. Because kyudo was considered a martial art, bows and arrows used by practitioners were seized as weapons by the federal government, and those that escaped confiscation were either burned or buried by their fearful owners. The Jackson Street martial arts center was closed and eventually demolished, and for the duration of the war, Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps. After the war, individuals resumed their practice in isolation without the help and support of an instructor, and there was no official kyudo dojo in Los Angeles for over thirty years. In 1973, Rev. Koen Mishima arrived in Los Angeles from Japan to minister at the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple. He practiced kyudo in the temple's basement by himself for a long time; one day, he was photographed as he was practicing. Iwao Iwata saw that photograph displayed at an exhibition, and he became Mishima-sensei's first student. Eventually the two of them were joined by Rev. Hirokazu Kosaka (a priest from a neighboring temple), Rev. Kiyomaru Mishima (Mishima-sensei's younger brother), and an American man named Mike Stanley. By 1976, Mishima-sensei and Kosaka-sensei officially reinstated the old Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and weekly taught a growing number of students in a variety of locations: from 1973–1978, at the Higashi Honganji Temple; from 1978–1981 in the basement of Koyasan Temple in Little Tokyo; from 1982–1992, in the beautiful wood-paneled church hall of the Nichiren Temple in East Los Angeles, at the corner of Fourth Street and Saratoga; from 1993–1999, in the Rafu Chuo Gakuen Community Hall on Saratoga. From 2000 to the present, the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai has met with the Nanka Kyudo Kai at the Pasadena Japanese Cultural Institute. In 1996 The Nanka Kyudo Kai was formed by Rick Beal with permission from Kosaka-sensei to represent the growth of their group beyond Los Angeles to include all of Southern California. Nanka is the word used by the local Japanese Community to mean "Southern California." Today kyudo is represented in Southern California by a few groups, some formed by previous students of Sensei Rick Beal of the Nanka Kyudo Kai, Rick Sensei himself, and of course Hirokazu Kosaka Sensei of the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai continues to honor those that first brought the bow to the area.

Angels Gate Opening Ceremony

The Los Angeles Kyudo Kai

In 1973, Rev. Koen Mishima arrived in Los Angeles from Japan to minister at the Higashi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. His family had practiced kyudo for many generations. Mishima Sensei practiced kyudo in the temple's basement by himself for quite some time; one day, as he practiced, he was photographed. Iwao Iwata saw that photograph displayed at an exhibition, and he became Mishima Sensei's first student. Eventually the two of them were joined by Rev. Hirokazu Kosaka Sensei, and an American man named Mike Stanley.

When Kosaka Sensei arrived as young monk his job was to interview the families of the deceased, he was to console them and to help document the life that had been lost. On one such interview when he asked what their grandfather liked to do, they responded, 'Kyudo'. After exclaiming that he too practiced kyudo, he was told that their grandfather had buried the bows and arrows from the original Los Angeles Kyudo Kai in the backyard of their family home, before the war. During the World War, The Japanese were being persecuted, rounded up and put into internment camps; their grandfather feared being caught with weapons, but hated to loose the legacy represented by this equipment; so he buried it in the backyard. Kosaka Sensei found the house, and in his monks robes, knocked on the door. The current owner of the home (a large dark skinned man), fearing a request for money, snatched the door open and shouted, 'Whattya want!' With his hands in gassho, Kosaka Sensei calmly said, 'There is buried treasure in your backyard, and I'd like to dig it up'. After a great conversation, and a meal of American Southern Style food an arrangement was reached. The local Japanese Gardner's Association came and dug up the yard to find the buried boxes, and then they re-landscaped the yard beautifully for the owner.

Kosaka Sensei also learned that members of the original Los Angeles Kyudo Kai still lived in Los Angeles. He met with them and discussed kyudo in the early days of the twentieth century. These men asked Kosaka Sensei, 'Please keep the memory of the Los Angles Kyudo Kai alive'. This is when Kosaka and Mishima Sensei decided to name their group The Los Angeles Kyudo Kai.

This is what Sensei was told:
Kyudo came to the United States from Japan in the early years of the twentieth century, reaching Los Angeles as early as 1908 with scattered individuals practicing around the city and the beginnings of a group called the Rafu (the local Japanese pronunciation of “L.A.”) Kyudo Kai. As early as 1916, Mr. Suda Chokei had founded the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and the group practiced together regularly. From 1920 to 1928, Mr. Miwa Tanechiko taught the Heike style of archery. Students met at a dojo located on what was then Jackson Street in Little Tokyo, near the intersection of San Pedro and First Streets. A second dojo was located in Boyle Heights on St. Louis Street, near Hollenbeck Park.

Vintage photographs and a collection of artifacts from the first dojo survive to this day. This includes the bows and arrows recovered by Kosaka Sensei and the maku (curtain) that hung in the original dojo.

World War II caused a grave and decades-long disruption in the practice of kyudo in Los Angeles. Because kyudo was considered a martial art, bows and arrows used by practitioners were seized as weapons by the federal government, and those that escaped confiscation were either burned or buried by their fearful owners. The Jackson Street martial arts center was closed and eventually demolished, and for the duration of the war, Japanese-Americans were relocated to internment camps. After the war, individuals resumed their practice in isolation without the help and support of an instructor, and there was no official kyudojo in Los Angeles.

In 1975, Mishima-sensei and Kosaka-sensei officially reinstated the old Los Angeles Kyudo Kai, and weekly taught a growing number of students in a variety of locations: from 1973–1978, at the Higashi Honganji Temple; from 1978–1981 in the basement of Koyasan Temple in Little Tokyo; from 1982–1992, in the beautiful wood-paneled church hall of the Nichiren Temple in East Los Angeles, at the corner of Fourth Street and Saratoga; from 1993–1999, in the Rafu Chuo Gakuen Community Hall on Saratoga. Today the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai practices at their Ikkyu Dojo in the Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro.

Lecture Q&A with Kosaka Sensei

My teacher often gives lectures on Japanese Culture and Art. In addition to being a Priest, he is an artist, teaches kyudo, runs the gallery at the local Japanese Cultural Center, has a wife and kids, etc. So after one lecture, he asked if there were any questions. A woman said, "Yes, I have a question. With all these different aspects of your life, how do you balance them all". He had quite a pause after that question, he even looked puzzled. I'd never seen him look puzzled, he usually shoots back quickly and concisely to questions. Then you could see his face light up, and I realized that it was not the answer to the question that eluded him but the question itself; he said, "Ah, I see, you've separated them".

Kyudo, for me, is based on the teachings handed down to me by my teacher. There are several principles in the teachings that effect me in a particularly strong way.

One of these principles is change. This change is shown in our training as we adapt the movement of shooting; we are both moving and standing still at once... growing up inside while we expand the with the bow until the arrow flies; I love this.

Another is the principle of the asymmetrical balance. The idea that everything counts, but not equally. It works on a 70/30 rule of ratio's that seems to apply to so many things in my life that it amazes me. Then with the 'change' principle applied the ratio changes from moment to moment making life fresh and challenging all the time. There is also a natural ratio of 60/40 that without our interference appears in many aspects of kyudo; The bow for instance is asymmetrical with 60% to the heavens and 40% to the earth, this natural ratio seems to be appearing more and more in my life.

Of course all this is discovered from the quiet meditative mind we develop.
As we meditate we recognize our mortality. Then, although we embrace change, and our inevitable death, we use this recognition as motivation to live life to the fullest... every moment of every day... laughing and smiling.

What a wonderful life we develop when we stand quietly and learn from the japanese bow and arrow...

Teaching

When Kosaka Sensei said, 'Rick carries my legacy,' he actually said Rick, and others, carries my legacy. Since this was the first time I'd heard him utter such a statement, I wondered who the 'others' were. I'm fairly certain though that the 'others' refers to Nobuyo Okuda and Robert Williams.

When I first started to help Kosaka Sensei teach the classes, Nobuyo and Robert were among my first two. Robert was extremely talented and seemed like an enlightened Guru to me already, I even wondered why he came, did he really need this training?

Nobuyo too, was already a tea teacher. Nobuyo wanted to live here in the U.S. so she gave up the Iemoto (inheritor) position of her families practice in favor of her sister.

I think that to have me start teaching with these two was almost a joke among the 'real' Sensei.

They asked me to teach Nobuyo how to 'walk'. This was our basic instruction in walking, sitting, kneeling, and bowing that was my main practice when I started with the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai. I was so pleased and proud that they asked me to teach someone. I walked up (with my nose in the air) and said, 'follow me' and had her copy my movements as I had copied the Sensei who taught me. But as I watched Nobuyo-san from the corner of my eye, I quickly realized that she was already better than I was. I lead her through the movements a few time and said, 'ok, she knows it.. now what do you want me to do?' I think they sent me to make tea.

After I was 'stamped' Nobuyo-san began to call me Sensei (even though we had agreed years before that there was only one Sensei in our school, and that was Kosaka Sensei); but I insisted on calling her Sempai (senior) too. So although the Sensei' teased me by having me try and teach those already beyond me, we now tease eachother with such phrases as Sensei and Sempai too.

Kotohajime - First Event of the Year

In our school we shoot an arrow for the Japanese Community at the beginning of every year. We call this ceremony 'kotohajime' or the first event of the year. A private event is held like this in some shrines in Japan. I missed the first one when I took my break at the beginning of my time with the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai (I missed the annual sukiyaki party too). The first one I was ready to particpate in was the 1986 (I think) it was the year of the Tiger. We were shooting 28 meters across the courtyard at the JACCC in downtown Los Angeles. Mishima Sensei, (my sempai) Richard Parra, and myself were going to shoot in sequence. Kosaka Sensei painted a 40' x 40' tiger across the entire courtyard...it could only be seen from the second floor or higher clearly but it was amazing. We did not shoot well, in fact we all missed; my last shot hit the ground and (but it finished the tail on the tiger). No hits and big audiance. Just as it seemed over, Mishima Sensei said, 'I think I'll shoot one more'. He lined up and the crowd went silent, as Mishima Sensei began to draw the bow, a not too bright fellow, jumped right in front of the target to snap a photo (well I guess since we had missed all the others, he felt safe there, but I think we move so slowly and smoothly that people forget the bow and arrow are deadly weapons). I saw some glimmer in Mishima Sensei's eye that he recognized that the fellow was there, but he didn't stop or even pause; he continued to bring the bow and arrow to full draw...as he reached full draw, the fellow took his photo and jumped out of the way; and Mishima Sensei again let the arrow fly to the bullseye.

Never miss class...Never miss a chance.

I went to my first day of kyudo with the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai with a friend.
The friend, once we started found reasons not to go to class, so I didn't go for awhile too.
The day I returned to class, as soon as I walked in the door, Kosaka Sensei zero'd in on me and came straight at me. He told me quite strongly, "if you're not going to be here, if you're going to miss class, you should call me and tell me you're not coming!" He gave me his business card. I didn't want to have to call and tell him I'm not coming, so since this day I have almost never missed class; and I noticed, neither did he; for years he came every week to both our weekend evening classes in East L.A. and the Sunday morning practice at Rancho Park.