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Kyūdō

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Sanjūsangen-dō ( 三十三間堂 , Temple of thirty-three bays ) is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto , Japan .

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121-586: Kyūdō ( Japanese : 弓道 ) is the Japanese martial art of archery . Kyūdō is based on kyūjutsu ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan . In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō , and following the example of other martial arts that have been systematizing for educational purposes, kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various forms of shooting that had been used up until then. Many practitioners may refer to themselves as yumihiki (弓引き), or 'ones who draw

242-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

363-439: A bow without an arrow to learn handling of the bow and performing hassetsu until full draw. Handling and maintenance of the equipment is also part of the training. After given permission by the teacher beginners start practicing with the glove and arrow. Next steps may vary from teacher to teacher, but include practising first yugamae (弓構え), then the draw and last release and shooting at makiwara . A beginner starting to shoot at

484-403: A competitive style. These tournaments often involve kyūdō practitioners from all ranks and grades, including high school, college and adult participants. Competition is usually held with a great deal more ceremony than the standard dōjō practice. In addition to the hassetsu , the archer must also perform an elaborate entering procedure whereby the archer will join up to four other archers to enter

605-462: A distance of twenty-eight metres. For competitions and examinations, kasumi mato (霞的) is used. For ceremonies it is most common to use hoshi mato which is the same as kasumi mato but with different markings. Omato is the mato used for long distance enteki (遠的) shooting at 60 m distance. The diameter of omato is 158 cm. There are separate competitions also for enteki shooting. There are three levels of skill: The Yumi ( 弓 , lit.

726-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

847-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

968-453: A glove on the right hand, called a Yugake ( 弽 , lit. "Yumi gloves " ) . There are many varieties of yugake ; they are typically made of deerskin. Practitioners can choose between a hard glove (with a hardened thumb) or a soft glove (without a hardened thumb); each has its advantages. With a hard glove, the thumb area is not very flexible and has a pre-made groove used to pull the string ( Tsuru ( 弦 , lit. " Yumi bowstring " ) ). With

1089-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

1210-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

1331-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

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1452-401: A soft glove, the thumb area is very flexible and is without a pre-made groove, allowing the practitioners to create their own, based on their own shooting habits. Typically a yugake will be of the three- or four-finger variety. The three fingered version is called a mitsugake (三つ弽), and the four-fingered version is called a yotsugake (四つ弽). Typically the primary reason an archer may choose

1573-462: A statue of Fūjin and a statue of Raijin , and the principal image of the temple, a big seated statue of Thousand-armed Kannon, all of them designated National Treasures in the category of sculptures , most of them dating to the Heian to Kamakura periods . 34°59′16″N 135°46′18″E  /  34.98778°N 135.77167°E  / 34.98778; 135.77167 Sanjūsangen-dō was founded by

1694-520: A stronger glove like the yotsugake is to assist in pulling heavier bows (18–20 kg (40–44 lb) and above). The three-fingered glove is generally used with bows with a pull below 20 kg (44 lb) of draw weight , while the four fingered yotsugake are used with bows with a pull above 20 kg (44 lb). This is only a generalization and many schools differ on which glove to use for their bows and glove use often varies from archer to archer and school to school. The practical reasoning for

1815-607: A weapon of war began its gradual decline after the Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543 bringing firearms with them in the form of the matchlock . The Japanese soon started to manufacture their own version of the matchlock called tanegashima and eventually it and the yari (spear) became the weapons of choice. However, because tanegashima took a long time to load, were inconvenient in rainy weather when damp gunpowder would not fire, and were not exactly subtle in terms of noise,

1936-405: A wooden floor and a high ceiling, a position for practice targets (called makiwara ; 巻藁), and a large open wall with sliding doors, which, when opened, overlooks an open grassy area and a separate building, the matoba (的場), which houses a sand hillock and the targets, placed 28 metres from the dōjō floor. Kyūdō is practiced in different schools and styles, and even between dōjō of the same style,

2057-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

2178-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of

2299-591: Is 120 - meter long. Around the 1000 Kannon statues stand 28 statues of guardian deities. There are also two famous statues of Fūjin and Raijin . The 28 guardian deities stand in front of the Buddhist Kannon have their origins in Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. These ideas came to Japan through China, and the presence of both Hindu and Buddhist deities at Sanjūsangen-dō temple in Kyoto suggest various theories of

2420-510: Is a National Treasure of Japan . The temple also contains one thousand life-size statues of the Thousand Armed Kannon which stand on both the right and left sides of the main statue in 10 rows and 50 columns. Of these, 124 statues are from the original temple, rescued from the fire of 1249, while the remaining 876 statues were constructed in the 13th century. The statues are made of Japanese cypress clad in gold leaf. The temple

2541-526: Is affiliated closely with Shambhala Buddhism and was founded in the United States in the 1980s by Kanjuro Shibata XX. It has groups practicing in the United States and a group in Canada. Kyūdō dōjō (training halls, aka "kyūdōjō") vary in style and design from school to school, and from country to country. In Japan, most dōjō have roughly the same layout; an entrance, a large dōjō area, typically with

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2662-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

2783-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

2904-428: Is applied to the thumb and holding finger to assist in the grip during the pull. The extra finger allows for a stronger hold on the thumb, as it is then placed on the third finger of the hand instead of the second. Some schools, such as Heki-ryū Insai-ha only use the three-fingered glove, even with bows above 40 kilograms. The one-finger glove, called an ippongake (一本粉), is generally used for beginners and covers only

3025-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

3146-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

3267-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

3388-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

3509-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

3630-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

3751-445: Is not typically used in competition or by any other school. A practitioner's nock and grip of the arrow can be dictated by the glove and bow being used. It is not uncommon for practitioners who have upgraded or downgraded bow weight to continue to use the same glove and not change. With the exception of the ippongake , the yugake is worn with an underglove called a shitagake (下粉) made of cotton or synthetic cloth, mainly to protect

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3872-407: Is not uncommon for a bowstring to break during shooting. Hence, many archers carry spare strings in what is called a tsurumaki (弦巻; "bow string roll"). Traditional tsurumaki are flat yoyo-shaped carriers made of woven bamboo, typically with a leather strap. Recently, however, plastic tsurumaki are also coming into use. Many archers also have small containers of fudeko and giriko attached to

3993-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

4114-823: Is popularly believed to have been fought just outside Sanjūsangen-dō in 1604. In the second Sunday of January, the temple has an event known as the Rite of the Willow , where worshippers are touched on the head with a sacred willow branch to cure and prevent headaches, and a modern version of the Tōshiya , the Festival of the Great Target , is held on the west veranda, drawing roughly 2,000 participants from throughout Japan. Archers shoot arrows into targets approximately 50 - 100 centimeters in diameter and 60 meters (198 feet) away at

4235-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

4356-400: Is realized naturally. Kyūdō practice, as in all budō , includes the idea of moral and spiritual development. Today many archers practice kyūdō as a sport, with marksmanship being paramount. However, the goal most devotees of kyūdō seek is seisha seichū (正射正中), "correct shooting is correct hitting". In kyūdō the unique action of expansion ( nobiai ; 伸合い) that results in a natural release,

4477-581: Is sought. When the technique of the shooting is correct the result is that the arrow hits the target. To give oneself completely to the shooting is the spiritual goal, achieved by perfection of both the spirit and shooting technique leading to munen musō (無念無想), "no thoughts, no illusions". This however is not Zen , although Japanese bow can be used in Zen-practice or kyūdō practiced by a Zen master. In this respect, many kyūdō practitioners believe that competition, examination, and any opportunity that places

4598-414: Is the archer's yatsuka plus 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in). Every ya has a spinning direction being made from feathers from alternate sides of the bird, the haya spins clockwise upon release while the otoya spins counter-clockwise. Kyūdō archers usually shoot two ya per round, with the haya being shot first ( haya (甲矢) means first arrow ; otoya (乙矢) means second arrow ). It is often said that

4719-439: Is the governing body for kyūdō in Japan, and oversees the majority of kyūdō clubs and events in kyūdō. In kyūdō there are three kinds of practice ( keiko ; 稽古): mitori geiko (見取り稽古) – receiving with the eyes the style and technique of an advanced archer, kufū geiko (工夫稽古) – learning and keeping in mind the details of the technique and spiritual effort to realize it and kazu geiko (数稽古) – repetition through which

4840-665: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as

4961-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

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5082-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

5203-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

5324-402: The yumi did not go out of fashion and continued to be used as an important military force on the battlefield. The tanegashima however did not require the same amount of training as a yumi, allowing Oda Nobunaga 's army consisting mainly of farmers armed with tanegashima to annihilate a traditional samurai archer cavalry in a single battle in 1575 . During the Edo period (1603–1868) Japan

5445-512: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered

5566-572: The Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū ( Ogasawara Nagakiyo ), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery). During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), when Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate , archery became more and more popular, especially the three types of mounted archery : yabusame , inuoumono , and kasagake . From

5687-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

5808-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

5929-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

6050-552: The Yamato-ryū ( ja:大和流 ), which was based on Ogasawara-ryū etiquette and Heki-ryū shooting methods, and also incorporated Shinto ideas. During the changes to Japan brought by opening up to the outside world at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868–1912), the samurai lost their status. Therefore, kyūjutsu was considered obsolete and began to decline. Kyūjutsu practitioners established dojos to survive and began to spread among

6171-577: The Yayoi period (c. 500 BC – 300 AD). The changing of society and the samurai class taking power at the end of the Heian period (794-1185) created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyūjutsu ryū-ha (流派, style), the Henmi-ryū (逸見流), founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu ( ja:源清光 ) in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryū ( ja:武田流 ) and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū ( ja:小笠原流 ) were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during

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6292-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

6413-400: The yugake from sweat which would degrade the deerskin of the glove over time. The shitagake comes in two varieties, three-fingered and four-fingered, depending on whether it is used under the mitsugake or the yotsugake . Because of the unique shooting technique of kyūdō, protection on the left (bow) arm is not generally required. The bow string, when properly released, will travel around

6534-457: The "[Japanese] Bow " ) is exceptionally tall (standing over two metres), surpassing the height of the archer. Yumi shafts are traditionally made of bamboo, wood and leather using techniques which have not changed for centuries, although some archers (particularly, those new to the art) may use synthetic (i.e. laminated wood coated with glassfibre or carbon fiber ) yumi . Even advanced practitioners may own non-bamboo bows and arrows because of

6655-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

6776-472: The 15th to the 16th century, Japan was ravaged by civil war . In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his new and accurate approach called hi , kan , chū (fly, pierce, center), and his footman's archery spread rapidly. Many new schools were formed, some of which remain today, such as Heki-ryū Chikurin-ha ( ja:日置流竹林派 ), Heki-ryū Sekka-ha (日置流雪荷派) and Heki-ryū Insai-ha (日置流印西派). The yumi (Japanese bow) as

6897-406: The 3rd, 2nd, and 1- kyū ranks are more common among students, while adults will sometimes skip the kyū ranks entirely and move straight on 1- dan , though this depends significantly on the policy of the regional federation. Dan test frequency also varies depending on location, occurring anywhere as often as 4 times a year to as rarely as only once or twice a year. Such tests are generally held by

7018-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

7139-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

7260-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

7381-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

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7502-514: The alternate spinning direction of the arrows would prevent two consecutive identically shot arrows from flying identically and thus colliding. The arrowhead is called a Yajiri ( 鏃 , lit. "Arrowhead" ) . Ya are normally kept in a cylindrical quiver, called a Yazutsu ( 矢筒 , lit. "[Japanese] Arrow Barrel" ) , with ceremonial and traditional archers using the Yebira ( 箙 , lit. the "[Japanese] Quiver (of Arrows)" ) . The kyūdō archer wears

7623-542: The archer in this uncompromising situation is important, while other practitioners will avoid competitions or examinations of any kind. Kyūdō itself is not a religion, but instead has influences from both Shinto and Zen. Post Meiji when bows were no longer used for war, kyūdō in Japan was practiced for physical education, without any connection to zen or religion. However, since the Second World War , kyūdō has often been associated with Zen Buddhism , largely due to

7744-424: The archer passes, permits them to register for a grade, which can be kyū or dan level. Traditional schools, however, often rank students as a recognition of their achievement and as permission to instruct at various levels using the older menkyo (license) system of koryū budō . One's first shinsa is generally mushitei (unspecified), the performance in which will determine one's first rank. Generally

7865-405: The bow hand, coming to rest on the outside of the arm. However, on rare occasions a bow hand glove, called an oshidegake (押手弽), is used, which serves to protect the left thumb from injury from the arrow and fletching. A forearm protector can also be worn, primarily by beginners, to protect the left arm from being hit by the string. Powder made of burnt rice husks called fudeko (筆粉) is applied to

7986-411: The bow so that the drawing hand is held behind the ear. If done improperly, upon release the string may strike the archer's ear or side of the face. Resulting from the technique to release the shot, the bow will (for a practised archer) spin in the hand so that the string stops in front of the archer's outer forearm. This action of yugaeri (弓返り) is a combination of technique and the natural working of

8107-457: The bow'. Kyūdō is practised by over a hundred thousand people worldwide. The bow they use is called a yumi ( 弓 ) . It has an asymmetrical shape and length of more than 2.0 metres (6 ft 7 in), and its use is characterized by the archer gripping the lower third of the bow stave to shoot. The beginning of archery in Japan is pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are found on Dōtaku from

8228-461: The bow. It is unique to kyūdō. Kyūdō technique is meticulously prescribed. Different styles have their own variations from the steps, the most notable difference being between the vertical bow rising shomen (正面) and aslant bow rising shamen (斜面). The hassetsu (or "eight stages of shooting") of the shomen style is described in the Kyudo Kyohon ("Kyudo Manual"): Throughout the process,

8349-468: The centerline of the archer's body). Because the target is so close and the shot most certainly will hit, the archer can concentrate on refining technique rather than on the arrow's arc. Mato is the normal target for most kyūdō practitioners. Mato sizes and shooting distances vary, but most common is hoshi mato (星的) thirty-six centimeters (or 12 sun , a traditional Japanese measurement equivalent to approximately 30.3 cm) in diameter shot at from

8470-483: The common people. Kyūjutsu was first adopted as a subject in school education in 1895, encouraged by its beginning to spread among the common people. In 1896, a group of kyūjutsu masters gathered to save traditional archery. Honda Toshizane, the kyūjutsu teacher for the Imperial University of Tokyo , merged the war and ceremonial shooting styles, creating a hybrid called Honda-ryū ( ja:本多流生弓会 ). From 1919,

8591-424: The course of 16 years. A popular kyūjutsu (archery) tournament known as Tōshiya ("passing arrow") was held at the west veranda of the temple for 255 years during the Edo period . The contest originated in the late 16th century dating back to 1606 when a samurai named Asaoka Heibei is said to have shot 51 arrows in rapid succession down the length of the veranda. In the beginning, archers shot arrows from

8712-611: The dōjō, bow to the adjudicators, step up to the back line known as the honza (本坐) and then kneel in a form of sitting known as kiza (跪坐). The archers then bow to the mato in unison, stand, and take three steps forward to the shai (shooting line) and kneel again. The archers then move in lock-step fashion through the hassetsu , each archer standing and shooting one after another at the respective targets, kneeling between each shot, until they have exhausted their supply of arrows (generally four). Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )

8833-523: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

8954-550: The efforts of a single book Zen in the Art of Archery (1948) by the German author Eugen Herrigel . Herrigel spoke only a little Japanese, generally using a translator to speak with his teacher. His view on kyūdō is due his exposure to a contemplative form of kyūdō. Even so, Herrigel's book, when translated into Japanese in 1956, had a huge impact on perception of kyūdō also in Japan. Zenko (a Heki-ryū Bishu Chikurin-ha school of kyūdō)

9075-751: The emphasis is different. Some emphasize aesthetics and others efficiency. Contemplative schools teach the form as a meditation in action. In certain schools, to shoot correctly will result inevitably in hitting the desired target. For this a phrase seisha hicchū (正射必中), "true shooting, certain hitting", is used. According to the All Nippon Kyudo Federation , the supreme goal of kyūdō is the state of shin-zen-bi (真善美), roughly "truth-goodness-beauty", which can be approximated as: when archers shoot correctly (i.e. truthfully) with virtuous spirit and attitude toward all persons and all things which relate to kyūdō (i.e. with goodness), beautiful shooting

9196-419: The end of the tsurumaki strap; these containers are called fudeko-ire (筆粉入れ) and giriko-ire (ぎり粉入れ) and are traditionally made of horn or antler (though many modern archers have fudeko-ire and giriko-ire made of plastic). All kyūdō archers hold the bow in their left hand and draw the string with their right, so that all archers face the higher position ( kamiza ; 上座) while shooting. Kyūdō archers draw

9317-424: The extra finger on the glove stems from having more surface area available to the archer for the heavier draws. During the draw, the thumb of the archer is typically placed on the last gloved finger of the drawing hand, with the first (or, in the case of a yotsugake , the first and index fingers) being placed gently on either the thumb or the arrow shaft itself. Sometimes a type of resin powder, called giriko (ぎり粉),

9438-526: The famous samurai and politician Taira no Kiyomori (1118-1181) in 1164 for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa . He built the temple in the emperor's own compound Hōjūji-dono in order to gain a noble title, that of Chancellor of the Realm, becoming the first samurai to do so. Go-Shirakawa's compound was around 1100 square meters in size, divided into Minamidono (the southern estate) and Kitadono (the northern estate). When Go-Shirakawa died in 1192, he

9559-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure

9680-458: The form of practice can vary. To harmonize practice and ceremonial shooting ( sharei ; 的礼) in 1953 the All Nippon Kyudo Federation (ANKF) formed an establishing committee from the main schools to take the best elements of each school and form the general style that is used today throughout Japan and in most kyūdō federations in the west. This standard form was documented in a manual, Kyudo Manual, Principles of Shooting , published in 1953. The ANKF

9801-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

9922-399: The hand that holds the bow to absorb sweat, allowing the bow to turn in the hand. Female archers also wear a chest protector called a Muneate ( 胸当て , lit. "[Yumi] plastron / chestguard " ) , which is generally a piece of leather or plastic which is designed to protect the breasts from being struck by the bowstring during shooting. Because repeated usage tends to weaken the bowstring, it

10043-420: The history of the temple as they explore its grand halls. Visitors can also come during the annual archery contest known as Tōshiya , which showcases traditional archery skills. Visitors can get to the temple by taking a train ride to Kyoto's station then after a short bus ride on buses 206 and 208, followed by a 20-minute walk they will be at the temple. The temple is close to many other attractions, such as

10164-527: The kyūdō practitioner maintains ritual breathing between each action, which creates ma-ai between intervals. While other schools' shooting also conforms to the hassetsu outlined above, the naming of some steps and some details of the execution of the shot may differ. Kyūdō ranking system was established by the DNBK in 1923, using a system which is now common to modern budō (martial art) practices. Most kyūdō federations periodically hold examinations, which, if

10285-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,

10406-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

10527-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

10648-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

10769-439: The mato (的) may be asked to shoot from half or three-quarters of the usual distance. Advanced beginners and advanced shooters practice shooting at makiwara , mato and some with omato . Makiwara is a specially designed straw target (not to be confused with makiwara used in karate ). The makiwara is shot at from a very close range (about seven feet, or the length of the archer's strung yumi when held horizontally from

10890-406: The name of "kyūjutsu" was gradually replaced within clubs and events with the term "kyūdō", with "kyūjutsu" disappearing completely by 1933. A mixed-style form was created by blending Ogasawara-ryū, Honda-ryū, and Heki-ryū, which was called kyūdō yosoku . A ranking system for kyūdō was established in 1923. Kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various other forms of shooting. Due to the abolishing of

11011-472: The need to travel as well the risk of infection - an approach that was later extended to overseas practitioners testing up to 2-dan. While kyūdō's system of kyū and dan levels are similar to those of other budō practices, colored belts or similar external symbols of one's level are not worn by kyūdō practitioners. While kyūdō is primarily viewed as an avenue toward self-improvement, there are often kyūdō competitions or tournaments whereby archers practise in

11132-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

11253-479: The opposite end of the veranda. The festival was initially male-dominated, but in recent times it has shifted to being mainly women dressed in traditional kimonos , with the target being 120 meters (394 feet) away. The main deity of the temple is Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara or the Thousand Armed Kannon . The statue of the main deity was created by the Kamakura sculptor Tankei and

11374-1113: The origin and spread of the spiritual and cultural ideas from India to east Asia. Life-size statues of these deities are housed at Sanjūsangen-dō where they guard the principal statue of the 11 feet tall seated Senju Kannon. The temple also features 1,000 standing statues of the Senju Kannon. The deities at Sanjūsangen-dō include Naraenkengo-ou, Misshaku-kongorikishi, Touhou-ten, Birurokusha-tennou, Birubakusha-tennou, Bishamonten, Daibon-tennou, Taishaku-ten, Daibenkudoku-ten, Mawara-ou, Jinmo-ten, Konpira-ou, Manzensha-ou, Hippakara-ou, Gobujyogo-ten, Konjikikujyaku-ou, Sanshitai-sho, Nandaryu-ou, Sakararyu-ou, Karura-ou, Kondai-ou, Mansen-ou, Magoraka-ou, Makeishura-ou, Kendabba-ou, Ashura-ou, Kinnara-ou and Basusennin. These deities trace their origins to Indian Dharmic mythology covering Hindu, Jain and Buddhist, and correspond to Varuna , Vishnu , Lakshmi , Brahma , Shiva , Garuda , Vayu , Narayana , Indra and others. Sanjūsangen-dō offers guided tours to visitors year-round. Visitors will get an in-depth look at

11495-502: The original Dai Nippon Butoku Kai after WWII (re-established in 1953), several martial arts disciplines created their own organizations. Guidelines published in the 1953 book Kyudo Manual ( 弓道教本 , kyūdō kyohon ) define how, in a competition or graduation, archers from different schools can shoot together in unified form. Kyūdō is practiced in many different schools, some of which descend from military shooting and others that descend from ceremonial or contemplative practice. Therefore,

11616-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

11737-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

11858-479: The prefecture kyūdō federation and the archer may have to travel quite a distance to the prefectural capital or a large city to test. Often testing includes many archers and may take as much as 6 to 8 hours to test all of the different levels, though the COVID-19 pandemic did result in temporary changes in how testing was run. One of these changes was the introduction of video shinsa that could be submitted to reduce

11979-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

12100-480: The reconstruction of the hondō , which began in 1251. The building was completed in 1266 and survives to the present day. From the original 1000 standing Thousand-armed Kannon dating from the temple's construction in the late Heian period , only 124 were saved from the fire. The Emperor also ordered 876 new Kannon statues to replace the lost ones. These were created by three groups of Buddhist sculptors, Kei school (Keiha), En school (Enpa) and In school (Inpa), during

12221-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

12342-515: The southern end of the veranda to the northern end where a curtain -like ornament was erected as a target . The contest gained popularity during the Edo period and by the late 17th century competitions between participants from the Owari and Kishū provinces were drawing big crowds. The duel between the famous warrior Miyamoto Musashi and Yoshioka Denshichirō, leader of the Yoshioka-ryū ,

12463-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

12584-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

12705-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

12826-420: The technique is personified in one's own shooting. Kyūdō is different to other martial arts, in that it is largely static. It can be enjoyed competitively, or as a simple recreation. It can also be enjoyed by those seeking to gain the beauty of form. Beginners start with a rubber practice bow and by practising the movements of hassetsu (八節). The second step for a beginner is to do karabiki (空引) training with

12947-505: The thumb. Some versions have a full wrist covering and others simply cover the thumb with a small strap and snap around the wrist. Because it has no glove over the fingers, it is typically uncomfortable for the archer to use giriko powder. Ippongake are generally not used by advanced archers, and are not allowed in ANKF competitions. The five-finger glove, called a morogake (諸粉), is used almost exclusively by Ogasawara-ryū practitioners, and

13068-547: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は? ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Sanjusangen-do The temple

13189-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

13310-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

13431-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

13552-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

13673-609: The vulnerability of bamboo equipment to extreme climates. The suitable height for the bow depends on the archer's draw ( yazuka ; 矢束) which is about half the archer's height. Ya ( 矢 , lit. "[Japanese] Arrow" ) shafts ( Yagara ( 簳 , lit. "Arrow Shaft" ) ) are traditionally made of bamboo, with either eagle or hawk feathers ( Hane ( 羽 , lit. "Feather(s)" ) ). Most ya shafts today are still made of bamboo (although some archers will use shafts made of aluminium or carbon fibres), and ya feathers are now obtained from non-endangered birds such as turkeys or swans. The length of an arrow

13794-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

13915-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

14036-569: Was buried in the temple's east Hokkedō (hall of the Lotus Sutra ). The temple complex originally included several buildings other than the hondō ( main hall ), including a gojūnotō (five-storied pagoda ), a Kannondō (a hall of Kannon ) and a Fudodō (a hall of the Four Heavenly Kings ). All of these buildings were completely destroyed in 1249 by a fire that broke out in the city. The Emperor Go-Saga (1220–1272) ordered

14157-591: Was founded in 1164 by Taira no Kiyomori for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa . It is officially known as Rengeō-in ( 蓮華王院 , hall of the Lotus King ) and belongs to the Myōhō-in temple complex. Sanjūsangen-dō is most famous for its massively long hondō (main hall) dating from 1266 ( Kamakura period ) and designated a National Treasure of Japan , and the collection of sculptures it houses, including 1001 standing Thousand-armed Kannon , 28 standing attendants,

14278-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

14399-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

14520-458: Was popularly held at the Buddhist temple Sanjusangen-do . Many samurai competed to hit an arrow at a target 133 meters away, nearly the width of the Buddhist temple. Today, this Tōshiya contest is held as an annual event on Coming of Age Day, January 15, with women archers participating, but with the distance to the target shortened to 60 meters. In the early Edo period, Morikawa Kōzan founded

14641-442: Was turned inward as a hierarchical caste society in which the samurai were at the top. There was an extended era of peace during which the samurai moved to administrative duty, although the traditional fighting skills were still esteemed. During this period archery became a "voluntary" skill, practised partly in the court in ceremonial form, partly as different kinds of competition. During this period, an archery contest called Tōshiya

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