About the author
Eugen Herrigel (German: [ˈhɛʁɪɡl̩]; 20 March 1884 – 18 April 1955) was a German philosopher, born in Lichtenau. He taught philosophy at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Japan, from 1924 to 1929 and introduced Zen to large parts of Europe through his writings. == Career == While living in Japan from 1924 to 1929, he was taught kyūdō, traditional Japanese archery, by Awa Kenzō (阿波研造, 1880–1939), a master of archery and founder of his own religion known as "The Great Doctrine of the Way of Shooting". Herrigel allegedly learned archery in the hope of better understanding Zen. Although Herrigel claimed to have studied archery for six years, he was only in Japan for slightly more than five years and probably only studied archery for three of those years. In July 1929 he returned to Germany and was given a professorship in philosophy at the University of Erlangen.
