In kyudo, archers who develop an early release often do not get free of it

The summary today

The only data on the course of the problem come from a 2018 questionnaire to the members of the kyudo clubs of two Japanese medical schools: of the 35 who had had hayake, 12 said they had overcome it and 23 had not, so two in three still had it when they replied. Most of them say it eases when the pressure is off, as in practice, or when the coach keeps telling them not to release early, but quite a few have it in any situation. The other problems are too rare for a comparison: biku was overcome by 1 in 7, yusuri by 5 in 7, motare by 2 in 3, and the authors themselves write that with fewer than ten cases it cannot be said whether recovery rates differ between types. The limits weigh on the reading: nobody was followed over time, those who started recently have not had time to get out of it, and the result applies to kyudo, not to Olympic recurve with its clicker.

Also phrased as: "hayake never goes away"; "chronic early release"; "curing hayake"; "getting over an early release"

Evidence

• 2021
  For Kyudo archers Published later

  Of the 35 students from the Gifu and Kumamoto kyudo clubs who had had hayake, 12 say they have overcome it and 23 have not (66 per cent). The figure is a snapshot at the time of the questionnaire, not an observed course: those who have had it only briefly count among those who have not got out of it.

  Yips in Kyudo (Japanese archery): prevalence, classification, and aggravating factors · Seiichiro Nishio, Yuichi Hayashi, Shinei Kato, Yoya Ono, Masahiro Waza, Yoichiro Nagao, Akihiro Mukaino, Shunya Nakane, Takayoshi Shimohata

• 2021
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  In the accounts of the 35 with hayake, most say the problem can be avoided when the pressure is low, as in practice, and that it improves when the coach tells them not to release early; quite a few, however, have it in any situation. It is a qualitative account, without figures, and the authors infer from it that psychological factors matter most in hayake.

  Yips in Kyudo (Japanese archery): prevalence, classification, and aggravating factors · Seiichiro Nishio, Yuichi Hayashi, Shinei Kato, Yoya Ono, Masahiro Waza, Yoichiro Nagao, Akihiro Mukaino, Shunya Nakane, Takayoshi Shimohata

• 2021
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  For the other three problems the numbers are tiny: biku overcome by 1 in 7, yusuri by 5 in 7, motare by 2 in 3. The authors write that for every type many cannot get out of it, especially with hayake and biku, but that with fewer than ten cases it cannot be said whether recovery rates differ, and that they found no record of it in kyudo texts either.

  Yips in Kyudo (Japanese archery): prevalence, classification, and aggravating factors · Seiichiro Nishio, Yuichi Hayashi, Shinei Kato, Yoya Ono, Masahiro Waza, Yoichiro Nagao, Akihiro Mukaino, Shunya Nakane, Takayoshi Shimohata

Status history

1. 2021 Reported The first data on the course of the problem arrive, and they are not encouraging: of the 35 kyudo students who have had hayake, 23 have not overcome it and 12 have. Something helps, because in most cases it eases when the pressure drops or with the coach's guidance, but not in everyone. It is a single study of kyudo archers, with the course recalled from memory and nobody followed over time: the evidence in favour is there and it is limited.

Related

Related articles

• Why target panic happens (and why calling it mental is not enough)My hypothesis on target panic: under pressure the release de-automatizes, dropping back to conscious control too slow to run it. With what the studies say.
• Target panic in archery: what it is and how to manage itTarget panic in archery: what it is, its three forms, how common it is and which remedies help, with the weight each one carries in the studies.
• The arrow goes by itself: yips and premature release in archeryEarly release as the studies see it: how archers describe it, how common it is in kyudo, how many get over it and why it differs from the release block.

Research lines

• 21 studiesFatigue, arrow volume and recovery: the dated trail
• 17 studiesJapanese studies of kyudo from 1964 to 2025

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