At Sanjusangendo, a national treasure in Kyoto, a prayer festival was held to pray for the improvement of Kyudo instead of the annual national Kyudo tournament being canceled due to the influence of the new coronavirus.
At Sanjusangendo in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, a national archery competition is held every year at this time of year, after the "Toshiya", in which masters of bows compete for their skills from the Kamakura period to the Edo period. However, this year was canceled due to the influence of the new coronavirus.
On the 17th, instead of the tournament, a prayer festival was held to pray for the improvement of Kyudo, and the temple monks first cleaned the bow and arrow while chanting the sutra at the outdoor range.
Then, in hopes of improving athletes nationwide, a stepped woman used a clean bow and arrow to shoot an arrow at a target with a diameter of about 36 cm, 28 meters away.
Then, five new adult women wearing hakama on their furisode fired bows one after another, and the gathered people captured the tense but powerful pulling of the bow.
A new adult woman who belongs to the archery club of the university said, "I think there were many people who wanted to draw a bow at the national competition, so I also pulled it with all my heart."