{"id":1929,"date":"2012-01-21T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-01-21\/1929"},"modified":"2012-01-21T14:00:22","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T05:00:22","slug":"more-badass-japanese-archery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-01-21\/1929","title":{"rendered":"More Badass Japanese Archery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSerious Badass Look<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

During the Japanese-Archery event last week that I've been posting about<\/a>,\nafter the 2,000+ young adults did their thing, a few<\/span> dozen instructors also\ngot to shoot. I don't<\/span> know how they were chosen to participate... perhaps\nit's only the instructors of the kids who hit the target? <\/p>\n\n

Anyway, as last week's “Total Discipline: Anatomy of a Japanese<\/span> Archer's Shot<\/a>”\ndescribes, the goal is not simply to hit the target, but in mental and\nphysical perfection with each step, akin to how the whole tea-ceremony\nthing not really being about having something to drink.<\/p>\n\n

So, while on the shooting platform, some of the archers got into an\nintense mode, and the guy in today's post was even more intense than the\ninstructor seen earlier in “Traditional Archery Like a\nBoss<\/span><\/a>”. I noticed<\/span> his intensity immediately, and tracked him with the\ncamera more than the others.<\/p>\n\n

(I was shooting the 300mm f\/2 with a 1.4x TC with a monopod<\/span> while\nstanding on a chair<\/span> among a bustling<\/span> crowd, so these aren't all that sharp,\nbut they're better than I expected.<\/span>)<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFirst Look<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 4000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPreparing the Second Arrow<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStance<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMore Intensity<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Usually you see no reaction whatsoever to their shot, so unless you\nwatch the arrow's flight you have no idea as a spectator<\/span> whether they hit\nthe target, but I know<\/span> he did because he came back later for the playoffs\nto determine the overall winner. (It's not the main point of Japanese\narchery as a discipline,<\/span> but there is a “sport” aspect to it, so they do\ndetermine and announce winners.)<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPlayoff Arrow<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFinal Round<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 2800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAll Done<\/span>\nslipping their arms back into the sleeves of their hakama<\/i>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 4000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAccepting the Return of His Arrow<\/span>\nto signify his third-place finish\n<\/div>\n\n

I didn't quite follow how the playoffs went, but I believe<\/span> the “Final\nRound” was actually to determine second place — I was<\/span> never able to\nfigure out who won first place — and the three seen above were the\nrunners up My guy was 3rd, while the like-a-boss guy<\/a> at right\nwas second.<\/p>\n\n

As I said, I was immediately<\/span> drawn to the guy's intense presence, and he seemed\nto be the epitomy of a certain<\/span> kind of traditional Japanese samurai masculinity. It was very<\/span> cool to see.<\/p>\n\n

But beyond that, something seemed oddly familiar about him that I couldn't<\/span> place\nuntil I got<\/span> home and looked at the pictures, and it hit me that he's the\nJapanese reincarnation of Geoff Ralston<\/a>, a\nVP<\/span> at Yahoo! from back in the day. It's probably<\/span> been a decade<\/span> since I\ntalked<\/span> to Geoff, but this intense archer really reminded me of him. (Geoff\ncould be intense as well, in a good<\/span> way; I sometimes<\/span> had friction with\nYahoo! management, but I recall<\/span> Geoff being top notch all around.)<\/p>\n\n

Any other Yahoo! alumni see the resemblance, or is it just me?<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the Japanese-Archery event last week that I've been posting about, after the 2,000+ young adults did their thing, a few dozen instructors also got to shoot. I don't know how they were chosen to participate... perhaps it's only the instructors of the kids who hit the target? <\/p>

Anyway, as last week's \"Total Discipline: Anatomy of a Japanese Archer's Shot\" describes, the goal is not simply to hit the target, but in mental and physical perfection with each step, akin to how the whole tea-ceremony thing not really being about having something to drink.<\/p>

So, while on the shooting [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,26,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}