Stake Everything on the Arrow Before You, and Believe in Yourself Without Wavering

From Basketball and Alpine Skiing to Kyudo

As an elementary school student, I was shy about being in front of others and had a quiet personality. The turning point came in middle school, when I met the basketball club coach. He was a tremendously passionate person who repeatedly impressed upon me the importance of breaking out of my shell and changing myself. Rather than holding back out of fear of failure, I had to step forward. Learning that mindset gradually allowed me to voice my opinions in front of others, and by my third year of junior high school, I was serving as vice president of the student council.

Winters, I competed in alpine skiing and ultimately achieved my goal of qualifying for the national tournament. In the process, however, I came to realize the heavy financial burden that entailed: training trips, equipment purchases, and the like. So when I finished junior high school, I felt a sense of closure, a feeling of “I gave it everything I had,” and I found myself wanting to take on something completely new in high school. That’s when I encountered kyudo. My parents had both practiced it, and I still clearly remember being captivated by the beauty of the form of shooting an arrow when I saw it for the first time at a dojo. “That’s so cool,” I thought. From that point on, I spent my three years of high school devoting myself to kyudo.

Building Around Study Abroad × Business and Economics

As I thought about where to go for university, the deciding factor in choosing Meiji Gakuin University was the curriculum-integrated study-abroad program in the Faculty of Economics, Department of International Business. I didn’t have confidence in my English, but I had a desire to see the world with my own eyes, so I focused my search on universities where studying abroad was built into the curriculum. I was also interested in business and economics, and as I searched for universities based on a matrix of “study abroad × business and economics,” I felt that the coursework of Meiji Gakuin’s Department of International Business aligned most closely with what I wanted to do, so I decided to enroll.

An Ability to Rely on Others and to Think Things Through, Cultivated Through Study Abroad and Seminar

After enrolling, the study abroad destination I chose for my second year was the National Economics University in Hanoi, Vietnam. I chose Vietnam because, in the interest of personal growth, I wanted to put myself in an environment few others wanted to go to.

There were moments when language was a real barrier, but each time I was saved by the kindness of the local people, and I came to appreciate firsthand the importance of honestly leaning on others. My experiences traveling abroad alone and interacting with local kyudo organizations also gave me opportunities to reexamine my existing values and my approach to other cultures, and I think I learned the importance of accepting ways of thinking different from my own.

Among my academic experiences at university, the research I did for my seminar left the strongest impression. Visiting Professor Hideaki Kotaki, who is also an active business executive, spoke with real persuasive force, and I was able to develop a business sense from a practical perspective. For the seminar research presentation, under the theme of “A Business Plan for Establishing an Import Trading Company,” my team proposed an import business for high-performance, lightweight, waterproof casts. We designed the proposal in concrete detail, down to the financial statements and cash flow, and put together a presentation that felt convincing.

What I cultivated through these experiences was the ability to think things through logically and the ability to move things forward while collaborating with others. The experience of producing a single result together as a team has carried over significantly into my club activities today, becoming one of my foundational pillars.

Finding My Way as Captain of a Student-Led Organization

A defining characteristic of the Meigaku Kyudo Club is that while alumni coaches come in to provide instruction roughly once a month, the day-to-day activities are run by the students themselves. I currently serve as captain, but I never decide the club’s direction on my own. I place importance on creating an environment where we think and act for ourselves and approach running the club from a level-footed position, seeking input from my fellow fourth-years and underclassmen. By creating an environment where each member can be actively involved, I hope to foster the awareness that each individual builds the team and makes it better.

As captain, I also place importance on demonstrating reassurance not just through words but through my own shooting. By engaging with each and every arrow and pursuing flawless shooting more relentlessly than anyone else, I want to be someone who leads the club by example from the front.

Letting Go of the Obsession With Hitting the Target

The competition that left the strongest impression on me was last autumn’s final league match. It was a game where victory was an absolute requirement to keep our promotion hopes alive, and I had been entrusted with the high-pressure ochi position, the last archer to shoot for the team. In team kyudo, eight members from each school compete, with each person shooting 20 arrows, and the total number of hits determining the winner. I was in an extreme situation close to the limit, just two arrows away from a perfect score.

In the final moments of the match, however, with the pressure of having to make my shot bearing down on me, I released my arrow relying on instinct alone, and missed my nineteenth shot, taking the team down with me in defeat. The moment I missed, my mind went completely blank. What I felt acutely in that instant was the danger of relying on being “in the zone.” No matter how much pressure you are under, you must not depend on instinct alone. That lesson was driven home hard.

After thinking it through, I concluded this: I must carefully reproduce, one by one, the techniques I have built up, and believe in myself without wavering. I shouldn’t even think about winning or losing, I had to just face the arrow in front of me with everything I have. This realization is what led to my later winning the MVP Award and the Kaichu Award at the East–West Japan College Students Championship.

Kyudo is a sport in which you shoot alone, even in team competitions. It thus tends to be seen as an individual sport, but that is precisely why the emotional bond among club members becomes such a powerful source of support. Going forward, I want us to keep our eyes fixed in the same direction, support one another, and pursue podium finishes in tournaments and league promotions.

Putting the Human Skills Cultivated at University to Work

I have a confirmed job offer at a bank after graduation. I set my sights on the financial industry because I believe it demands strong interpersonal skills. Through my activities in the kyudo club, interactions not only with club members but also with alumni and university staff, I have come to appreciate firsthand that it is human connection that sustains you.

Drawing on my experiences and learning from my time at university, I hope to become a banker who stands close to people and earns their trust. Not by relying on the name of the company I work for, but by being someone others will entrust with getting things done.

My Message to Prospective Students

The guiding principle within me is, “What you do for others comes back to benefit yourself.” I believe that teaching underclassmen deepens your own understanding, and that seeing your teammates grow ultimately becomes a source of personal joy. Meiji Gakuin University provides rich soil for fostering that. I have been fortunate to spend irreplaceable time in kyudo, my seminar, study abroad, and many other arenas. I hope that all of you, too, will find your own challenges to take on at university.