Eugen Herrigel "Zen in the Art of Archery

I begged one of my colleagues, Sozo Komachiya, a professor
of jurisprudence who had been taking lessons in archery for
twenty years and who was rightly regarded as the best exponent
of this art at the university, to enter my name as a pupil with his
former teacher, the celebrated Master Kenzo Awa.
The Master at first refused my request, saying that he had
once been misguided enough to instruct a foreigner and had
regretted the experience ever since. He was not prepared to
make concessions a second time, in order to spare the pupil the
burden of the peculiar spirit of this art. Only when I protested that
a Master who took his job so seriously could well treat me as his
youngest pupil, seeing that I wished to learn this art not for pleasure
but for the sake of the "Great Doctrine", did he accept me as
his pupil, together with my wife, since it has long been
customary in Japan for girls to be instructed in this art, and since
the Master’s wife and two daughters were diligent practitioners.
And so began the long and strenuous course of instruction, in
which our friend Mr. Komachiya, who pleaded our cause so
obstinately and almost stood guarantor for us, participated as
interpreter. At the same time my good fortune in being invited to
attend my wife’s lessons in flower arrangement and painting
held out the prospect of my winning a still broader basis of
understanding through constant comparison of these mutually
complementary arts.