Pursuing Kyūdō: Jessica Gerrity on the Art of the Japanese Bow

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A Journey of Self-Discovery in Japan

Intrigued by the allure of Japan, Jessica made the decision to explore and embrace life there. This initial exploration gradually evolved into a permanent stay, leading to a journey of self-discovery for her.

Embracing Japan

Nick: I was reflecting on your life in Japan. And I probably ask this sort of question, maybe at the end of at the end of the podcast, but do you think you found yourself in Japan? Or do you think you created or self-actualized, like a new Jessica, one that would never have come into being if you had only lived in New Zealand?

Jessica: I don't know. I've never really thought about it until you asked me the question. So I kind of just go with the flow. I am a person that does like to plan things out before I go ahead and do them. I don't like having no plan.

However, moving to Japan, I freshly graduated from a master's degree. So thinking back then, this was before the advent of social media and people discovering themselves. So early on, I was just a university student, and I hadn't really thought about self-discovery as such.

However, for a lot of us Australians and New Zealanders, we have our overseas experience where this is our chance to, you know, maybe we've finished university or where we're taking a year off, and we'd go overseas to kind of do our own way and try something different. That's a bit of a self discovery.

That was sort of not, how can I say, I didn't really have that in my mind of what I wanted to do. Therefore, I will move to Japan. It was just, I had been visiting Japan once a year since I started university, and I thought it looked like a really amazing place to live.

I hadn't really given much thought to the language barrier or cultural barriers or anything like that. How would it all work out? Like people say it's such a big jump from New Zealand to Japan, culturally, the language, and everything. Weren't you like worried or scared or whatever.

And I had a job lined up, I had a visa and a place to live. I think the basic necessities of life was sort of sorted there. So a year wasn't this thing. Like I was on a journey of self-discovery, or it was really like a 20-year-old’s kind of thing. I'll just give it a go, try teaching English over there and see what it's like.

And then yeah, I never came back. It was just an adventure and I kind of just followed it naturally. And that's how everything sort of turned out.

Kyudo: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Practice

Kyudo directly translates to ‘the way of the bow.’ For Jessica, it is a blend of various elements, offering a path to introspection for some and a sporting pursuit for others.

Traditional Japanese archery in a modern setting

Nick: Well, let's dive into this love you have for Kyudo. So would you like to explain Kyudo and then maybe also touch on, specifically, do?

Jessica: Explaining Kyudo can be quite tricky as it depends on what it means to, you know, each person, they take it a different way. However, in essence, it's using a bow and arrow to shoot targets which are 28 metres away.

So it's Japan's traditional archery taken into a modern setting, so that's when it becomes the do. After the Meiji restoration, and war, and everything had subsided, it was made into do so Kyudo. Kyu means bow, so ‘the way of the bow.’

Or how can we say, just looking after ourselves, that's quite an introspective thing. It's also a sport, so people do competitions. It's a mix of a lot of different things. So it's very like in with yourself and it's a community — it's very tricky to explain.

However, there is a large sort of stereotype that it's like Zen archery. So thanks to the book You, Me and Zen, which I'll stop, after I just say this little piece, but You, Me and Zen, I have a few feelings about it. However, it's not everything. And it's not all about Zen and standing meditation and that kind of thing, as you can imagine. But yes, it came from the Meiji restoration that has its roots in samurai archery, and horseback archery, the shape of the bow. And it's very fun.

Hassetsu: The Eight Movements of Kyudo

Is there a correct method for firing an arrow? Jessica explains that Kyudo involves eight essential movements, known as hassetsu. These movements cover different positions, from how you start to when you release the arrow, and they're important for hitting the target accurately.

Hitting the target with precision

Nick: I think I mentioned to you in my notes, I watched the documentary called ‘One Shot One Life’, that explored several aspects of Kyudo; even touching on its connection to Chinese archery, and Confucianism, and that was really fascinating.

But there's this wonderful NHK video of you explaining, I guess what we’d call the eight movements of Kyudo, which is hassetsu. So it might be hard for our listeners to visualize. But would you like to briefly touch on those eight movements and why they're important and how they make the practice of Kyudo what it is?

Jessica: So it is eight movements. So we can say they’re like the kata. If someone who's familiar with karate or other martial arts, other martial arts have kata as well. So you have these different positions from starting until releasing the arrow, and then the end, the way your position is at the end of your shooting and bringing the ball back down.

So in essence, it's one movement. However, to break it down, it's eight kata. But inside those kata, there are several other small things that need to be done. So the eight movements or the hassetsu are necessary in my school of archery, to be able to pass grading, and to be able to shoot the ball, you need to be doing these eight kata in the correct sequence in order to shoot the arrow.

So if these kata are correct, without going into big details about each of them, if they're correct, and performed technically correct, you'll hit the target with your arrow. So if you have a bit of an unbalance somewhere, and Kyudo is about a millimeter, if you're off in some direction with your hands or your body, then that translates to a 10 centimeter or more difference in the arrow placement at the target, which is 28 meters away.

So it's just very tiny micro movements that make these huge changes over where the arrow shoots. So the hassetsu are necessary to be performed correctly in order to have the correct technique and also to get the arrow to fly correctly.

Kyudo: A Bridge to Inner Peace and Calm

Besides experiencing the physical benefits of practicing Kyudo, Jessica also discovers inner peace and calm every time she steps into the dojo, enabling her to momentarily set aside the challenges of her busy daily life.

Finding peace in Kyudo

Nick: So let's maybe touch on this idea, it's spiritual concentration. It seems like, in short, there's a lot of technique, a lot of preparation goes into releasing a single arrow. I think some of our listeners who are familiar with Japanese martial arts will understand that it's perhaps to help you prepare and calm the mind.

So you don't have these crazy thoughts or uncontrollable thoughts, which there's a Japanese word for: Zatsunen. So yeah, is that what you've discovered that through this practice, you lose the monkey mind where you're bouncing from floor to floor, and you are able to concentrate?

Jessica: Yes, it’s my first time to read that word, so I have to look it up. Yeah, I've never heard it before. But things like mushin which is empty mind, empty heart. Mushin is used a lot in martial arts, so that's just an empty mind.

However, still a beginner, I say this, even after six years, I'm still a beginner, obviously shoshin, which is the beginner's mind, we're all beginners up until we pass away. We learn something new every day, no matter if we are 90 or zero years old. However, having the beginner's mind you're always thinking about something new.

To give a bit of an example, I'm constantly trying to improve my technique. So I'm thinking about something consciously, every practice that I go to, what I'm thinking about in the dojo, and as I'm shooting are things related to what I'm doing at that moment in time.

And so if you imagine if I step back into my everyday life, and the things that I have on work, children, wife, all these other kind of stuff, I can step away from it when I step into the dojo. So in this sense, I really leave that busy, hectic, tiring, challenging — don't need to be too negative— but you know, the realities of everyday life.

It's a wonderful life, however, stepping out of that world, that sphere, and stepping into the sphere of the dojo that is hugely quiet and the smell and there's grass in front of me, it's peaceful, what I see with my eyes, the visual picture never changes.

So in that sense, it provides a lot of stability visually, and also for me mentally. The people that are there are always the same. The actions that I perform are largely the same those hassetsu, those eight different kata, those eight different movements.

And having that repetition, and that similarity, that familiarity —the smell, the people, everything is the same—having this very calm, quiet environment for self-reflection, communication with other people, in my own little world, if I can say, in my own community, that really provides a sort of always a mental oasis and a physical oasis for me to really refresh and step out of my everyday life.

So I used to be a runner, like I used to run several times a week going marathons and stuff. However, once I started Kyudo, I started running less and less and I realized that Kyudo was taking on that role of stress relief and really providing a refreshing sort of time in the day for me, time to do introspection and forget about the outside stresses.

And I found myself running less and less to the point where I've given up. Obviously, my body has changed a lot. I've gotten really strong arms, thanks to Kyudo. And you know, running is a great cardio, I love it. So yeah, I really tell myself I should get back into running actually.

But for the body and the mind, part of it and your heart and your soul, it's really like my cup is so full because of studying Kyudo and it's really difficult as everybody has different feelings about Kyudo and how it affects them positively.

But for me, yeah, it's really the wonderful thing for my concentration and my health, both mentally and physically. It really allowed me then, after I finished my practice, and I step back into that hectic world, it really allowed me and given me the tools to calmly, really just be a calm and a nicer person.

And obviously, getting different Japanese skills, getting skills of etiquette, and how to bow to people and how to interact with Japanese people in my everyday life. So many good points that I've learned and can bring with me and to my everyday life, too. So it's like really, how can I say, it really overlaps and feeds into each other.

So it's just getting better and better kind of thing. As I'm continuing on with Kyudo. It's really providing me with new skills and things that will help me in my everyday life, too.

The Artistry Involved in Crafting Longbows

Jessica talks about the process of crafting longbows that involves three main materials: fiberglass, carbon, and bamboo. It's a detailed process where skilled craftsmen use specific tools, and this happens at certain times of the year.

The complex procedure involved in crafting a bow

Nick: Let's move on to craftsmanship, which I know you love. So can you talk about the craftsmanship of the bows, the long bows. The longest bows, I think, in the world in terms of, obviously length in archery. And I learned that in Japanese, I think it's 7shaku 5 sun, like 2.25 meters long. So that's pretty long.

And yeah, things like temperature will influence the pull force. And I think camp strings are used. But I did know that you have to be a certain Dan before using bamboo or wooden bows, and before that you use carbon fiber. So would you like to touch on that?

Jessica: Yeah, sure. So the bow, the Japanese bow, yumi is very interesting for me, and I take time to research it. And you'll see lots of different posts on social media, about the bow itself. And bow culture in Japan, it's obviously a very long history. They historically have been from very small to very big. So there are many different sizes, depending on the application.

For Kyudo, we use daikyu, which is the long one. And usually, the sizes are over two meters. So the way we choose the length of the bow relates to the length of our arm, which is our drawer length, our arrows are that long, from our neck to their fingertips past a little bit more. And the length that you can draw sort of determines the size of the bow.

So very big boys and big women have longer bows because their height is also a factor, and their arm is also a factor. So I shoot nami sun which is I think, 221 centimeters. And then the materials are just usually three main materials and that is fiberglass bows, which are sort of the entry level. And the standard one that you get when you're a beginner is carbon, which is lighter, a little bit more expensive, the manufacturing process is a little bit different.

And then the one that the craftsman needs to make, which is the takeyumi so that’s a bamboo bow and they’re very labor intensive, the parts that need to be put together like a sandwich to make this bow, some of them have to dry for several years before they can be used.

So I've taken part in cutting bamboos that are going to be used for yumi, and that was a really big learning experience. Having those nodes, making sure they’re at the right length, they carry this huge roller that you put up against the bamboo and it's a specific sort of bamboo.

And then you have to be very careful when you cut it, because even squashing it in the wrong way bruises it. And these kinds of bruises and things come out. After they've taken the time to dry it, they'll get a mark or something on the bamboo and that's not allowed.

So we were joking like, I would have cut something to take time strip it all and split it into four. And this one will be what Jessica's cut for us. It's like really bummed out. And I'm like, yeah. But the whole experience was really fabulous. Even just the cutting, it's done in a certain time of the year. It's done by certain people, the craftsperson is involved in that. And they have very specific things that they look for.

And I was just like, wow, this is so cool, and I cut arrow bamboo as well. And you have four, four arrows, so you need to find four matching pieces of bamboos, which is just like I can't imagine. Anyway, so the bow is made with bamboo with wooden inserts and carbon inside it for some people.

So you have carbon insert bamboo, and you have different slices of wood. And then bamboo in the middle, the type of glue that they use to not separate types of yumi or bow as well. So yeah, the whole process is very labor intensive.

For the full podcast conversation, go to: The Way of the Bow: Pursuing Kyūdō