AKR Update Jan. 2016
Dear AKR Members and Friends,
A Happy New Year to you all!
I hope this edition will find all of
you having spent wonderful holidays and now you have been back to the normal
everyday life and practice. Both the
seminar and Shinsa application deadlines for the 5 th Asia Oceana Kyudo Seminar
have been closed. There are two affiliated countries (Argentina and Brasil)
that are sending their members and the total participants are 30 (29 testing).
It is a good thing that so many AKR members are interested in the ANKF kyudo
and encouraged enough to travel to Japan to study and improve their skill.
There is no doubt that all of the participants must be excited to receive
instruction from the excellent teachers in Nagoya. Please see the “From the
AKR” section to find the breakdown of the participants.
In order to make their opportunity
more fruitful I would like to ask those who are teaching and responsible for
their instruction at their dojos to visit the “Stipulations for examination” in
the Kyudo Kyohon. Please study the description of each rank (P125 of English
Kyohon and after P125 of Japanese Kyohon) and train your students. Please make
sure that your first timers are able to do the “Five person test sequence” and
shoot safely at 28m, which has always been the AKR criteria of attending
seminars for the first time. There are 11 participants who will take the
yon-dan test.
The ANKF Stipulations for
Examination always show the goals, as a milestone, of the stages of our skill
and it guides us on how to train. Testing is a challenge and such
self-encouragement to face to such an intense situation is a good study that
builds strength. I respect such a challenge. However please also note that
“chasing ranks” could derail you from the right track of the study of Yumi. I
believe it is a good idea for both teachers and their students to read the ANKF
Stipulations of Examination once again and train your students along the
stipulations. I also would like to encourage all the attendees/ testing participants
to read the stipulations well and train yourself hard to reach it and/or
perform better than the ANKF stipulations
Study well and enjoy learning from
great teachers and meeting your old and new friends. I sincerely wish you all
the best of luck. Please share the news in this edition with your members.
Sincerely,
Yoshiko Buchanan, AKR President
From the AKR:
1) 2015 AKR Board Meeting Action
Item: Status of Foreign Groups
<deleted>
2) The 5th Asia Oceania Kyudo
Seminar partipation: There are all together 30 people attending this seminar
and 29 participants are testing. The breakdown of the participation are:
Argentina/1, Brasil/2, MNKR/1, NCKF/6, SCKR/3, SoCKR/8 and VKR/8+1. Among the
29 participants testing shodan is 4, nidan/7, sandan/3, yondan/11, godan/2,
rokudan/1 and renshi/1. Eleven AKR members are taking the yondan test which is
remarkable.
3) 2015 AKR Roster: Should be done
by now!
<deleted> sensei is working
hard to collect the information from all the AKR federations. Your cooperation
is greaty appreciated and please do not forget to send the dues to the AKR
treasuer. It is time to update the AKR roster. The info and the details of the
procedure have been notified by the AKR secretary. Please read the note
carefully and submit the roster + dues payment in time. You are requested to
send the IKYF ID renewal fees ($9 per pserson) together with the AKR dues.
Note: This AKR Roster update is co-managed with the IKYF ID renewal, so please
pay extra attention to submit those different applications.
4) 2016 IKYF/AKR seminar update:
visit www.mnkyudo.org and MNKR Facebook The AKR has received the official note
on the 2016 IKYF/AKR seminar in Minnesota. Here is the info from the MNKR for
you to read. The seminar/Test information will be updated by the organizer, so
please pay attention to both the MNKR web site and the AKR website as well.
All,
I am pleased to invite you all to
the 2016 International Kyudo Federation American Seminar. The 3-day general
seminar will take place July 18th - 20th, with a rank examination on July 21st. We will once again be hosting the seminar at
Carleton College in Northfield, MN Please see the attached letter of invitation
and official announcements from the IKYF for the details. All seminar
information is also available on our website at:
http://www.mnkyudo.org/2016-ikyf- seminar/The cost for this 3-day seminar will
be $410. While the planning committee wanted to keep the fee the same as last
year, the IKYF insisted on raising the price to account for some of their
costs.
We are also trying to see if we can
arrange for an enteki exhibition event, but it will depend on weather and if we
can get the college to let us use the fields behind the Rec Center to do this
(so far, so good!). Stay tuned for more info about that!
As more information becomes
available, we will be posting update to our website and our MNKR Facebook page.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those from outside the MNKR
who volunteered to be on the 2016 Seminar Planning Committee, they have already
been tremendously helpful and I look forward to continuing to work with them in
the upcoming months.
I’m looking forward to seeing all of
you in Minnesota this July!
Carly J Born
Minnesota Kyudo Renmei
www.mnkyudo.org
5) Creating an AKR annual
tournament:
Finally there was a couple of
suggestions from one of the AKR members. He has good experience of tournament
in Japan and his student as well. I asked <deleted> sensei to talk with
this person and obtain ideas for further research to create tournaments in the
US.
This topic was unfortunately missed
from the AKR Board meeting agenda. However the result of the taikai has been
recorded and this record will be helpful when we need to select US team members
for the 2018 IKYF Taikai in Japan.
There is a proposal from the AKR
office for a national kyudo tournament. <deleted> sensei has updated his
idea to begin discussion for all of you: Since there has not been any response
from my e-mail, I have drafted some quick ideas. I will come up with more ideas
with my assistant.
AKR Taikai (Competition and
Recording) Plan. Draft 12/28/14 <deleted>
The committee will provide an Excel
sheet for keeping records and competition rules.
Events should occur twice a year
such as: (Spring and Fall) or (Spring and AKR seminar Taikai).
Rules: 8 arrows competitions.
No practice before competition
except for makiwara.
Observers will record the results
and archers will verify and sign.
Rules will be based on AKR
competition requirements
The committee will recommend US team
members for international events, based on the records from the competition
I would like to ask you to pay
attention to the idea and bring up your thoughts. Please contact Kato sensei
and share your ideas. Your participation in the project will provide you with a
different type of training and this chance is very much welcomed and
appreciated.
6) Creating a translation committee
group: This has no challengers or volunteers yet (1/30/2016).
Volunteer wanted! The committee
should be able to plan to ask those volunteers to contribute their translation
skill and post some articles from the Kyudo Magazine in the future. It will
help to make the AKR website more informative and useful. If you are interested
in translating articles please contact Yoshiko Buchanan at <deleted>
According to the ANKF officials they
will permit us to work on the articles of the Kyudo Magazine. Due to the
copyright of each article we are not allowed to create complete translations of
the articles but “Summary of articles” is allowed. How we summarize is the
question but there are many capable AKR bilingual members who are willing or
interested in translating and contributing their work to the AKR. If that works
it would be very helpful to the AKR members to deepen their study.
From the ANKF:
1) 2016 Written test questions: The
ANKF will keep the written test questions as they have been introduced however
there will be a slight change in wording. Once the final change is made they
will send out the updated version of the question list. (1/28/2016 from <deleted>)
2) Dan certificates: Dan certificates for those who promoted at the 2015
Special Chuo Shinsa in South Carolina were sent to the AKR. The affiliated
countries will individually receive their dan certificates as well. (1/28/2016
from Mr. <deleted>)
3) Fletching issue Mr. <deleted>,
ANKF office manager, who accompanied the teachers for the 2015 IKYF/AKR seminar
briefly, explained about the “Fletching Issue” and what points overseas
students should pay attention to. Making a very complex story short, the
guideline from the ANKF is that we cannot use the “Ojirowashi (White tail sea
eagles) and “Ohwashi (Sea eagles)” at any ANKF events. “Feathers Certificate of
Traceability” is available for those who have natural fletchings. Also, besides
the above mentioned strictly protected eagles, owners should use this
certificate to list the fletching that they are currently using and to carry
the certificates with them when they travel.
The federation presidents, shogos
and representatives attended this meeting with Mr
<deleted>. Please ask
for more detailed information about this issue from the participants of the
meeting. Those who attended this meeting are requested to share the
information, which will help to prevent any violations in the future.
The AKR office is planning to post
the document (English) from the ANKF to the AKR website.
(Not posted yet as of Nov. 30, 2015
due to a technical problem)
From the IKYF:
1) 2016 IKYF/EKF seminar
information: Please see the attachment for details.
2) 5th Asia-Oceania Semina (Nagoya):
Is now closed. All the test application forms, both pdf and original paper
forms were sent to the ANKF office on the 27th of this month. Please go to
“From the AKR” section to see the detail of the applications. The seminar Excel
sheet application should be sent soon and also the payment will be taken care
of by the AKR treasurer. Thank you <deleted> for taking care of the
payment.
3) 2016 IKYF ID Renewal: Thanks to
your cooperation the IKYF ID renewal has been completed. However the total fee will be sent to the IKYF
on the 8 th of Feb. (as scheduled).
From the EKF:
1) Here is a message from the EKF
president regarding the 2016 IKYF/EKF seminar. Please read it along with the info from the
IKYF. Please see the attachment of the IKYF/EKF for the details
Dear Buchanan sensei
I hope this mail finds you well and
in good shape and fine spirits.
Thank you for the additional
information. I will forward the documents to the national representatives.
I suppose that you have received the
seminar guidelines for Europe. The IKYF seminars in Europe are self-catering,
thus accommodation need to book their own accommodation. However, the Dutch
Kyudo Renmei has set up a website to help participants and give
guidance:
http://seminar.kyudo-renmei.com/
Best regards
<deleted>
From the Affiliates:
1) Development in Mexcio: The five
groups have gotten together and have begun moving toward forming one national
organization. It will not be long until we hear about the details of those five
groups. I hope they continue to work together to accomplish their goal and I
would like to ask <deleted> sensei to continue guiding them with his
excellent knowledge and experience in kyudo.
2) Another seminar in Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay:
<deleted> san just finished
another seminar in Chile. Thank you very much for your time and contribution to the kyudo community in the
neighboring countries. The first seminar is in Mexico in Feb. <deleted>
sensei will be teaching. The second seminar is in Port Alegre, Brazil by Yoshiko sensei from 3/25-27. The
3rd seminar is in Buenos Aires. Kubota Fumiro hanshi 8 th dan will teach the Kyudo
association of Argentina and kyudo friends from the neighboring countries from
5/25 - 27. Okabe 5th dan is invited by the Kyudokai Asuncion (and the Chile
group for another seminar. It is very encouraging both domestically and to the
kyudo friends of the affiliated countries.
End of Jan. edition
Wishing you a great 2016!