HASSHAKAI

This means first shooting (tournament) of the year in Kyudo the traditional way of the bow.

The cold was so intense is was hard to stand on the floor and toes got numbed.
A bottle of sake was there for O miki and to warm the bodies up, it was intensively used although is was early morning.

After the usual speeches and greetings was a ceremonial shooting at the makiwara with 2 helpers called Kaezoe.

This is a rare form with a bow carrier (kaeyumi) in case the shooter's string breaks.

The makiwara is a straw-made practice target.

Followed by  ceremonial shooting, Yawatashi.

The newly graded from the past year also offered a ceremonial shot, Reisha.

 Then a Sannin hitosumato zasharei, 3 persons shoot on the same target in turns within a precise ceremonial.

After that a general Reisha (2 arrows) and twice 4 arrows shooting.

 Yours in Kai.

After a bento (lunch box) and a soup lunch break we carried on with shooting on a smaller targer called Hanamato, representing the 12 months of the year with a flower for each month.

Whoever hits the target keeps it and receive a price later on.

I was lucky enough to hit one with my first arrow and got to go help gathering arrows at the target bank.

By sheer chance I hit the one for my birth month.

 

It took a very long time to hit all the 12 targets.

 

Followed another shot  of the same size target (5 of them) covered in golden paper.

Last we shot at  balloons containing a number giving a prize, here too my first arrow hit one.

 

The day ended in the presentation of the various prizes.