Eight Steps

There are several steps to shooting an arrow. Still, not all is well. As age begins to catch up to you, the movements may feel harder, and you get the sense that it is not always what it used to be.

This is a linear IF, going through each step, although at each step, you optionally have the option to see how age has affected you. It is a good read, and I enjoyed it. There were some nice background pictures as well, although I couldn't see them entirely on my phone. Still, the mobile display is solid and readable, minus that.

Eight Steps is a tiny slice-of-life piece about ageing and the art of kyudo (the Japanese martial art of archery). Following the hassetesu ritual (or eight stages of shooting), the narrator describes their movements to achieve each stance - and how their aged body reacts. The recent pains, the old ones that were never shaken off, the creaking and the soreness that only comes with time. And most importantly, coming to term with this version of themself that fights them at every step.

This was pretty calming, going through the repeating steps of the ritual. And a bit existential-dread-y? Being reminded of your own limited existence through physical signs, knowing it's unlikely they will go away, that things can't go back to the way they used to...