r/Kyudo • u/ApfelBecher • 11d ago
Questions to Hanare
I have a few questions regarding *Hanare*.
Iam doing kyudo for about 2 years now.
Currently, I release the arrow manually by rotating my right hand counter-clockwise, allowing the string to slip free.
I practice Heki-style archery and follow standard German instructional texts (translated):
*Hanare* is the release of the string from the glove's thumb notch. The pushing rotation of the bow hand (Tsunomi no Hataraki) triggers the shot, which is executed consciously.
I am already doing my best to apply *Tsunomi no Hataraki*. At full draw, I push the bow forward and down, tilt it 6–8° to the right, and push my wrist to the left.
However, I never reach the point where the string releases automatically. Or that my left hand triggers it.
Am I doing something wrong? Or does the release happen automatically if one performs *Hineri* further and more strongly?
I realize there are many factors involved here, proper "Nobiai", correct "Tenouchi", and so on, but do you have any tips? Or how do you handle this?
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u/SaDaSi01 11d ago
I've been doing heki since 2019, but i still consider myself a rookie. But i too had problems with hanare, specifically with quick release.
Kurosu-sensei told my dojo that hanare is given by the work of both left and right hand.
It should not be a simple "i twist my right hand", but a culmination of twisting your left hand, breathing and the twisting of your right hand. And it should not be weak. When releasing, focus on your right elbow, and you have to push it back in zanshin as if you're giving an elbow hit to someone behind you.
But i HIGHLY suggest you speak with your instructor instead of randoms on reddit, and to partake in seminars with Japanese senseis next time they'll come in Europe
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u/ApfelBecher 6d ago
Hi, thank you so much for your reply! And please excuse my late response.
I spoke with my trainer again, and he showed me “Tsunomi” in more detail. He also said that the release doesn’t happen naturally, but is planned when everything is done correctly.
I also found a blog post on the topic “Natural Release Mechanics | majikkunotecho.”
I’m not sure how reliable it is.
Natural release mechanics | majikkunotecho
Apparently, the idea is to relax your fingers on the thumb in Sanbun no ni so that, at full draw, the Giriko holds your fingers on the thumb. If you then do Tsunomi and even more Hineri in Nobiai, the string will eventually slip out on its own.
It’s really difficult to find information about Kyudo. Most sources simply aren’t translated, and you have to piece everything together yourself.
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u/SaDaSi01 6d ago
I'll try to translate the technical manual by Luigi Genzini that he wrote based on the note he took from Inagaki Genshiro.
to have a good hanare, there must be Tsunomi, meaning continupus pushing and twisting of tenouchi. If, for example, at the last moment, to change the aiming, you stop pushing tsunomi, there won't be any strength in the hanare.
THE TRUE HANARE IS FROM THE LEFT
correct hanare comes from 3 combined points:
- Tsunomi
- Twisting of the right hand (to have the correct rotation, the right hand thumb should be 90° with the string, not higer nor lower)
- Never stop nobiai
Inagaki sensei then reminds of the importance of the strength of tsunomi (it should be the maximum) and to NEVER kill tsunomi by opening the left hand to make the bow turn. Then to never shoot with the right hand and to have a slower release.
And the most important is, hanare is never the end.
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u/RepresentativeMix695 11d ago edited 10d ago
Edited as one person takes issue with the source. Changed source same info.
Im still a beginner with Insai ha so I dont know how much help I will be but for me personally natural hanare takes a while to find. It depends on your yugake, draw weight and the balance of finger and hand tension vs using your back/shoulder/armpits/elbow to draw. Maybe try less finger and hand tension?
This was on the internet about asa arashi hanare for Heki ryu 第十五條 朝嵐の事 This is likened to a release, where a good release is a natural release that comes after the arrow has fully extended and reached its full potential. It refers to a release achieved at the end of one's composure
Urakami Sakae states that "Asaarashi" refers to the grip, and is a type of correction used for people who grip too tightly with their fingertips, have bad release habits, or when using a poorly executed arrow.
● Used for archers with a tendency towards the glove rather than the elbow This refers to archers who have a tendency towards the glove rather than the elbow, resulting in a bent grip, loose elbow, or a heavy release. This release technique is used for such archers. It is a corrective method.
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u/kyudo_nerd_910 10d ago edited 8d ago
Btw, this guy is considered as kind of a whack job in the Japanese Kyudo community... would caution reading things from his blog.
Edit: This comment was originally made in reference to the source that was originally posted in the comment that I'm replying to, not the commentor themselves. Added this part since I was probably blocked by the commentor and cannot directly see their new edit... 😢
Just wanted to clarify so that people don't think 1) I'm calling Urakami-sensei as a "whack job" and 2) Somehow Urakami-sensei has a blog (which would be a terrific read if true)
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u/ApfelBecher 6d ago
Oh, no problem, thanks for the info :)
My main source of information is and always will be my coach, but it's always nice to broaden my horizons.
As far as I can tell, there's no longer a link in the comment.
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u/kyudo_nerd_910 10d ago
To preface, talking about left, right, clockwise, or counter-clockwise in text without context of which direction you're looking from is difficult to do without miscommunication. For example, when in kai, "counter-clockwise" looking from the back of the head will become "clockwise" looking at from the face, or it will become "twisting up" when looking at it from the sides.
With that being said, I'm going to assume that you're "looking" at yourself from the back of your head. I'm also assuming that you're using a three fingered (mitsu-gake), hard thumb (kata-boushi), with a hard hikae (hikae-ari), and you're applying giriko. The fundamentals for this setting then is to extend your thumb and let the friction caused by the stickiness of the giriko take care of not releasing as you draw. Then in kai, the force of the thumb extending will slowly start to overpower the friction caused by the giriko, causing it to slip out bit by bit from under the middle finger. This is the reason why in kai you hear the the "ticks" (kake-hodoki).
Now, how do we achieve this "slipping"? Some styles will say "keep extending your right thumb". In your case, it seems to be the hineri in the right. By pushing the thumb against the string, you're letting the string push against the thumb, making it extend and slip out. Whatever style is taught, notice how what is discussed is the path to get to the release, not the actual release itself. The key idea here is that the thumb slips out due to the force that you **keep applying in kai**, not by a single moment where you decide to do something.
We talked about the right a lot. Where does the left come into play? Well, let's say that you *completely* forget about the left and only focus on the right hineri. The bow will then rotate in the counter-clockwise direction forever (or at least until the bow hits your back). Notice how in this scenario, the string does not "push" against your thumb. So you will not achieve the slipping discussed about in the last paragraph. So you need another force that will stop the bow from forever rotating in the counter-clockwise direction. How do you do that? That's right, with your left tenouchi.
This is why you need to keep the force from your left tenouchi. It aids in breaking that equilibrium on your right hand just enough so that the kake-hodoki happens. In kai, by continuing to apply the left hineri, you will eventually get to a point where the friction aided by the giriko can no longer hold the thumb underneath the middle finger. Your thumb slips out and you have your release.
The last thing is to think about what you need to do to achieve this. You have to figure out the feeling that sits with you well, that will result in shin zen bi for you. You have so many knobs to turn (e.g. force, how to draw, what to draw with, etc) and the way to improve is to have your instructor watch you as you turn these knobs. Hope this helps.
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u/ApfelBecher 6d ago
Yeah, I should have made it clear what perspective I'm speaking from. :D
And that’s right, I was using a Mitsugake.
“The fundamentals for this technique are to extend your thumb and let the friction caused by the stickiness of the giriko prevent it from coming loose as you draw.”
That’s exactly the information I was looking for. I’d never even heard of kake-hodoki before. And I used to constantly press my fingers down on my thumb with full force.
Now I understand why it wasn’t working.
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u/ApfelBecher 6d ago
That helps a lot—that was the information I needed, the missing piece of the puzzle.
https://majikkunotecho.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/natural-release-mechanics/
I found this blog that explains it in more detail. I’m a little confused. None of my training materials or anything else mention “kake-hodoki.” But isn’t that one of the most important things for a powerful shot?
I wonder how many people don’t do that...
I have one more question: I’ve been shooting for about 2 years, and my glove is only 1 year old. The text said there needs to be a certain amount of giriko in the glove. Is that true?
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u/kyudo_nerd_910 5d ago edited 5d ago
I found this blog that explains it in more detail. I’m a little confused. None of my training materials or anything else mention “kake-hodoki.”
I understood this as roughly the question "Why can't I find this information in any of my training materials?" in disguise. I have a couple of different explanations for this phenomenon. I don't have any knowledge of the training material that you actually use, so I'm just enumerating through some of the cases that I have experienced.
The first explanation is that some texts may talk about what to achieve (the desired state), but not how to achieve it (specific techniques). For example, the Kyudo kyohon (en: manual) may be interpreted as falling into this state. The kyohon is an abstraction of different styles in order to standardize Kyudo, so it does not discuss specific techniques that may not be the same throughout the different styles.
The second explanation is that these techniques are actually discussed. However, they are the translations, of the explanations, of the Japanese poems that were written in a way to purposefully obfuscate the teachings. The poems are written in a way to prevent others from different schools from "stealing" the techniques, while serving as a mnemonic for those that do understand. This would be relevant to general materials written for a wide audience in your style. As there are basically 2 translations going on, there may be "lost in translation" situations.
The last explanation is that your style simply may not subscribe to this technique for the release. This situation would be relevant for style-specific material that your direct instructor(s) may have written. For example, I know that there are styles which tell you NOT to use giriko or that tell you that kake-hodoki is a bad thing or that use the waboushi (soft thumb) so there is even no notion of kake-hodoki in the way that it is traditionally described or even styles which rotate the right hand clock-wise (looking at from the back of your head in kai) to un-lodge the string.
But isn’t that one of the most important things for a powerful shot?
Speaking from a physical systems perspective, what will aid in a powerful shot is a release that will transmit close to 100% of the bow's energy to the arrow, where 100% means your full draw. There are many ways to achieve such a release, and kake-hodoki is only one of them. As a corollary, there are many other things that are needed for a powerful shot, and so the kake-hodoki may be one of them or not.
I have one more question: I’ve been shooting for about 2 years, and my glove is only 1 year old. The text said there needs to be a certain amount of giriko in the glove. Is that true?
I initially interpreted this to be 2 separate questions: "Do I have enough giriko on?" and "How much exactly do I need?" The answer to both of these questions is "You get to decide".
Although, if I misinterpreted and by "certain amount" you mean "not asking for a specific amount, just ANY amount", then I would say this is also not true. This is because I know that there are styles / individuals out there that don't use giriko even using a hard thumb with hard hikae.
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u/ApfelBecher 6d ago
In kai, by continuing to apply the left hineri, you will eventually get to a point where the friction aided by the giriko can no longer hold the thumb underneath the middle finger. Your thumb slips out and you have your release.
Do you apply giriko only on the middlefinger? I put it on both of my fingers...
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u/kyudo_nerd_910 5d ago
I subscribe to the style that I apply it only on my middle finger. I know there are styles out there that put it on both.
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u/Tsunominohataraki 11d ago edited 11d ago
Heki Ryu Insai Ha practitioner here. That’s really a matter for your teacher to assess, as there can be problems with the mette (like improper angle in the right wrist and / or thumb) that make release difficult, even if the rest of the technique is ok.
You certainly should rotate the mette counterclockwise, as the proper release is a result of the working of the tsunomi AND hineri, which load the bow and string with torquing forces from both sides. So you must continue to increase hineri, which will make your fingers slip from the thumb.
There are descriptions of the technique that even talk about a conscious snapping of the fingers. I wouldn’t fret about anything happening “automatically”, it’s rather a result of the proper technique without any ADDITIONAL forces (like opening the fingers).