Honoring a 21st Century Samurai

Shibata

Shibata Sensei, teacher of Robert Archer and Bettina Hetz, among many others.

As a dozen Shambhalians gathered together in the lobby of the Portland Art Museum to see the Samurai Exhibit last Friday, I got to talking with Robert Archer about his connection with Shibata, Sensei, a Twenty First Century Samurai.  Robert whipped out this photo by Lee Weingrad on his  iPad and started talking about how Shibata taught, about what it was like to live in the Dojo with him.  Talking about those experiences seemed much more important than touring the exhibit, so we did just that, in the lobby, for an hour.  Later, with Bettina Hetz, we decided that it was important to offer a Kyudo demonstration at the Shambhala Center in Sensei’s honor.

Shibata, Sensei, was the twentieth in the line of Archers and Bowmakers to the Emperor of Japan, the great Kyudo Master Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata XX passed away peacefully on October 21st at age 92 in Boulder, Colorado.

Sensei will be honored with a memorial Kyudo shoot by his longtime students at the Portland Shambhala Meditation Center on Tuesday, November 5th, at 8:00 pm.   This follows the usual 7-8 pm meditation session at the center.  A reception concludes the evening with sake and toasts.  All three events are open to everyone.

Trungpa Rinpoche and Shibata Sensei with their sons

Trungpa Rinpoche and Shibata Sensei with their sons

One is not polishing one’s shooting style or technique, but the mind. The dignity of shooting is the important point. This is how Kyudo differs from the common approach to archery. In Kyudo there is no hope. Hope is not the point. The point is that through long and genuine practice your natural dignity as a human being comes out. This natural dignity is already in you, but it is covered up by a lot of obstacles. When they are cleared away, your natural dignity is allowed to shine forth.
~ Kanjuro Shibata

A Kyudo shoot is a demonstration of traditional Japanese archery as taught by Sensei in North America, Europe and Asia until his recent death. We will use the same style bows and equipment used for hundreds of years in Japan, handmade by Sensei and his students.  Please join us for this remembrance of a great Warrior.

See the tribute to Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XX in the Shambhala Times and photographs of his cremation at the Shambhala Mountain Center by Marvin Ross.

 

 

 

 

 

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