- Yoshiko Hayakawa, born in Tokyo in 1944, has practiced yumi, the Japanese art of archery, for eight years. Yumi requires self-discipline, unwavering concentration, and inspired grace. The practice of yumi entails eight steps, each of which evolves from the one before. Hitting the target begins with picking up one’s equipment and is one continuous rhythm until the arrow has hit its mark. As important as hitting the target are the movements and thoughts that carry the arrow to its destination. “I practice without a target,” Hayakawa says, “for the goal is perfection of the individual. What you create inside is the target, but more than the target.”
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