The central task of the umbrella organisation is to promote and spread the kyudo of Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin ha in Europe. In practice, this means, among other things, promoting communication between the individual dojos and coordinating cross-dojo activities. The umbrella organisation coordinates and organises the visits of Kanjuro Shibata XXI, Sensei and other experienced students and hosts the annual programme in Dechen-Chöling (Buddhist centre near Limoges, France). It also supports local dojos in their development. This can take the form of subsidies for the construction of a dojo (practice area) or, more frequently, support with materials: yumi (Japanese bows), ya (arrows) and kake (gloves).
History and background
The Japanese word Oko translates as European Tiger (O = Europe, Ko = Tiger) and is the generic term for all practitioners of Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin ha in Europe. The name was given in the early 1990s by Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sendai Sensei. At that time, there were relatively few scattered students in Europe. There were larger groups in Vienna, Bern and Bonn at the time. Until 2016, all dojo (=practice groups) at our school were also Tiger groups (group name and ko). Kanjuro Shibata XXI, Sensei also introduced the dragon tradition (Ryu) with the Soryu dojo in 2016.
On 5 June 2002 - in the meantime there were already a number of dojos in various cities that had been given names by Sendai Sensei and were organised as independent associations - representatives of these dojos met near Marburg and decided to form an umbrella association.
This umbrella organisation is called Oko Kyudo Dachverband e.V. and is a non-profit association under German law. Most European dojos that have received a name from Sendai Sensei or Kanjuro Shibata XXI, Sensei and are organised as an association are members of this association.
The Oko Kyudojo e.V. association was founded in parallel for all dojos that are not organised as an association and therefore cannot be members of the umbrella association, as well as to represent the many individual practitioners scattered across different countries.