Zenko Lineage
Zenko ("All Tigers") International, founded by Kyudo Master Kanjuro Shibata XX, is dedicated to the practice of Kyudo, the Way of the Bow, and has affiliated Kyudo groups in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Zenko International
Onyumishi (Great Bowmaker) Kanjuro Shibata is a 20th generation master bowmaker and archer and 3rd generation "Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan" (retired).
The first Kanjuro Shibata moved to Kyoto in the sixteenth century and became On-yumishi, the Grand Bowmaker, to the Tokugawa clan. Since that time, the Shibata family has maintained an unbroken lineage of master bowmaking and archery. Four generations ago during the Meiji Restoration, Kanjuro Shibata XVIII was named Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan, and that title has been passed on to the succeeding generations.
Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1921, Yoshimune Shibata began training in the Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha school of Kyudo at the age of eight. He also began to learn bowmaking under the tutelage of his grandfather, Kanjuro Shibata XIX, in the family workshop. In 1959, upon the death of Kanjuro XIX, he officially became Kanjuro Shibata XX and assumed the duties of Imperial Bowmaker. Shibata-sensei also served for many years as the head of the Kyoto Bowmaker's Guild and was the headmaster of the Taiyusha Kyudojo - founded in 1883 by the 18th Kanjuro Shibata - until its closing in 1991.
In 1980, by the invitation of The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master and founder of Shambhala International and Naropa University, Kanjuro Shibata XX came to the United States from Japan to teach Kyudo and, together with Trungpa, founded Ryuko Kyudojo (Dragon-Tiger Kyudo Practice Hall) in Boulder, Colorado.
Since then Shibata-sensei has established over twenty-five iba (shooting places) throughout North America and Europe. In 1985 he took up permanent residence in Boulder, Colorado.
Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha
Archery in Japan can be generally classified into two forms; 'ceremonial' archery and 'combat' archery.The schools representing the 'ceremonial' branch are rarely witnessed outside of Japan; having deep roots in Shinto ceremonial practice.
The 'combat-derived' or 'martial archery' branch of Kyudo is chiefly represented by the Heki Ryu line.
The Heki Ryu lineage was founded in the late 1400s by Heki Danjo Masatsugu and was the first organized school of combat archery; as such, it was fudamentally a military style, and was practiced by samurai for the next four hundred years.
Our variation, the Chikurin-ha style, began around 1580 and grew from the teachings of Chikurinbu Josei, a Buddhist priest of the Shingon sect who taught the Heki Ryu. Formally the Chikurin-ha style was known as Heki Ryu Chikurin-ha, indicating its origins from the Heki Ryu line. Strictly speaking, Bishu Chikurin-ha is a name used to describe the Chikurin-ha style as it developed in the Bishu region near Nagoya.
Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha is distinct from most other forms of Kyudo - even within the Heki Ryu - placing a deeper emphasis on meditation than on hitting the target.
Many branches of the Heki Ryu line have been unified under the aegis of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation in an effort to standardize the practice of Kyudo; though some schools declined the opportunity, and continue teaching their own traditional forms.
Unlike Federation-style Kyudo, Bishu Chikurin-ha, as practiced in Shibata-sensei's iba, does not have a ranking system or hold competitions for advancement.