The Spreading Influence of Bow-Do

There are different accounts of the emergence of bow-do in Japan. According to the author of Bow Do, Bow Do is an ancient Japanese archery art that arose under the influence of Japanese Shinto and ancient Chinese Zen. In form, it inherited the characteristics of Japanese archery and absorbed the contents of Chinese archery rites. While abandoning the elaborate rituals of Chinese archery, it incorporates many concepts from Zen Buddhism. Therefore, many of the things that Japanese bow practitioners say, such as "Once you shoot, you live forever" and "Shooting is like flowing water," can be said to be Zen-like and intriguing.

The Japanese believe that although the Japanese people as early as the Kamakura period (1185-1333) era, the samurai began to accept the Chinese Zen, as a content of cultivation. However, most of the influence of Zen on bowhunting began in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Edo period, when Japanese bushido reached its maturity. It was at that time that the Japanese officially renamed "Kyujutsu" to "Kyudo", completing the transition from "art" to "way". The concept of sublimation from "art" to "way", thus opening a door of "truth-seeking" for Japanese archery, from now on, shooting is not only for mastering and improving archery skills, but also for improving one's own personality taste. At the same time, Bowdo does not give up the essence of "pragmatism", and still emphasizes hard practice and endless technical training as the necessary path to the high point of bowdo. Bowdo's motto is: "Whether it's a thousand arrows or ten thousand arrows, each one should be a brand new launch!"

As with many forms of traditional Japanese culture, one can find many traces of Chinese influence in Bowdo. The straw target (Makiwara) used for private practice in Japan, which is made of rolled straw mats, is of Chinese origin and was largely influenced by the Ming Dynasty Chinese archer Gao Ying's Shogaku Shojo (The True Book of Archery), with which most Japanese bow-do practitioners are familiar with the allusion to the "Delusional Shooting of a Draft Anvil of Perplexity" in the book. The Shogyo Shojo was introduced to Japan from the east during the Edo period, when a famous Japanese scholar, Ogi Sang Frustrated Lei, introduced a variety of Chinese archery books to Japan, including the Shogyo Shojo, and compiled and engraved them into a series of archery books called Shogyo Kokugaku Kokugaku, which had a profound impact on Japanese bow-do. We also find in the image materials of the bowdo that in the center of the shooting target of many bowdo fields, there is always a "swan" written, which undoubtedly comes from China, and Confucius said: "Shooting seems to be like a gentleman; if you lose the right swan, you should seek for your own body." The "bull's-eye" here is the target for archery.

The history of the spread of archery from Japan to the outside world is only in recent decades. According to Bowdoin, it was after World War II that Eugen Herrigel's book ZenintheArtofJapaneseArchery was the first introduction of bowdoin to the West, and it was only in the last twenty years that it really took off. Bow-do is undoubtedly a beautiful sport. It is beautiful not only because it shows a unique oriental flavor, but also because it reveals a kind of dedication and persistence in seeking the "truth", and a sense of power that is persistent and steady, which is attractive to every modern person. This is one of the major reasons why the art of archery has become so important to the world.

The reason why Japanese archery has been preserved to this day and has been able to go out of the country, gradually accepted by Westerners and integrated into Western society is inseparable from the fact that Japanese people cherish their own traditional culture, and that the government and civil society have been relentless in their efforts to promote their national culture as a responsibility. Over the past hundred years, Japan has experienced a broader and more profound transformation of modernization than ours, as well as the strong impact of Westernization on tradition. However, they have done a better and more successful job in preserving traditional culture, especially national sports culture. In the case of archery, Japan did not give up its own archery after accepting the competitive model and rules of international archery. On the contrary, archery is still developing, and it is getting better. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that the research work has been carried out well, and there are a lot of related works, and most of them are serious and standardized, and do not deceive themselves and others by attaching to the metaphysics. In recent years, the tools about Bow Do such as "Bow Do Dictionary", "Bow Do Book General", etc., have also come out one after another, which has improved its own discipline grade and attracted researchers at home and abroad to get involved in it. In this way, the bow path is not only accepted by the public, but also into the hall of higher learning in a dignified manner.