maybe I missed you most: about my old friend, archery

hi again, friends ! I am enjoying the burst of inspiration & will keep writing blogs while I feel like it. 

sadly, I am back in australia. there's not a nicer way to say it. I preferred it in japan; I liked my life more, randomly blaring sirens outside my hotel room & all. it gives me something to hope for, though, which is what I desperately needed. I have something to believe in again. 

I am enjoying saying things as I mean them now, & so I shall: on our last night in ōsaka, we visited an entertainment & sport-game place called 'round1', though I know it as 'spo-cha'. I'd like to note, because I found it funny, that the second floor, focused on digital forms of entertainment such as "That's literally gambling" & competitive digital games, smelled of body odour. we suspected that nobody on that floor had been outside in three days (though not like I can really talk).

while I was there, I tried both karaoke (no babymetal songs though... sad) & 'taiko no tatsujin' for the first time, & I'm excited to report that, while there, I also had the chance to partake in my old beloved sport of archery. my friends & I all attempted at once, the sharing of bows & arrows impeding my ability to analyse my work. 

I ended up returning on my own, as a great thirst had awaken within me. it turns out that my archery skills had just been asleep for the past seven-or-so years. I knew that I could not leave without making a proper attempt. secretly, this whole time, I had been itching to shoot again.

the previously unfamiliar recurve bow (I only ever shot with compound bows; which I preferred at the time for their power & aesthetics, but now find to lack in elegance) became my eyes. there was nothing else to see while I shot; absolute focus & attention given to my technique. in doing so, I managed to recall the majority of what I'd learned (though missing an important detail that keeps me awake & hungering to shoot again), & I quickly began hitting near the centre of the target again with only ten or so minutes' of practice. 

I became aware that a small group of men behind me were chatting to one another. somebody said something along the lines of ’綺麗', 'pretty' (in reference to physical appearance), but I did not care to listen in any more. I had already found the love I sought, & it was to be found in the string against my face, the feel of the grip on my hand. love from others is a valuable thing, but so is the  concentration of the self; the two compete to see whom can escape our grasps more quickly in the face of modern distractions. when we practice complete concentration in that manner, we practice seeing objective reality in front of us; what really matters, rather than what we think should. 

it is said that the japanese prefer to live an 'uncomplicated' life. in awakening the sleeping warrior & feeding her with disciplined action, I had a taste of understanding. emptying the mind creates space for things to sort themselves out; in shedding my clinical ways of guiding thought I was able to realise the simple reality. 

my heart hadn't beaten so loudly in months. being alive can be considered as the basis upon which things are created; a good workspace should be kept clean. 

archery is the way I will keep my workspace clean. (perhaps this is the true meaning of terms such as '弓道' (traditional japanese archery), 'the way of the bow'. 'the way of achieving a clear mind, through the bow.')