Author notes

08-02: It Does

iagojester

on Sept. 29, 2009

So much I want to say…
As Alejkhan pointed out on last week's comic, Raivyn is participating in the Japanese sport of Kyudo. There are many styles, but this one utilizes a tall bow (taller than the bearer) in which the handle is situated below the half way point so that the bearer can fire it while in a kneeling position (kiza) without it hitting the floor. This was most often used for rapid fire.
Laryk, here, is feeding Raivyn the arrows (Ya), smacking them down on her thigh, where Raivyn then senses the arrow and picks it up to draw on her bow (Yumi.) without ever having to look down, or away from her target.
This form of two-man speed archery is famous in the competitions in Kyoto at Sanjusangedo. The record for the most arrows shot in 24 hours (Ouyakazu) was set in 1686 when Wasa Daihachirou shot 8,133 arrows the whole length of the veranda (120 meters at Sanjusangendo) out of a total of 13,053 shots. That means he hit his target 62% of the time.
Obviously, these two aren't in any hurry. Either they are really bad at Kyudo (one should never talk while drawing a bow as it is a form of meditation), or perhaps they are just silly foreigners trying to dabble in Japanese sport. But what are they firing at?
Ah.
Find out next week!

Comments:
Kaj: Heh. I like that question. Though I think Yote's more your man for those tasks.

Jenshin: No. No grad school here. Working. Looking for better work. Thinking hard about grad school- but can't decide on a good line of study. (not a useful one anyway.)

Alejkhan: Yeah, getting to change up the costumes is the best part of flashbacks and scene changes. ^_^