Kai
会
Full draw of the bow, the sixth of the eight phases of shooting in kyudo. The archer looks calm outwardly, but the draw keeps growing until the shot comes.
Quick Facts
Term typeTraining method
LanguageJapanese
Formnoun
Pronunciation[kye]
Alternative Namesfull draw
Readings and romanizations
Reading (kana)かい
Hepburn romanizationkai
Word breakdown
会kaimeeting
Definition
Kai (会) means meeting. In kyudo it is the sixth of the eight phases of shooting (hassetsu), the full draw of the bow. The archer is outwardly motionless, but the draw keeps expanding in all directions (nobiai) until the release hanare follows. Kai is often linked with Zen, mainly through Eugen Herrigel's 1948 book Zen in the Art of Archery. Later researchers, for example Yamada Shoji, showed that Herrigel's account stems from the distinctive teaching of his teacher Awa Kenzo and misunderstandings in interpreting, not from the general teaching of kyudo.