Kyudo II

[Delvie]

Is that the right title, Nishi?

[Nishiko]

Depends on what it is you're trying to say.

[Delvie]

Apparently not. LOL

[Nishiko]

Er. I have no idea what it is you mean to say with the title in the first place. :} What did you intend?

[Delvie]

I thought it was the Kyudo stance she was in. But if you don't recognise the name, I am guessing I have it wrong.

;)

No biggie. I was just trying to be accurate.

[Nishiko]

Honestly? I've never heard the formal term for it: Sensei's always simply referred to it as 'low stance' or somesuch. I'll ask him or one of the dai-senpai next time I go. My unfamiliarity with the proper kamae name might be due to the fact that no other style Sensei's seen -- or that I found in an exhaustive Google and martial arts terminology search -- shoots from that stance, and he actually said so when I showed him that page in Ju-Nen #2; thus, there is little if any terminology reference to be found. I'm surprised you managed to dig up a phrase at all, seriously. (Our dojo is one of maybe three left in the world that teaches multiple disciplines within one style, and ours is the last of its specific kind; while I freely admit I don't know what, if anything, the other two schools do for kyudo/kyujutsu, as far as I'm aware ours is the only one actively employing that particular low stance.)

[Delvie]

I think for now, I will just change it back to Kyudo II. Please let me know what your sensei says about the proper kamae name. What Ryu did you say you studied?

[Nishiko]

Shinkage-ryuu. Kamiizumi Nobutsuna's Shinkage, not the subsequent Yagyuu variant.

http://www.noblehouse.afternet.com/ (though it's been waiting on an overhaul for ages now) :)

[suryanijan]

Looks more like a ballet stance to me.  Only reason I say that is because of how arched her foot is on the extended leg.  In any other discipline, you will not arch your foot to that extension.  Says she who had to be yelled at for years to stop arching foot during training.  

"WHAT the hell do you think you are? A freakin' ballerina??!!"

"Er .. actually, yes sir ..."  

"Get out!"

"OK ..."

"Get back in here and gimme 10 laps around the room!!!"

[ITOMARU]

Tucci-sensei,
Unfortunately, I haven't seen Ju-Nen #2 yet but I enjoyed #1.
In connection with topic of Kyudo, I point out a mistake in Ju-Nen #1.

The marksmanship which you drew with the book was not Japanese style but European (Mediterranean) style.
Since Edo period, Japanese archers fitted an arrow to the right side of the bow, and drew the bow by the thumb the same as Mongolian soldiers.



Before Edo period, samurais took the feathers of an arrow with the thumb and the forefinger, and drew the bow by the middle finger and the third finger.


The words "way of bow and horse" means "way of samurai". English longbow archers were foot soldiers but Japanese samurais were cavalrymen, they drew the bow on horseback before matchlock guns had diffused in Sengoku period. Mediterranean marksmanship was unfit for drawing a bow on horseback.

FYI, this page is famous archery lover Mr. Kamei's report on his own experience of Kyudo. It's in Japanese, but it has many pictures that speak for themselves.
http://www.a-rchery.com/osl11.htm

[Nishiko]

This is a point I've mentioned to Billy a couple of times, actually; he said the reason for his drawing Western archery methods is because he didn't have any reference to draw from for the Japanese. By some stroke of luck, I'd purchased a book on kyudo at a secondhand bookstore before the San Diego Comic-Con and was able to give it to him when I saw him at the convention. Maybe we'll see traditional Japanese archery in future issues. :)

The major difference between modern kyudo and an old traditional style like mine is that we don't use partial gloves like in the pictures you posted; we use reinforced thumbguards made from soft deerskin that are wrapped around the hand and wrist in a specific fashion. The glove is probably easier to draw, though. ;D

The pictures you posted are really good. Thanks for sharing them. :)