PRACTICE

Kyudo, the way of the bow, asks very little of the body and everything of the attention. There's no opponent and no sparring: one archer, two arrows and a target 28 meters away. Every shot moves through the same eight stages, the same bows, the same breaths, the way it has for centuries. Beginners can spend months shooting at a straw bale from two meters before they're trusted with a real target. And hitting it matters less than you'd think. The old principle is seisha hitchū: shoot correctly and the hit takes care of itself. That's what draws me. Tradition you can feel in your shoulders. Attention you can't fake. And practice, practice, practice, until the practice becomes the point. The road teaches the same thing.