Kyudo Taikai

What a day, I don’t know where to start! Well, I’ll start from the beginning. I woke up early and got ready for a big day in Sogoundokoen where there was a big Kyudo event. I didn’t know yesterdays was going to be so long, but I knew todays was going to be all day, so I prepared myself for it this time. So I made some breakfast (peanut butter and honey sandwich) and then headed to the gakuentoshi station there I met other ichinensei (first year students of kyudo like myself) and we hopped on the train. Of course they jumped into the girl car! I’m glad I was paying attention I went to the next car, they didn’t realize till I told them. Sometimes people don’t even pay attention. It’s crazy, I feel old and young at the same time. First I am 25 years old and have had a lot of experience in many things, but also I’ve been tossed into the 1^st year students who are all 18 and 19 years old and have a lot to learn but at the same time I can’t hardly read or speak Japanese so I’m really in the same shoes. So we made it to the station and met up with the rest of the group then headed to the big tournament for the greater Kansai area. It was quite a thing, 1000 plus people who do Kyudo and over 500 competitors. I have been lucky enough to be in one of the more respected Kyudo clubs in the area, they have one of the oldest Kyudo teachers and very respected as well. We had never met but he already wanted to give me the privilege to go down and watch the Men’s team tournament finals with him in at the judge’s table. It was awesome and nerve wrecking at the same time. I really don’t feel like I deserved the honor more than anyone else, I’m just an American who is trying his best to learn the Japanese language and culture. So I nervously accompanied the Sensei with a fellow club member who speaks English just in case and we went down and watched one of the biggest Kyudo tournaments in Japan together at the Judges table. It really was awesome, and a totally amazing privilege.

The next cool thing was that the ninensei (2^nd year) and sannensei (3^rd year) club members took all the ichinensei (1^st year) members to dinner at a quite nice Italian restaurant, which was a 10 – 15 min walk from the station, which also happened to be in the same building as my apartment, so the whole club walked me home! I was in a good mood even though today has been a long day, so I was talkative and got along with everyone even though my Japanese is so terrible. I have really been having trouble feeling a little alienated from everyone because I can’t contribute to any conversation, but today has been good.