{"id":303097,"date":"2026-05-06T20:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303097\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:36:18","slug":"sacramento-group-preserves-ancient-japanese-art-of-kyudo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/303097\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento Group Preserves Ancient Japanese Art of Kyudo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind a Buddhist church in Florin, a centuries-old tradition is finding new life in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 In a quiet, spiritual corner of Sacramento<\/a>, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month is being honored through an ancient Japanese art form that continues a centuries-old tradition.<\/p>\n

Tucked behind the Zen gardens at the Buddhist Church of Florin, kyudo is practiced not for combat, but for mindfulness and peace.<\/p>\n

Kyudo Kai of Florin<\/a>, a nonprofit recreational archery group now in its fourth year, is led by Paula Yoshioka, who says the practice is about more than hitting a target.<\/p>\n

\u201cA spirit that exists when you shoot kyudo. It\u2019s mindfulness. It\u2019s a culture; it\u2019s very spiritual,\u201d Yoshioka said.<\/p>\n

Kyudo, meaning \u201cway of the bow,\u201d is one of Japan\u2019s oldest martial arts, dating back hundreds of years. Today, it\u2019s practiced in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technique is like none other. Kyudo, the arrow’s on the right; if you do it correctly, the string will spin around and hit the other side of your hand, but that’s something that Masters take a long time to achieve. It’s not easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Yoshioka, the practice is also deeply personal. Her family\u2019s roots in Florin go back generations. Her grandfather, a strawberry farmer, was a member of the same church where the group now practices. Her grandparents farmed in the area before being sent to internment camps during World War II.<\/p>\n

Today, Yoshioka honors that history with a custom crest of strawberry leaves on her uniform, building something new in a place tied to her family\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like full circle because I lived in Hawaii for 30 years. I never expected to come here and do something that would bring me full circle with my family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Yoshioka first learned kyudo in Hawaii, where she met fellow archer Christopher O\u2019Neal, who later helped establish the group in Florin.<\/p>\n

The equipment used in kyudo is highly specialized, with bows and arrows handmade in Japan that can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars \u2014 even the gloves are custom-made.<\/p>\n

To make the practice more accessible, Yoshioka and her team provide equipment for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try. This is a recreational kyudo group. There are very serious kyudo groups, very formal, different from this. We want to teach people how to shoot well, how to be safe when they do it, to appreciate the culture behind it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With a growing number of students, Yoshioka hopes the tradition continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that this will just continue on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kyudo Kai of Florin welcomes people of all skill levels, including beginners. The group practices Fridays from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and more information is available at kyudokaiflorin.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

Exploring the ancient art of kyudo | Behind The Scenes<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC10: Watch, Download, Read<\/p>\n


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\n 12 \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Behind a Buddhist church in Florin, a centuries-old tradition is finding new life in Sacramento. SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-303097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}