Amara of Ojai

Our Gekko Kyudojo community was founded by Kanjuro Shibata XX, Sensei the 20th in a line of bow makers to the emperor of Japan. After the second world war, Japanese spiritual traditions were suppressed as they were connected with the imperial court. As a result, Sensei spent more than 30 years teaching his Kyudo archery meditation lineage (in the Heki Ry Bish Chikurin-ha tradition) to students in America, Europe, Canada and other countries until his death at 91 in 2013. He was considered a master warrior by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Today his archery lineage is continued by his adopted son, Kanjuro Shibata XXI, instructors all over the world, Zenko International, and the Kyuodojos he founded.

Zen Archery at the Gekko kyudojo in Ojai

~ The quality of life in the realm of the gods may look superior to our own, yet the masters tell us that human life is infinitely more valuable. Why? Because of the very fact that we have the awareness and intelligence that are the raw materials for enlightenment, and because the very suffering that pervades this human realm is itself the spur to spiritual transformation. Pain, grief, loss, and ceaseless frustration of every kind are there for a very real and dramatic purpose: to wake us up, to enable, almost to force us to break out of the cycle of samsara and so release our imprisoned splendor. ~Sogal Rinpoche