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One man there, however, Mr. Toshisuke Nasu who, perhaps just for the sake of argument, took my side and declared that in his opinion any man with the necessary intelligence and patience could learn, no matter whether Japanese or foreign. Then and there he generously offered to begin teaching me the very next day in order to prove that Japanese archery could be learned and practiced by a foreigner.

Shortly afterwards we left the Butokuden together and went to his house where we had ceremonial tea and talked a while, after which we proceeded to a fletcher's shop where he ordered arrows for me, first, a blunt featherless practice arrow, for it would be a long time, he assured me, before I would be able to shoot at a target with real arrows.

At that time I had rooms in a small sub-temple within the walls of the great Zen-Buddhist Monastery Shōkukuji, north of the Imperial Palace grounds. The priest who lived there was retired and let his spare rooms to students—and I had been fortunate enough to get one. The place was wonderfully quiet, and my room looked out on a garden beyond which stood a deep grove of tall bamboos. For the next few months my friend and instructor, Mr. Toshisuke Nasu, came almost daily, early in the morning, and taught me the art of Japanese archery.