Click here to download a printable flyer.
Shibata Sensei will be attending this year and will also be directing other senior members of Zenko in creating a genuine practice environment.
Shibata Sensei's response to the request for a theme for this year's Kyudo Assembly:
For thirty years now we have been practicing kyudo together in the West. Sports, budo, these are easy. But kyudo is meditation from the traditions of India, the Avadhuti mandala. It's a lot of work, difficult! Now, there are many young people who want to do meditation practice. One hopes for an easy theme or message. But it's not easy to deliver this. It's easy to say 'meditation.' But this is a matter of each of you cleaning your own hearts. In any case, this trouble continually arises, again and again, one practices and hopes for the target.
In the cold winter, you have no stove.
In the hot summer, no air conditioning.
This is meditation.
Hitting the target is good. Not hitting the target is good. We have seven coordinations and five tastes. These five tastes are five aspects of good balance. You come to the platform with so much hope, to hit the target, to have a good form. Within the five tastes we have yuki no metsuke, the falling snowflake. When you see this what are you seeing? There is so much eagerness, various hopes. Instead, let's have a slow, gentle discussion together.
Genki de!
Kanjuro Shibata XX
The idea of the Assembly is that all of the kyudo practitioners in the area and beyond come together each year to practice with each other and to celebrate our shared journey. The key is open-hearted participation.
Beginners will work directly with practiced students and progress from iba etiquette and equipment handling to learning the basic form, shichi-do, or the Seven Coordinations. With students from Sensei's home iba in Boulder and the leaders of the major Zenko iba groups in the east coast area working in conjunction, this program offers an environment in which beginning and experienced students can advance their practice together.
There is a $25 kyudo venue fee.
Program Price: $285
Please Note:
Price includes meals but not
accommodations.
It is traditional for students to offer a monetary gift to the teacher in appreciation for receiving
the teachings, and in recognition of the years of training and understanding the teacher has cultivated.
There will be an opportunity to offer a teaching gift at the program.
Scholarship and Financial Aid resources are available to make dharma accessible to
people in all circumstances. We offer different ways for overcoming financial obstacles
here.
About Shibata Sensei Kanjuro XX:
Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata is a 20th generation master bowmaker and archer and the 3rd generation Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan (now retired). Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1921, Shibata Sensei began training in the Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha School of kyudo at the age of eight. In 1959, upon the death of his grandfather, Kanjuro XIX, he officially became Kanjuro Shibata XX and assumed his duties as Imperial Bowmaker. By the invitation of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Kanjuro Shibata XX came to the United States in 1980 to teach kyudo and together with Trungpa Rinpoche, he founded Ryuko Kyudojo (Dragon-Tiger Kyudo Practice Hall) in Boulder, Colorado. Since then, Shibata Sensei has traveled extensively and established kyudojos throughout North America and Europe.
Registration is closed for this program.
