Knives, Bows, Arrows and Practice

Dao by John Neu

Left to right: John Neu, Wanda Neu, Dorothy Wright, Violet Anderson

As many people know -there is NOTHING like having the right tool for the job. This holiday l got the rare treat of someone creating that for me and his classmates.

Let me take a second to show off the new practice daos (knifes) that John Neu made for myself, Dorothy and Wanda. There is nothing like a perfect weapon to make you feel like a form is elevated!

For those that don't know John, he is a very skilled woodworker who also happens to be one of our senior students. He also that entertains us with so many colorful thoughts and stories. John is also is a very dedicated student of Japanese archery - kyudo. He recently shared this short blurp with me. While he wrote this about his kyudo study, I see it as a good way to approach training in any discipline and thought this the perfect time to share this with you all.

Why Kyudo (or anything)? 

January 4, 2022 

It starts with a little boy who likes bows and arrows: The arrow made of a cat-tail stalk with a beef-bone point is in mid-flight towards a stump thirty yards away. Too far. Impossibly far. But it is going to hit. He knows. An acquaintance presuming the role of a teacher once said: ”Your Kyudo is no better than my nine-year old son’s skateboard obsession.” I say: ”Then I am so happy for Lance.” Happy? Why? In formal practices, I’ve heard about ”deep intimacy with your own body.” What is that? I also heard: ”Many trees in the forest, like us. Now descend through the trunk of any one of these into the subterranean net of living tendrils. Down there, the identity of ’this tree’ is lost. Even its ’thingness’ dissolves into energy and movement.” For the Kyudoka with his years of formal training, may his Kai (full draw) be just such a descent as this. Like the little boy, but different. 

May we all feel our energy sink to our roots to mingle together!