In Japan, Shibata became concerned that his students were too fixated on merely hitting the target, and were treating
kyūdō as a sport rather than a
meditative art. He felt they were becoming too competitive. Shibata thus represents a view of
kyūdō different from the
All Nippon Kyudo Federation (ANKF) and Japanese Budō Association. Rather than as a meditative art, ANKF promotes
kyūdō as a traditional
budō art combining equally both physical and mental development. These differences led Shibata to exclude his tradition from the official Japanese
budō associations. In 1980, Shibata accepted an invitation from
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche to come to the United States and teach
kyūdō, and founded the
Ryūkō Kyūdōjō (龍虎弓道場 "dragon-tiger archery practice hall") in
Boulder, Colorado; it is now called the Zenko Iba. Shibata did not rank his students (i.e. no belt or
dan system), and there was and is no testing or contests within the schools he founded. == Quotations ==