Don’t tighten your stomach. When you do this you can not pull the bow well.

In Kyudo, there is the word “Tanden”. Tanden is the place in a part of body and it is about 8 centimeters below the navel and points to the back of the body about 8 centimeters. In China, it is also called “senyaku”, but there is no such organ.

Tanden is often used in the explanation of making your posture accurately. Japanese famous kyudo master [Kenzo Awa] explains how to pull the bow which uses a word  Tanden.

To pull the bow completely, He often taught us how to breath .When you learn that, you can understand the sense of Tanden.

I will explain Tanden.

■It is not to tighten your stomach

Many people often misunderstand about Tanden. They think that to be conscious of Tanden is to tighten your stomach. In Japan, almost kyudo teacher teaches like that.

However, when doing this, you may not pull the bow naturally because it’s hard to use whole your body naturally.

To pull the bow accurately, it is necessary to relax whole your body.With this form, You can have calm mind, pull the bow with ease  and release your arrow accurately.

In body anatomy, Stomach is related to your mind. To have a calm down mind, it is necessary to contain many nutrients and oxygens in your stomach. This substance has a effect to calm down your mind. When carrying a lot of oxygen and blood to Tanden, you can have calm mind to pull the bow accurately.

If you tighten your stomach, you will tighten the veins of your stomach and decrease the amount of oxygen.With this condition, it is hard to pull the bow accurately.

■Relax your stomach muscle, you can pull the bow accurately
So, Relax your stomach muscles when pulling. When you do that you can decrease pressure around your stomach.

I have taught many practicioners how to use their body and often said three things.

To align your body

1, pull inyour chin

2, straighten your neck

As a result, you should center your core. you can breath with ease and relax your upper body.That means to be conscious of Tanden.

You don’t need tighten your stomach.

In other words, the purpose is not to focus on Tanda, but to build a posture that allows oxygen to reach Tanda and to be naturally conscious. As a result, the upper body is useless, and after feelings calm, you are ready to draw a bow.

If you are told, “Be aware of the lower abdomen,” most people stiffen the lower abdomen from themselves or warp the hips forward. If you do these things, strong pressure and tension will occur around the blood vessels, nerves, and muscles around Tanda. Therefore, even if you take a breath, oxygen does not enter Tanda and tension occurs in the upper body.

the nutrients needed to synthesize the substance in the intestines are insufficient. This reduces the amount of neurotransmitter synthesis that controls brain activity. This causes abnormalities in mental and emotional undulations. The body’s discomfort and anxiety are caused by a decrease in the amount of serotonin synthesized in the intestines.