Chikurin ha

The history of Heki ryu Bishu Chikurin ha begins around 1600. Its name refers on the one hand to Heki Yazaemon Noritsugu and thus to the Heki tradition, to which many Kyudo schools belong, and on the other hand to the actual founder of the school, the monk Chikurinbo Josei.

It was originally based in the Nagoya region, as indicated by the ‘Bishu’ part of the name.

Kyudo developed on the one hand from a martial discipline that was used in war, and on the other hand from a strictly formalised ceremonial archery that was already practised in Confucius' China. There are still many elements today - especially in the form of chikurin ha - that refer directly back to the combat situation.

The practice is based on the seven co-ordinations that have existed since the school was founded. They describe the entire process of shooting. Practitioners endeavour to execute this process as precisely as possible. However, the aim is not for everyone to be identical. Practitioners are allowed to have their own ‘face’. Within limits, an individual style is permitted and encouraged.

Chikurin ha is not a member of the International Kyudo Federation (IKYF) as it does not recognise a ranking system. There are therefore no DAN examinations. Long-standing students accompany new ones along the way. The dojo in Europe are organised in the umbrella organisation OKO.

In many dojos, sitting meditation is practised alongside kyudo.

In Europe, there are over twenty dojos in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic. There are further dojos in the USA and Canada. In Japan, chikurin ha is only practised occasionally.

The Shibata bow-making family has been practising this kyudo tradition for 21 generations.

The current head of the Heki ryu Bishu Chikurin ha is Shibata Kanjuro XXI, Sensei.

 

Shibata Kanjuro XXI, Sensei was born on 30 April 1952 in Kyoto. He began practising Kyudo at the age of fifteen with Shibata Kanjuro XX, his later teacher, adoptive father and father-in-law. He attended Doshisha University in Kyoto and worked for four years in his father's mechanical engineering workshop. In 1978, he married Shibata Hiromi, the daughter of Shibata Kanjuro XX, and was adopted by the Shibata family. For fifteen years, he learnt bow making from his adoptive father and became his assistant. In 1993, Shibata Kanjuro finally became the 21st generation head of the family and imperial bowmaker. Since December 2011, he has also been the head of the Chikurin ha. He lives and works in Kyoto.

Link to his blog: http://ameblo.jp/shibakan

 

"I am a craftsman, a bow maker and not a Zen master. That's why I can't say much about kyudo. Many kyudo students talk about the ‘Great Awakening’ or ‘polishing your mind by kyudo’. It seems impossible to me these days.

We live in a world and society that is so full of greed and self-assertion that you would have to retreat to the solitude of some monastery or mountain to have any chance at all of clearing your mind and freeing yourself from all passions and attachments. But what I clearly feel is that archery makes me aware of myself, I get to know myself anew. I realise how deeply my self is entangled in all kinds of things. When I draw the bow and point it at the target, I see myself. Nowadays, the boundaries between archery as a sport and archery ‘as a path’ are blurred in Japan. I don't think that's a bad thing. I only think it's bad when someone is proud of the fact that they hit the target well or better than others. It's a shame when archery is used to build up a small-minded ego. I think that shooting - whether as a sport or a way - should be fun. If you enjoy something, you'll be happy to keep doing it. And if you continue to enjoy archery for a long time, then you might have the chance to learn something, to realise something."

Chikurinbo Josei began teaching archery to the retainers of Lord Matsudaira Tadaiyoshi of Kiyosu Castle around 1580. Chikurinbo later became a Buddhist priest of the Shingon school. The Chikurin style belongs to the Iga Heki tradition, which does not go back to the famous Heki Danjo Masatsugo (1444 - 1502), but to Heki Yazaemon Noritsugu, who possibly came from the same family. The addition Bishu refers to the province of the same name (near Nagoya), where this style originally spread.

Sadasugu was the second eldest son of Chikurinbo and was in the service of the 9th son of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa and followed him to Nagoya. This marked the beginning of the Chikurin-ha's close relationship with the Tokugawa family. He completed a four-volume work (shikan no sho 四巻之書) on kyudo that his father had begun.

Kōtarō Takeda: Shikan no Sho. The origin of Kyūdō. Vienna 2018, 157 pages. Translated from Japanese into German by Patrick Hiehs, with explanatory notes. Edited by Alfred Schmidt on behalf of GAKO - Kyūdōjō Vienna. 2nd edition in May 2019, price € 30.- plus shipping costs. To order from the publisher at this email: alfred.schmidt77@gmail.com

Shibata Kanjuro I lived on the island of Tanegashima south of Kyushu in the 16th century and served the Shimazu clan as a bow maker. In 1574, Shibata Kanjuro II moved to Kyoto and began making bows on special commission from the Tokugawa shoguns. The head of the Shibata family was given the title Onyumishi 御弓師 (master bow maker) by the shogun. The evil-destroying yumi (hama yumi 破魔弓), a sacred bow used for purification ceremonies, was also created in this era.

Shibata Kanjuro XVIII was appointed official bow maker to the Tenno, the Emperor of Japan, in 1871. He was responsible for making the 350 bows (each with 24 arrows) that were used during the accession ceremonies of the first two Japanese emperors of the 20th century.Even more important for the workshop is the construction of the 59 azusa-yumi (梓弓), which have to be made every twenty years for the Shinto shrine in Ise.Records in the Ise Shrine show that these arches have been built by the Shibata family for over 200 years.
In 1883, the Shibata family founded their own dojo - the Taiyusha Dojo - in Kyoto, which remained in the family until 1991. Then the dojo, which was in need of renovation, was donated to Kyoto Joshi Dai University.

Shibata Kanjuro XIX was the grandfather of Shibata Kanjuro XX and his tutor, kyudo and bow-making teacher. He was regarded as a strict man who uncompromisingly demanded everything from his students. After the Second World War, Shibata Kanjuro XIX shot two arrows into the centre of a vessel with a diameter of approx. 8 cm in front of the Tenno to demonstrate the practice of Kyudo. He wrote a book about the Heki ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha, which only exists in Japanese and is unique.Up to 500 yumi were produced each month in his workshop with a number of helpers.

Shibata Kanjuro XX, Sendai was born on 29 December 1921 in Kyoto, the former imperial city of Japan. He began practising Kyudo at the age of eight and learnt the craft of bow making from his grandfather Shibata XIX. At the age of 20, he was awarded the highest teaching certificate. In 1959, after the death of Kanjuro XIX, he was officially appointed his successor and Imperial Master Bowmaker. He was master of the Taiyusha dojo in Kyoto for many years. In 1969 he was honoured as a living national treasure. In 1980 he accepted an invitation from the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche to come to Boulder (Co.) in the USA. He lived and taught there from 1985 until his death in October 2013.