The ultimate truth of kyudo is understood through the union of mind, body, and bow, or "Sanmi Ittai" (the three essentials as one body).
Sanmi Ittai* means the unification of the three elements of mind, body, and bow into one harmonious whole. Specifically, this means that kyudo requires: 1) a stable mind, 2) a stable body, and 3) assured and well-honed technique.I interpret the meaning of this as follows: a stable mind is a pure mind that is free of the vain thoughts and delusions that interfere with the clear flow of mind and spirit; a stable body is that body which, controlled by a pure mind and spirit, is able to conform to the requirements of shizentai (the "natural body")**; and assured and well-honed technique means the perfection of the Shaho*** (The Law Of Shooting).
This is the subject matter of both the Raiki Shagi and the Shaho Kun, and it has profound significance for all aspects of kyudo. The text of the Raiki Shagi alludes to the fact that this unification of mind, body, and bow leads not only to proficiency in shooting technique, but that kyudo practiced in this way reveals the virtue of the archer. Therefore, this unification is the basis for the true and natural expression of both elements of kyudo, "Sha" (shooting) and "Rei" (courtesy, mutual respect and propriety). It is a fundamental assumption of kyudo philosophy that this leads to both success in shooting and the development of a virtuous character that you express in all aspects of your life.
This concept can also be rendered as "Shin Ki Gi", (Mind, Spirit, Technique) or "Shin Shin Kyu" (Mind, Body, Bow). All of these refer to the need for you to harmoniously integrate all elements of your art: the mind that controls the body, the body that operates the bow, and the technique through which the bow is used correctly.
What is meant by stability of mind? In kyudo, there are certain psychological blocks that are held to be barriers to progress and stains on the mind and spirit. These are called "The Seven Barriers", as follows:
All of these feelings and thoughts, engendered by the mind, adversely affect both body and spirit and thereby ruin the shooting. These feelings are only the result of our desires and fixations, conjured up in our own minds by the value we attach to external things. They are not inherent in the things themselves but are nothing more than the psychological baggage we bring to our practice. Therefore, to have a clear and stable mind, or "heijoshin" (everyday mind),***** you must strive to rid yourself of them. When your mind is clear and unpolluted by vain attachments your body becomes firm, steady, and full of strength and vitality. You can then handle the bow freely, so technique can be perfectly expressed.
- Happiness
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Surprise
- Sorrow
- Fear
- Thoughts****
You cannot achieve Sanmi Ittai without the most diligent practice, where, through the most grueling effort, you conquer all of your weaknesses, mental, spiritual, and physical. Without this effort, your mind and spirit cannot be made pure. If your mind and spirit are not pure, your body cannot express the Shaho correctly. If you cannot express the Shaho correctly, you cannot achieve true and honest shooting. Therefore, the achievement of Sanmi Ittai presupposes a process by which you have, through incessant practice over many years, purged yourself of all those sicknesses of mind and spirit that make your shooting impure.
When your mind and spirit are purified in this way, they become naturally honest and forthright, allowing you to relate to your life and your shooting in a lucid and unprejudiced way and to achieve the perfect, ideal shot that is the goal of kyudo. When you can see yourself clearly through your shooting, you can see your life clearly. When you have this mind and spirit, you can express the ideals of "Shin Zen Bi" (Truth, Goodness, Beauty)****** in a true and natural way. When you can express Shin Zen Bi in this way in both your life and your shooting, you are said to have "shahin" and "shakaku", dignity and nobility of shooting.
True shahin and shakaku do not mean just skill in target shooting. Shahin and shakaku cannot be attained unless you practice in a way that trains your mind and spirit as well as your body. If your mind and spirit are trained properly, this will naturally lead to the development of character. When you can express your sincerity and strength of character through the quality of your overall shooting performance, which is made up of a harmonious balance of correct technique expressed within the proper forms of ritual etiquette, your shooting will be seen to be in perfect harmony. It will be effective as well as beautiful. This is part of what the Raiki Shagi means when it says "through this shooting virtue will be evident".
The achievement of Sanmi Ittai, therefore, must be seen as the result of proper kyudo practice that contains within it all of the necessary elements, those that train you in shooting technique itself and those that train your mind, spirit, and character. In its ideal sense Sanmi Ittai is thus the cumulative expression, shown through shooting, of all of the essential elements of kyudo.
* Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, pp. 24-26
** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, p 56
*** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, p. 24-31, 59-72; Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, Onuma Hanshi and Dan and Jackie DeProspero, Kodansha International, pp. 65-87
**** Kyudo Manual, Vol. II, pp. 14-15
***** Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, p.5
****** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, pp. 19-21, Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, pp. 2-6
Seisha Hitchu (a true shot never misses) is truth. If the shooting is in accordance with the Shaho (the Law Of Shooting), the arrow will pierce the target without fail.
I firmly believe in what is called in kyudo "Seisha Hitchu",* "a true shot never misses". This has also been described as "Hosha Hitchu",** or "a shot done according to the Law (Of Shooting) never misses". What is meant by "Seisha" or "Hosha"?Fundamentally, Seisha or Hosha means a true shot in that your shooting meets the requirements of the Shaho. From a technical point of view, this means that the shooting conforms to the kihontaikei, or the basic body form (the tateyokojumonji, the sanjujumonji, and the gojujumonji [the vertical and horizontal cross, the three-fold cross and the five-fold cross, respectively])*** and that you have the concentration and the clarity of mind and spirit (shinki no hataraki)**** necessary to perform the inner workings of the Shaho (tsumeai and nobiai)***** properly, thus bringing the shooting to a successful conclusion. From a mental and spiritual point of view, this means that the three elements of mind, body, and bow are in harmony; that is, you have realized Sanmi Ittai. Your shot will then pierce the target truly and without fail. Seisha is thus the physical expression of the reality of Sanmi Ittai. While this may seem a nearly impossible goal, you must believe that if the shooting is perfect, the shot cannot miss. This is what we must strive for when we practice. Every shot, honestly done, is a step towards that goal.
The late Urakami Sakae Hanshi, a master of the Insai-ha of the Heki Ryu and the teacher of my teacher, the late Murakami Hisashi Hanshi, described his concept of Hosha Hitchu as follows:
"The purpose of the Way of Shooting is, by building up your courage, correcting yourself, and making your bones and sinews firm, to strike the target following the Ho (the Law, i.e., the Law of Shooting, or the Shaho). Therefore, everyone who wants to shoot a bow must make their intentions true, set their spirit to rights, and make the form of the shooting correct by following the proper standards, all the way from ashibumi, dozukuri, torikake, tenouchi and yugamae, through uchiokoshi and hikiwake sanbun no ni (hikiwake two thirds), and up to and including tsumeai, nobiai, yagoro, hanare and zanshin. When the form of the shooting is correct, your joints will be properly aligned, the power of your muscles will be properly balanced, your draw length will settle in accordance with your physique, your mind will become settled and distractions will cease to trouble you, your body and limbs will be filled with vitality, you and the bow will become one, your mind and body will be firm and resolute and the bow unwavering, and the entire arrow will fill with power and quicken with life. In this way you must wait for all of these separate elements to unite into one and for the release to come of itself.It is clear, then, that the correct execution of the Shaho requires the proper blend of physical and psychological elements, and that it is the psychological aspect (shinki no hataraki) that brings the physical technique to life. When this happens, striking the target is certain.If you shoot the arrow in this way, you will never miss the target by thinking too much. This is not just mosha guchu (a shot done in a haphazard way strikes the target accidentally) but hosha hitchu (a shot done in accordance with the Law never misses). Thus, if ever the arrow is shot and it doesn't strike the target, you must consider deeply whether the form of your shooting conforms to the proper standards or whether your mind and spirit are united, and search within yourself for the answer. Since whether the target is struck or missed depends entirely on yourself, hitting the target does not warrant boasting nor missing it anger.
The essential thing is to just dispel all doubt and ego and awaken to the as-it-isness of Nature, to not lapse into thinking and discrimination, to leave the realm of intention and thought behind, and, like an object reflected in a bright mirror or the moon reflected on the surface of the water, to calm the eyes of the mind in the realm of munen muso (no intention, no thought) and to strive to shoot the arrow according to the Law."******
It is in this context that hitting the target in kyudo must be evaluated. Both Yoshimi Junsei and Urakami Hanshi make it clear that piercing the target with the arrow is fundamental to kyudo; indeed, how could it be otherwise? It is absolutely vital, however, to understand that it is not whether you hit the target but how you hit it that is the most important thing. You must bear clearly in mind, and accept as an article of faith, that it is only striking the target according to the Shaho, and that alone, that gives true kyudo meaning to hitting the target with the arrow. Striking the target by itself is not the objective; the objective is, as Urakami Hanshi says, to strike the target "according to the Law." All other hitting is only mosha guchu, just a matter of luck. Understanding this distinction is fundamental to proper kyudo training.
Therefore, kyudo philosophy makes a clear distinction between two types of hitting: "ateru", to hit the target as a result of a conscious, deliberate act; and "ataru", where the arrow naturally strikes the target as an inevitable result of true shooting. Seisha is the latter. It is preferred over the former because if the shooting unfolds naturally there is no chance for your conscious mind, susceptible as it is to thinking and discrimination, to interfere and ruin the shot. Therefore, Seisha is the way to achieve certain accuracy.
However, just because a true shot will always hit the target does not mean that any shot that hits the target is, therefore, a true shot. To believe that is to walk the road of ruin in kyudo. This is arguably the most important thing in kyudo practice, so I cannot emphasize it too strongly. It is very easy to make a series of fortuitous mistakes and hit the target. Once you repeat and learn this pattern, it becomes an ingrained habit and if you continue to hit the target fairly well, you become convinced that you have mastered Seisha, and that when you miss all you have to do is make some small adjustment to your technique to get back on the right track. Then, without realizing it, you forget the fundamentals, start relying on little technical tricks, and are beyond help unless you realize what has happened and then have the strength of will to correct yourself. This is what Yoshimi Junsei means when he says that "the way is not with the bow but with the bone"; that is, the Shaho is not found in minor tricks of handling the bow but is based upon essential fundamentals.
In this sense, the kyudo approach to shooting is seemingly quite paradoxical. The conscious effort to hit the target, motivated as it is by a combination of the desire for success and the fear of failure, is inextricably linked to the "Seven Barriers" that cause the mind and body to become tense and disordered. When your mind and body are tense and disordered, you cannot shoot the bow freely. If you cannot shoot the bow freely, you cannot strike the target truly. The way to the target, then, is for you to divest yourself of your attachment to it so that you can become calm and aware enough to shoot the bow correctly. To do this, you must believe with perfect, complete, and utter faith that if you strive to your utmost to shoot according to the Shaho, the arrow will never miss the target. This can happen when, through your own effort, you "dispel all doubt and ego, awaken to the as-it-isness of Nature, and calm the eyes of the mind in the realm of munen muso". The target will then come to you without your having to chase it and you will achieve the art of "hitting by not hitting". It must be stressed, however, that you cannot achieve this without the most strenuous practice.
* Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, p. 70, Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, p. 2
** "The Purpose Of The Way Of Shooting Of Heki Ryu Kyujutsu", monograph by Urakami Sakae Hanshi
*** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, pp. 56-57, Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, pp. 88-89
**** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, pp. 58-59, Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, pp. 21-25
***** Kyudo Manual, Vol. I, pp. 68-70, Kyudo, The Essence And Practice Of Japanese Archery, pp. 78-81
******"The Purpose Of The Way Of Shooting Of Heki Ryu Kyujutsu", translation by the author. In this monograph, it is interesting to note that Urakami Hanshi does not use the standard Shaho Hassetsu naming convention to describe the separate steps of the shooting. Modern kyudo considers torikake and tenouchi as elements of yugamae, and subsumes tsumeai, nobiai, and yagoro under kai. The sanbun no ni (two thirds) position, where hikiwake is momentarily halted at roughly the point where the drawing hand has cleared the archer's ear and the arrow is at the height of the eyebrows, is characteristic of the Insai-ha.
The Shaho (The Law Of Shooting) is an immutable natural law and not an arbitrary human invention. Therefore, shooting must be in accord with natural principles.
There are many possible ways to translate "Shaho". "Sha" means shooting and the character for "Ho" is usually translated as "law", meaning a fundamental or essential principle. I have therefore decided to refer to the Shaho as the Law Of Shooting. (The Kyudo Manual refers to it as the Principles Of Shooting.) To my mind it means a natural law that, arising out of the inherent nature of the bow and its relationship to the archer, defines the essentials of the shooting method.Next Chapter:On the physical level, the bow is a tool like any other, and so has been designed in a specific way for a specific purpose. There is, therefore, a perfect way to use it. Obviously, this Way, in order to be perfect, must be in harmony with the bow's own innate nature and fundamental operating principle. Thus, this perfect Way is determined by the nature of the bow and is not an arbitrary creation. What I mean by this is that even though the bow and shooting technique were created by humans, the law governing the functioning of the bow is not an artificial invention but arises out of the nature of the bow itself.
This perfect Way of shooting the bow is embodied in the Shaho. It is expressed in the Shaho Hassetsu (The Eight Stages Of The Law Of Shooting) which make up the fundamentals of the art of shooting. The Shaho has been discovered and elucidated by the past masters of kyudo and represents the essence of their empirical knowledge. The Shaho therefore requires the most profound and diligent study.
Kyudo is a perfect union of the archer and the bow and cannot exist without this union. Therefore, in order to shoot the bow according to the demands of the Shaho, your body must also conform to the natural principles inherent in it. This is the principle of shizentai, or the "natural body". Most people interpret "natural" as that which is free of any rules or restraints. However, kyudo philosophy posits that nature has its own rules and guiding principles, that kyudo is founded upon these rules and principles, and that humans must train diligently in order to discover them and put them into practice.
To grasp the essence of any art, the practitioner must be able to intuitively understand the essential, unified principle that underlies and animates all aspects of that art. In kyudo, this principle is discovered through the unification of the mind, the body, and the bow. This requires a clear mind that can see things as they really are. As a human being, you consist of body, mind, and spirit. Since your body is governed by your mind and spirit, for your body to work correctly your mind and spirit must be clear and unpolluted. Your body then becomes a "living body" which can respond according to the principles of shizentai and thus execute the Shaho Hassetsu correctly. When your mind is clear and your spirit calm, you can understand the nature of the bow rather than try to impose your will upon it. You must open the eyes of your mind to the nature of the bow, and once having understood that nature, not resist it but shoot in perfect harmony with it.
I believe that this is part of what Urakami Hanshi means when he says that "the essential thing is just to dispel all doubt and ego and awaken to the as-it-isness of Nature". When you shed your preconceived ideas and rationalizations and learn to rely on your intuition, you will awaken to the guiding principle of nature as it functions in shooting. Then, your body, mind, and spirit will naturally balance themselves and "the entire arrow will fill with power and quicken with life, the separate elements will unite, and the release will come of itself". This is the true expression of the Shaho.