Saturday, the appointment is made at 8:30 a.m., opening time of the Maison des sports in Clermont-Ferrand. After going down all the stairs to find the archery room, I come across the four practitioners present that morning for kyudo training, Japanese archery. Very different from so-called Western archery.
At the beginning of each training, you have to hang the string on the bamboo bow. © Fred MARQUET
Just by their outfit. Here, we forget jogging and sneakers – except in the case of initiation, as is my case – we put on practice clothes or kimono in accordance with ancestral customs.
Targets 28 meters away
Why ? Kyudo is above all a martial art. “We are not here to shoot arrow after arrow. There are rituals to know in order to exercise discipline,” emphasizes Philippe Bernard, second dan and only teacher at the Arverne kyudo association.
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The targets are located 28 meters away. Quite a distance. It goes without saying that for the first time, I did not shoot an arrow in the center of the target.
To warm up, kyudo adepts shoot at 2 meters. For novices, it is a compulsory passage to learn how to handle the bow. © Fred MARQUET
For novices – like me – the first training sessions are summed up by a large dose of observation and test shots at 2 meters. Which is already impressive because the arch itself is between 2.30 and 2.50 m high. I am less than 1.60 m tall, the arch towers over me almost a meter.
Traditions and rituals to learn
Made of bamboo, it feels light as a feather. Once the bow is stretched, my arm nevertheless trembles under its weight, of at least 10 kg. Fortunately, the teacher helps me hold it. The arrow leaves without my choosing it. This is also kyudo:
“The arrow is not released by a gesture on our part, it springs itself in the direction of the target. »
empty (empty)
One could almost think of magic, it is not so. Practitioners wear a glove – tied at the knees as tradition dictates – with a notch inside the thumb “which allows the stretched rope to be wedged so that it is released when the time comes, then throwing the arrow”. 
The glove is tied at the knees as usual. A notch at the thumb level allows the rope to be wedged. © Fred MARQUET
Practicing kyudo is synonymous with a philosophy, a belief in the destiny of the arrow for Luc, 68, the veteran of practitioners – the youngest at 23 -:
“If we are well placed and the arrow is straight, it will end up in the target. It takes some peace of mind and focus. »
empty (empty)
The proof: when the shooting ceremony started, you could have heard a pin drop.
An arrow for the public, an arrow for oneself
Rituals of salute, entry, exit, shooting, all are learned as you go “and are constantly being revised”, confides Philippe Bernard. As an attentive observer, I note a grace and a synchronicity that emerge from the slow and codified movements of the practitioners. 
For ceremonial shooting, the kyudoka advance to the slow, synchronized rhythm of the procession, bow in one hand and arrows in the other. © Fred MARQUET
“Beauty and goodness are the two terms that can define kyudo. Beauty of the gesture and kindness by the arrow that we offer to others. »
Indeed, each kyudoka has two arrows to shoot: the first for the public and the second for himself. Be careful, if the arrow falls, it can no longer be fired.
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The apprenticeship is far, very far from being over after 1h30 of training, which includes the assembly and disassembly of the equipment. Philippe Bernard confirms it: “You have to be patient to acquire the basics of kyudo. Even after eight years of practice, I still have a lot to learn. »
Arvernian Kyudo Association. Tel: 06.06.83.52.23 (Philippe Bernard)
Training at the Maison des Sports, place des Bughes, Clermont-Ferrand, Monday and Thursday from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Lucy Diat
[email protected]
