Father of Forest
seeds of your knowledge bring forth
Kyudoka saplings
This Haiku was my present to Shibata Sensei on his 90th (or 91st) birthday. Sensei Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata XX is a 20th generation master bowmaker and archer and 3rd generation “Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan.” Shibata Sensei is retiring this year as our Sensei but has passed the tradition to his son Nobuhiro Sibata who holds the title Shibata Kanjuro XXI thus continuing the Zenko lineage. We at Fuko Iba look forward to training with our new Sensei soon.