Quality vs Quantity
They sometimes say that kyudo is all a matter of how many arrows we shoot.
I attended a few seminars with Takeshi Shibata Hachidan Hanshi. On one of these we were out to dinner with the 'heads' of kyudo in America, and Shibata Hanshi was giving us a lecture. He said (my translation so give it some room), 'something is wrong'. You guys seem sincere in your practice, and your students look pretty good, but something is wrong.' It seemed a rhetorical question or perhaps we were just embarrassed into silence... but our silence begged for more and he added, 'you guys can't shoot'.
Now Shibata Hanshi is one of the best shooters in Japan; for example on another seminar he was showing us how the body expands during hikiwake and especially to produce the hanare; he wasn't really concentrating on the target, but all of the 20 (or so) arrows he shot hit the target. (he wasn't even wearing a glove, just a little gauze on his right thumb).
He then sent us all off to try and emulate this expansion. As we all walked away I turned and asked, 'Sensei, how did you do that?' 'Do what?' he responded. 'You hit the target every time!' I said. 'Oh' He replied, 'I teach high school students; if I can't do that, they won't listen to me'.
I thought that was the end of the great lesson, when he said, 'I tell you what, I'm going to shoot one more and put it in the right corner'. Of course, I believed he meant the right corner of the target; but you know what, he put it in the right corner of the bulls eye! Still I thought he meant the right corner of the target, until he said, 'this one in the left corner', and it flew right into the left lower corner of the bulls eye; this one I'll put in middle', and he did... right smack dead center between the other two.
Now back to dinner... Sensei continued, 'You seem sincere in your practice, but something is wrong'. He seemed to wait for an answer this time, for us to explain why 'we can't shoot'.... 'why we can't hit the target'. 'Well', someone responded, 'You're right Sensei, we are sincere, and we teach the best we can, and shoot the best we can, I guess we don't know what we're doing wrong?' And with this we asked for his help. 'Well...' he asked, 'how many arrows do you shoot everyday?' 'Oh, everyday' we said, 'well, you know we have families and jobs during the week, and even on weekends we're usually teaching we don't always get a chance to shoot much ourselves...' and he cut us off. 'Ah, well there's the problem then.'
At this point someone was brave enough to ask, 'Sensei, how do you do it?'
'Oh' He said, 'in the morning I go to the dojo and shoot 100 arrows, I hit those 100. Then if students show up, I teach them. If not, then I shoot 100 more.'
That's 100 to 200 arrows a day! No wonder he can shoot so well. But there are a couple more lessons in there. He doesn't say he hits the first 100 to boast; it tells us that he doesn't waste them, he shoots them with care, he's not just 'chucking' them down there without giving each one it's due attention.
Also the main lesson for those of us at the dinner was 'before the student's arrive he shot 100'... and everyday he practiced. From that day on I try to shoot everyday, certainly I practice everyday even if it's sit, stand, bow & tote renshu in a hotel room. One of my students who heard this story began shooting 100 arrows a day too, and he got pretty good too.
On the other side of this coin is Sagino Shihan of our Muyoshingetsu school. Who told us to put everything we have into one shot. 'Shoot everyday' he said, 'shoot one arrow, and put your whole-self into that arrow... exhaust yourself completely'. We have a student who hearing this now takes 3 hours to shoot that one arrow every day. Cleaning and preparing his backyard space... cleaning and preparing his equipment and clothes... meditation... and beautiful taihai and hassetsu to release that one arrow...folding his kimono and hakama neatly... and putting everything away. And you know, he's really good too. My eyes once asked him about this practice, and he said, 'you know... when you only shoot one arrow... and it takes 3 hours of your day... you never waste that arrow'.
In the middle was Onuma Sensei, who on one visit to Los Angeles told us, 'Shoot 10 arrows every day. With 10 arrows you can really focus, many more and it's difficult. So shoot 10 arrows everyday without fail'.
Since both quality and quantity obviously count, I think each of these approaches has merit. Each can have a place in our practice throughout the year. If I were to choose, I think I would choose quality over quantity; so the one arrow would be the best practice; but the guy who shoots 100 may beat you in the tournament; so maybe that's the best practice; but do we really have time in our busy lives for 100 or 200 arrows a day, can we really give each of those the quality our practice demands? If so, 100 is a great practice. Maybe the 10 a day is the best balance? I like balance and middle road, so my practice for many years followed this 10 a day. Today sometimes I shoot one arrow with all I've got; at least once a year, and sometimes coming up to it, we have our 108 arrows shoot; mostly with my hitori geiko (solitary practice) I shoot hitote (a handful, or in kyudo we define this as 2).
quality vs. quantity. both count. Again if I were to choose, I would probably choose quality. But they are not really separate; shoot as many quality arrows as you have time, energy, and attention to give them.
However many arrows you decide to shoot each day is up to you. But please practice everyday. And put your wholeself into that entire practice. Put your wholeself into your entire life... every moment of every day. The rest of our lives depends on it.
Thank you,
 |
| Takeshi Shibata Sensei Photo compliments of Rosemarie Read of Panama Kyudo Kai |
He then sent us all off to try and emulate this expansion. As we all walked away I turned and asked, 'Sensei, how did you do that?' 'Do what?' he responded. 'You hit the target every time!' I said. 'Oh' He replied, 'I teach high school students; if I can't do that, they won't listen to me'.
I thought that was the end of the great lesson, when he said, 'I tell you what, I'm going to shoot one more and put it in the right corner'. Of course, I believed he meant the right corner of the target; but you know what, he put it in the right corner of the bulls eye! Still I thought he meant the right corner of the target, until he said, 'this one in the left corner', and it flew right into the left lower corner of the bulls eye; this one I'll put in middle', and he did... right smack dead center between the other two.
Now back to dinner... Sensei continued, 'You seem sincere in your practice, but something is wrong'. He seemed to wait for an answer this time, for us to explain why 'we can't shoot'.... 'why we can't hit the target'. 'Well', someone responded, 'You're right Sensei, we are sincere, and we teach the best we can, and shoot the best we can, I guess we don't know what we're doing wrong?' And with this we asked for his help. 'Well...' he asked, 'how many arrows do you shoot everyday?' 'Oh, everyday' we said, 'well, you know we have families and jobs during the week, and even on weekends we're usually teaching we don't always get a chance to shoot much ourselves...' and he cut us off. 'Ah, well there's the problem then.'
At this point someone was brave enough to ask, 'Sensei, how do you do it?'
'Oh' He said, 'in the morning I go to the dojo and shoot 100 arrows, I hit those 100. Then if students show up, I teach them. If not, then I shoot 100 more.'
That's 100 to 200 arrows a day! No wonder he can shoot so well. But there are a couple more lessons in there. He doesn't say he hits the first 100 to boast; it tells us that he doesn't waste them, he shoots them with care, he's not just 'chucking' them down there without giving each one it's due attention.
Also the main lesson for those of us at the dinner was 'before the student's arrive he shot 100'... and everyday he practiced. From that day on I try to shoot everyday, certainly I practice everyday even if it's sit, stand, bow & tote renshu in a hotel room. One of my students who heard this story began shooting 100 arrows a day too, and he got pretty good too.
 |
| Satoshi Sagino Shihan of Muyoshingetsu-ryu |
On the other side of this coin is Sagino Shihan of our Muyoshingetsu school. Who told us to put everything we have into one shot. 'Shoot everyday' he said, 'shoot one arrow, and put your whole-self into that arrow... exhaust yourself completely'. We have a student who hearing this now takes 3 hours to shoot that one arrow every day. Cleaning and preparing his backyard space... cleaning and preparing his equipment and clothes... meditation... and beautiful taihai and hassetsu to release that one arrow...folding his kimono and hakama neatly... and putting everything away. And you know, he's really good too. My eyes once asked him about this practice, and he said, 'you know... when you only shoot one arrow... and it takes 3 hours of your day... you never waste that arrow'.
In the middle was Onuma Sensei, who on one visit to Los Angeles told us, 'Shoot 10 arrows every day. With 10 arrows you can really focus, many more and it's difficult. So shoot 10 arrows everyday without fail'.
 |
| Hideharu Onuma Sensei. Photo from the book 'Kyudo - The Essence and Practice of Japanese Archery' By Hideharu Onuma with Dan and jackie DeProspero |
Since both quality and quantity obviously count, I think each of these approaches has merit. Each can have a place in our practice throughout the year. If I were to choose, I think I would choose quality over quantity; so the one arrow would be the best practice; but the guy who shoots 100 may beat you in the tournament; so maybe that's the best practice; but do we really have time in our busy lives for 100 or 200 arrows a day, can we really give each of those the quality our practice demands? If so, 100 is a great practice. Maybe the 10 a day is the best balance? I like balance and middle road, so my practice for many years followed this 10 a day. Today sometimes I shoot one arrow with all I've got; at least once a year, and sometimes coming up to it, we have our 108 arrows shoot; mostly with my hitori geiko (solitary practice) I shoot hitote (a handful, or in kyudo we define this as 2).
quality vs. quantity. both count. Again if I were to choose, I would probably choose quality. But they are not really separate; shoot as many quality arrows as you have time, energy, and attention to give them.
However many arrows you decide to shoot each day is up to you. But please practice everyday. And put your wholeself into that entire practice. Put your wholeself into your entire life... every moment of every day. The rest of our lives depends on it.
Thank you,
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