A culture of details

As a high precision sport, equipment in Kyudo is a paramount subject and it goes far beyond the bow and arrows. Coming from the rough world of kendo, it was surprising to hear kyudoka talking about their pouch's fabric, obi color, arrow and glove correct nuance association.

Kyudo is one of the oldest sport in Yamato (old Japan). If there is a single Kyudo today, for centuries, Kyudo was divided into two practices: a sport version which is close to the Western archery, focused on reaching a target, and an other version which was practiced at imperial court where the gesture form, the visual aspect of the performer was more important than hitting the target. Somehow, but this is my own opinion, Kyudo is part of Geido like Ikebana, Noh theater, or Shodo calligraphy.

Today's Kyudo inherited those two aspects and I feel that my kyudoka friends have a tendency to be more one or the other.

This inspires me a series of posts about traditional Japanese aesthetics and patterns. I will focus on the "Iki", a favorite subject of mine. I guess I will write this series in French as like for food or sweet words to children, the mother tongue comes first for deep subjects.