Oko Kyudokai
Dear Kyudo friends,
First of all: Happy New Year and all the best for 2006!
Looking back on the previous year there was a lot of Kyudo activity in Europe. January started with the meeting of Zenko council in Muenster, Germany. Zenko (All Tigers) is the international organisation of our Kyudo school: Heki ryu bishu chikurin ha (or Heki ryu zenko chikurin ha). As a result we started an exchange program, where every year one Kyudo student from Europe and North America wiil receive financial support to enable them to attend a program on the other side of the Atlantic ocean… ( more information is available in your local dojo).
The annual General meeting of the umbrella organisation and also the European wide organisation Oko Kyudojo e.V. also took place. Elections took place for all posts – but there are no changes in the personal. On the financial side, we have decided to support Sensei more than in the years before. Sensei stays now all the year in Boulder (except he travels to programs). So there is a greater need of money, than in the times when he spent the winter in Japan.
So on to the organisational things. Major Kyudo programs took place in spring with Kanjuro Shibata XXI and in summer with Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sensei. During the wonderful summer program in Dechen Choeling he gave a name to the Dutch Kyudo practice group: Barako (Rose Tiger).
Major programs also took place in Vienna, Bern (The Panhelvetic) and Rotterdam…
This year, in February and March Kanjuro Shibata XXI will visit the following places in Europe for weekend programs:
Arzier
(CH) from 24th until 26th of February
2006
Contact: Christina Chapalaz, Tel: +41-22-36648899, e-mail:
reiko_kyudo@yahoo.com
Duesseldorf
(D) from 03rd until 05th of March
Contact:
Marion Pelz, Tel: +49-211-3179187, email: info@marionpelz.de
Vienna
(A) from 10th until 12th of March
Contact:
Alfred Schmidt, Tel: +43 –1 – 403 56 70, email:
alfred.schmidt@onb.ac.at
please spread the news!
The dates for the summer courses in Dechen Choling have also been fixed. The course for experienced students will take place between the 16th and the 20h of July and the open course for beginners from the 20th to the 27st July. (Contact: Dechen Chöling, Tel: +33 – 555 03 55 52 or email: dechencholing@dechencholing.org). At this present I don’t know, if Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sensei will be giving any other programs in Europe this year.
As well as the afore mentioned major events in the Kyudo calender, I would also like to take the chance to mention the weekend courses that are planned for the coming year. In spring there will be a weekend course in Rotterdam, in May a beginners course in Muenster (Shuko Kyudojo), in Vienna the ‘Vienese Kyudo Meeting’ at Whitsun, the first weekend in September there is a course organised by Shuko Kyudojo in Bohmte and once again in the autumn the annual Panhelvetic takes place in Bern). This list is certainly incomplete, information will be sent by email with details of further events as and when it becomes available – or take a look at now and again at www.kyudo.org
And so to the last point, as ever, my yearly appeal, please when you are not a member of one of the following Dojos listed below, please show your solidarity for our school of Kyudo and our teachers through the punctual payment of the annual subscription of 100 Euros (for German practioners 105 Euros, the extra 5 Euros is because of insurance), or as much as your finanancial situation allows, to: Konto: Oko Kyudojo e.V., Account Nr: 76001800, BLZ: 401 600 50 the Münster branch of the Volksbank, BIC: GENODEM1MSC, IBAN: DE83 4016 0050 0076 0018 00.
Dojos: Barako (Netherlands), Doko chikurin-ha, Paris; Gako, Vienna; Hoko, Düsseldorf; Koko, Bern; Monko, Hamburg; Shiko, Marburg; Shuko, Münster; Zenko; Bonn (these Dojos transfer the annual subscriptions direct to the umbrella organisation).
With all my best wishes for your Kyudo practice in the coming year.
Max Baltin
(Somu)