Jemparingan: Javanese archery

Jemparingan is a meditative practice. Physically, jemparingan is performed seated, in cross-legged position. The practitioner must perpendicularly face the target. When holding the bow, this must be leaned about 30 degrees, however it depends on the practitioner. When pulling the string, the hand must reach the right cheek, and usally count to three before releasing the arrow. If released too fast, patience must be studied, however if hold too long, the fingers or arm can get tired. It must be in the right time.  The target is known as bandul, set around 25-35 m far from the shooter. It is around 30 cm long and 3 cm wide, and it is suspended by ropes at 1,60 m from the ground. The white section of the bandul is called awak or body, and the red section is called sirah or head. Some people say it looks like a human being with head and body. But do not get a bad impression, it is just symbolic. Reaching the target could mean killing the own ego. Actually, all the activity itself has ...

 Jemparingan is a Javanese word used to name the art of archery in Jawa. What is peculiar of this form of archery is that must be done in a cross-legged sitting position (silo)  and the use of traditional Yogyakarta clothing such as blangkon/udeng, surjan, and jarik for men and kebaya for women. Anyone could learn and join this activity practiced in various sasana (jemparingan courts) all through Jogjakarta or even Central Jawa, yet everyone who takes part in this practice must be willing to sit down together, follow the rules and enjoy a communal experience letting go of all sign of competition and egos. To practice this archery is only needed a bow or gendewo and the arrows or anak panah . The arrows are shot towards a 30m-far-slim-target which is called bandhulan or wong-wongan. The large part of the target is white and is equal to 1   point, while the head of the target is red and it is equal to 3 points.  I have joined this activity 6 months ago from now, and I ...

 Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! I am Edgar Freire and I am passionate about Javanese Arts. I am into traditional music, dance, theater... and Jemparingan. Years ago I was cycling around the area of Alun-alun Kidul in Jogjakarta, I entered the street Langenastran and surprisingly I saw a group of men practicing archery, but not in the Olympic style, instead, a traditional one. Curiosity has been always my ally and quietly I came in and looked at the archers. Javanese are friendly people; in a blink, one of them, pak Tono invited me to join the activity and I gave it a go of course. Believe or not, when I was a child I used to disguise myself as a ninja and loved the idea of some day ahead learning archery or martial arts. Magically, decades later I found myself learning traditional Javanese archery, at some place called Langenastro. Since then, I have been fond of this practice and in this blog I will write down my experiences and knowledge acquired about it. Are you curious? Y...