I so wanted to go to see this event today. The O-mato Taikai, archery contest held at Sanjusangen-do temple. It has roots that go over 400 years into history. These days it's only for young adults (20 years of age) though, and not quite as extreme as it used to be. What it used to be like (copy-pasted from japan-talk.com):
The HyakuiNowadays there's two arrows/archer per one round. Those who hit the target with both go to the next round, and that's it. Video from last year:
Most target hits with 100 arrows.
The Seni
Most target hits with 1000 arrows. The 11 year old boy who won the 1827 competition hit the target 995 times.
The Hiyakazu
The number of target hits in 12 hours. The 1774 winner shot 11,715 times. That's an average of 16 arrows a minute for 12 hours with no break.
The Oyakazu
The number of target hits in 24 hours. The 1686 winner hit the target with 8,133 of 13,053 arrows he shot.
As I said, I'd planned to go to watch, but got a bit sick. No fever or anything, but sore throat that feels a bit worrying, not just the throat that is, but a bit in the chest too... so I figured it's better stay home. Otherwise I might have still gone, but we're going to have all our exams and deadlines within the next two weeks, so I don't want to get sick right now. :/
Last year it apparently snowed around this time. So this year too, yesterday night! Snow! Of course, it's mostly gone now, and tomorrow's weather forecast is 11° C, so...
But I had time to make this!
View from my balcony this morning:
Coming to Kyoto, I was in fact thinking about joining the kyūdō (Japanese archery) club at the university. In the end didn't join any clubs... but I think I simply must do something kyūdō-related before going back to Finland. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. ^^
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