Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha
Shibata Kanjuro XX
Shibata Kanjuro XX - Onyumishi
Shibata
Kanjuro is the 20th master Bowmaker and archer to hold the name passed down from
generation to generation and is the 3rd to serve as Onyumishi, official Bowmaker
for the Emperor. Prior to the Meiji Restoration the Shibata Kanjuro
lineage held the title of Onyumishi for the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1868).
Shibata Kanjuro XX was born Yoshimune, on December 29, 1921 in Kyoto. At the age of 8, Shibata sensei began his training in Bishu Chikurin-ha and also started his study of bow making, under his grandfather Shibata Kanjuro XIX, in the family workshop. After the death of Shibata Kanjuro XIX in 1959, he officially adopted the name and assumed the duties of Imperial Bowmaker, as Shibata Kanjuro XX. Shibata sensei also acted, for many years, as the head of the Kyoto Bowmaker's Guild and was the headmaster of the Taiyusha Kyudojo, founded in 1883 by the 18th Shibata Kanjuro, until it's closing in 1991.
in 1980 Shibata sensei accepted the invitation of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master and founder of Shambala International and Naropa University, to teach kyudo in the United States. Together they founded the Ryuko (Dragon Tiger) Kyudojo in Boulder, Colorado.
Since
the establishment of Ryuko Kyudojo,
Shibata sensei has traveled throughout North America and Europe teaching and
establishing kyudojo under his association Zenko
International, taking up permanent residence in Boulder in 1985.
Shibata Kanjuro XX officially retired from his duties as Bowmaker for the emperor in 1994, passing the title to his son-in-law Shibata Kanjuro XXI, who at that time made his initial offering of the Goshimpo Yumi (Divine Treasure Bow) at the Grand Imperial Shrine at Ise.
"In Kyudo, one is not polishing one's shooting style or technique, but the mind. The dignity of shooting is what is important. Through long and genuine practice your natural dignity as a human being comes out. This natural dignity is already in you. When obstacles are cleared away, your natural dignity is allowed to shine forth."
Shibata Kanjuro XX