Kyudo: The Way of the Bow
Authored by The Academy · May 27, 2026
The syllabus
A syllabus for the Fellow who wishes to understand the Japanese art of archery as a spiritual discipline — from the feudal battlefield through the Zen-inflected transformation into a contemplative path, and the critical questions that surround the Western reception of that transformation.
Reading order
Eugen Herrigel, 1948 (English trans. R. F. C. Hull, Pantheon, 1953)
Begin with Herrigel — not because his account is reliable, but because it is the text through which the West first encountered Kyudo as a spiritual discipline. Read it generously the first time; you will read it critically later.
Yamada Shōji, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28, no. 1/2, 2001, pp. 1–30
Now the corrective. Yamada demonstrates how mistranslation and Herrigel's own mystical predispositions shaped the account. This paper does not destroy what Herrigel described; it clarifies what he invented and what was already there.
Hideharu Onuma with Dan and Jackie DeProspero, Kodansha International, 1993
Onuma for the practice itself. The technical guide that makes the Hassetsu visible — the photographs matter as much as the text. Read it with attention to what the body is asked to do at each stage.
International Kyudo Federation (IKYF)
The IKYF reference for official form. Brief, precise, and useful as a baseline against which the schools' variations and the practitioner accounts can be measured.
Kenneth Kushner, Tuttle Publishing, 2000
Kushner for the long view. A practitioner's account that is less ecstatic than Herrigel's and more honest about what decades of daily practice actually feel like. The closing reflection for this syllabus.
Discussion
Have you read this syllabus? Where did it take you?
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