The basic of doudukuri

Many people need to learn how to adjust their posture in Kyudo. To that end, you must understand the contents of making core.

First, the position of the ankle, knee joint, and hip joint is adjusted by stepping on. Next, “Pelvic angle”, “Spine condition” and “Head position” must be corrected before drawing the bow. In the textbook, the arrangement of the ankle, spine, and cervical vertebra is expressed as a “vertical line”.

In order for you to draw a bow without wasting force and release an arrow accurately, you must understand how to center your body.

First, I will explain how to make your posture accurately.

・ Tuck in your chin and pull the back neck

・ lower your shoulders vertically from your ear

・ Put your weight to whole your soles

■Tuck in your chin and pull the back neck

Tuck in your chin and stretch the neck muscles. As a result, you should be able to stretch whole your back muscle. This muscle is called “suboccipital muscle” . The back muscle has the “vertebral column standing muscle”.

Let’s be conscious of pulling your chin a little and raise the position of the head. you can stretch your back and neck muscle without necessary power.

If you put your head position a little low, you will have the stress in your back muscle because of a strong curve in your spine. Additionally, the chest spine may veer forward and the hip may move backwards.

With this form, your back muscle will have stress. Then your upper body will tighten too much while pulling. Your posture will become misalign. Therefore, try to raise your head and stretch your back of the neck. In other word, try to lift up top of your head (this position is called [Hyakue]) to 10 cm”.

In the world of Rolfing, which releave your muscle and relax, it is explained as “Skyhook” with a teaching similar to this thing. There are old budo book that the best posture is the form like suspending above your head. This book is called [Gorin no syo]. To pull the bow accurately, It is necessary to study the best posture.

■lower your shoulders vertically from your ear

Try to lower your shoulders easily and relax your arms.

We have muscles called “trapezoids” from ears to shoulders. This muscle activate when your raise your shoulder and the you move your scapula bone upward. When shooting the target accurately, you should relax your shoulder muscle.

Because it is easier to move your posture unconsciously in paticular that your shoulder misalign. In other words, you have to keep your shoulder line straight to the ground.

When making your posture accurately,The three lines [both your shoulders, both your hip bones, and both your ankles] is parallel to the ground. This posture is called Sanjyuujyuumonnji. To pull the bow accurately, it is important to align both your shoulder.

In the second volume of the Kyudo book, Noriyoshi Kanaga explains that “Kyudo is a standing zen”. This is because the way the body is set in archery is similar to the way it is set in Zazen. As a guideline, when creating a torso, make sure that the nose and navel are aligned with a vertical line, so that the ear and shoulder lines are aligned with a vertical line. This is the same as the position of the nose, navel, ears and shoulders when zazen is constructed.

■ Put your weight to whole your soles

Next, after stretching your neck, back, and dropping your shoulders, determine the position of the center of gravity of your soles. The center of gravity of the sole should settle slightly forward from the center of both feet.

In the description of the second volume of the textbook, Noriyoshi Kanaga explains that the center of gravity in torso making should fall on the intersection of the line connecting the toes of the left and right thumbs and the opposite heel. Noriki Takagi explains that the line of the center of gravity should be slightly ahead of the center of the ground paper (both legs). Also, try to keep this center of gravity from moving back and forth during meetings and separations.

In this way, the reason why the position of the center of gravity is important is that the muscles that work on the upper body and legs depend on the ground contact surface of the sole.

For example, if the center of gravity of the sole goes too far forward, the muscles of the back of your thighs and back muscles will stretch. Conversely, if the center of gravity goes too far into the heel, the muscles in the abdomen will be stretched. In other words, when the center of gravity shifts back and forth, the upper body muscles stretch and the spine shifts back and forth. By preventing these shortcomings, it is possible to prevent collapse of the body when meeting and leaving in shooting.

In addition to this, during the body building, “the back of the arrow (placed back) should be placed on your left knee” and “watch”. After understanding the above contents and properly building the framework, the body-building operation is completed.

Furthermore, those who want to learn archery and who want to understand how to make a torso should understand the following terms.

Sanjyuujyuumonnji

The correct posture for body building. In contrast to the vertical axis line of the spinal column, there are three lines: a foot line (a ground line where the center of gravity of the body settles), a waist line (a line that penetrates both hip bones on the left and right), and a line that penetrates both shoulders to the left and right. Each crossed at right angles (crossed letters), and when viewed from above, they overlapped with each other without distortion.

Tanden

It is the same as Seida Tanden. Kikai means “the place where the sea gathers” and is said to be about 3 centimeters below the umbilicus. This is the body’s center of gravity.

When studying the contents above the sentencu, it becomes clear what you should be done in Doudukuri. In addition, by understanding the contents of other teachers’ body building, you can build a basic attitude in shooting. Practice with each shot and push the bow open symmetrically.