Zen in the art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel – A review by Kirsty Sloman

I acquired this book very recently the day after the Archery Masterclass: my partner found it for 50p at a car-boot fair. It happened on reading it that it was a relevant piece of writing to not only the Archery that we did, but also to our approach to Martial Arts. In particular, it was very apt in respect of the underlying principles and the philosophy that is White Crane Martial Arts.
The book itself is an account of the experiences of the author as he persues a six-year long study of Archery in Japan and all to try and discover the mysterious concept of Zen.
Under the tuition of a Master Kenzo Awa, the author goes on to describe the training he was put through in order to come to terms with the Eastern way of learning and doing things. Because of his Westernised upbringing, the author encounters many difficulties as he grapples not only to use a Japanese bow and arrow but to apply the unfamiliar Eastern concepts to it.
His frustration and his impatience that he experiences during his time learning Archery is described, relating to the fact that in order to reach a state of Zen, the bows and arrows and hitting the target actually does not mean anything. This is something that the author at first does not understand.
To cut a long story short, it is a good 4 years before the Master deems him practiced enough to actually start firing at the targets. Those 4 years, he is only allowed to nock, draw and loose the arrows.
Basically, what this book highlights is the fact that there is this huge difference between the West and the East and that also through dogged perseverance, persistant practice and open mind things will eventually come right and be achieved.
The good thing about this book is that it is very short and is simply written which makes it a lot easier for people like me to understand.
It also has some apt snippets of advice that the author learned during his training.
For example on page 59 he says: “The pupil brings with him three things to training:
A good education, a passionate love of his chosen art and an uncritical veneration of his teacher”.
Which to me sums up how we should go about out training !

Kirsty Sloman