[Candor7]

After you absorb a modicum of culture behind the bamboo curtain, go to Ise for a visit and make sure you take your wifey so you can petition an audience with the kami at the Kagaruden.

Not many foreigners know of this aspect, but you go to a Kagaruden kiosk where a Shinto priest will take down your name and your wife's name, (you need to have your name in Japanese Script, preferably Kanji if possible and there is a donation fee). Your names are added to a petition for blessings from Amaterasu. You wait and are admitted to the sacred interior of the Kagaruden where music and sacred dance are offered to the kami, the Kanushi bless the audience, the whole situation sets up a mandala in which you are included. A kanushi reads the petition and recites all of the names on the petition.

After you leave Ise make sure and visit the old village just outside the main gate of Ise. There is a sake bar there, small , for White Hawk Sake ( Shiro Taka)...its the best you will ever taste anywhere...they supply the sake for the shrine.

Inside the Kagaruden,the Kami is invoked and that can be felt , it can be quite emotional because of the energy...everybody maintains their cool....but you may see some tears....If you have an offering heart of offering body speech and mind, and have arrived at a place where your heart is pure and uncluttered with passion , aggression or ignorance, you will receive a great blessing in your life.

After doing this myself, I maintain a kami-dana in my home.That feeling is still with me, and it allows continuing blessings and insight into the phenomenal world.

The one person you should meet while in Japan is Shibata Kanjuro XXI Sensei,Onyumishi ( Bowmaker), to the Imperial Family of Japan . He is a kyudo master of the ancient koryu kyudo lineage of Heki Ryu Biu Shyu Chikurin Ha, a meditation /warrior style of kyudo founded by Chikurin Osho, an Ajikan monk, 600 years ago.Shibata Sensei is connected to people all over Japan, and he is an excellent resource for any gaijin living in Japan, and his wife is also famous as a Tea Master and caterer :

https://suigenkyo.com/en/service/

If you want his address, I can send it to you PM, he is in the old Samuirai Quarter of Kyoto.

You are living in a wonderful place. My son , his Japanese wife and three children live there ( Tokyo).

All the best.Happy New Year of the Wood Dragon.

( Shibata Sensei )

[Lazamataz]

Quite an interesting post. Thanks.

[poconopundit]

Many thanks, Candor7, for sharing your fascinating experience and encouraging me and my wife to explore some of the treasure you found in Japan related to the kyudo style of archery.

Perhaps we CAN take the adventure of visiting Ise and get involved there.

And what if I want to give kyudo a try? Do you recommend looking for a local group in my city, Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo?

Looks like there are archery tournaments being held here though I'm not sure it's the kyudo style.

Meanwhile I found an interesting discussion of Kyudo. And a succinct descziption of the martial art:

"One is not polishing one’s shooting style or technique, but the mind. The dignity of shooting is the important point. This is how KYUDO differs from the common approach to archery. In KYUDO there is no hope. Hope is not the point. The point is that through long and genuine practice your natural dignity as a human being comes out. This natural dignity is already in you, but it is covered up by a lot of obstacles. When they are cleared away, your natural dignity is allowed to shine forth."
Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XX