{"id":3665,"date":"2013-12-05T12:40:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T03:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/?p=3665"},"modified":"2013-12-05T12:40:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T03:40:43","slug":"jasmine-hensley-kyudou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/2013\/12\/05\/jasmine-hensley-kyudou","title":{"rendered":"Jasmine Hensley: Kyudou"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1417691_646093545447689_120065578_o(1)\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before applying for KCJS, I read up on the program parameters on the KCJS website.\u00a0 Upon reading about the CIP assignment, I knew that I wanted to do kyudou because I had a previous interest in the martial art.\u00a0 Initially I had been concerned that I would not be able to do it because I am very petite young woman and was without any form of archery experience.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I pursued kyudou as my CIP, and began practicing every Monday and Thursday at the Kyoto Budou Center.<\/p>\n

When I first entered the Budou Center\u2019s kyudou dojo, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the archers were women around my size (though clearly much stronger than me from their years of practice).\u00a0 Our teacher Kawaguchi-sensei herself is a sprightly and strong older woman with a commanding presence.\u00a0 That is not to say that she was cold or unapproachable; on the contrary, she has been so kind and patient with us over the past few months, as have the other archers at the dojo.<\/p>\n

Although practices are usually very independent, Kawaguchi-sensei and occasionally the other archers will offer tips and corrections to our postures.\u00a0 Because kyudou is so ritualized, requiring one to repeat the same pattern of movements before every shot is fired, it is crucial to correct one\u2019s movements before they become too deeply ingrained to be fixed.\u00a0 I had very little upper body strength before starting kyudou here, so it took almost three months before I was strong enough and good enough to be allowed to move to a larger, heavier bow.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that I could ever have imagined how much pride and self-accomplishment I would feel for being allowed to exercise harder.<\/p>\n

Kyudou as a whole has served as a catharsis during my months in Japan.\u00a0 This was my first time abroad, and the experience has been wonderful, but trying at times.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve become more aware of my linguistic inabilities, I\u2019ve found myself losing self-confidence very rapidly; however, kyudou is an activity that almost entirely transcends the language barrier.\u00a0 In addition, because there are other students who do not speak Japanese at all, I\u2019ve gained some confidence in being able to translate between Kawaguchi-sensei and those students.\u00a0 Furthermore, it is a time apart from homework where one focuses only on the ritual of drawing the bow and one\u2019s own body.<\/p>\n

Kyudou is definitely a CIP that requires time and effort, but the rewards far outweighed any measly inconveniences.\u00a0 The support that I felt from Kawaguchi-sensei and the other archers, the atmosphere of the dojo, and the time for self-reflection not only helped rebuild and boost my self-confidence but also allowed me some peaceful time in my continuously active life in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before applying for KCJS, I read up on the program parameters on the KCJS website.\u00a0 Upon reading about the CIP … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080 →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_locale":"ja","_original_post":"3535"},"categories":[46,118,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}