One year in...

I have been with Sensei for a year now. Twice a week for 3 to 4 hours a night. That is 416 hours spent practicing Kyudo. Of course there were missed classes and such but I still have logged more than 300 hours behind a Yumi.

I say this because Saturday Sensei will finally let me shoot at the Mato, the target.

Yes folks, up until now I have been shooting at the Makiwara, a rolled hay bale from about 3 feet away (As in, I was three whole feet away from the hay bale). For the most part, we all shoot only at the Makiwara, but every night a group of us actually shoot at the Mato.

The Mato, by the way, is located all the way across the back yard of the Dojo. It is regulation standard, so it is 28 meters (about 75 feet) away from the Dojo floor. The Mato itself is only 36 centemeters across (About a foot and a half)... so we have to hit a .3 meter target from 28 meters.

Anyway, I get to actually shoot at the target on Saturday, after more than 300 hours of practice.

I might also add that I'm far from perfect; Tonight I clipped my glasses with the very fast moving bowstring, and I kept on collapsing my frame just before releasing the string (I'm terrified that that same fast moving bowstring will take off my ear!). But I'm getting there, slowly... it's amazing, one would think that shooting arrows would be a rather simple proposition... but alas, this is a martial art... and that means it is really, really difficult.

And I so totally love it.

---Kyudo-ka