Katsu! is the penetrating Zen shout used to wake a Zen student out of his or her unenlightened stupor. This huge Daruma is not ferocious and in-your-face; his katsu is more like "Boo!"
Ohira Zenzo was a Zen archer from Aizu-Wakamatsu, a district famous for producing many samurai warriors. Kenzo was a successful businessman and entrepreneur mostly in metal (his earliest employees were former swordsmiths) and lumber. Zenzo had practiced kyudo (Japanese archery) all his life, studying various styles, and at age fifty-eight he retired from business to devote himself to promoting his own style. Like Awa Kenzo, the hero of Herrigel's Zen and the Art of Archery, Zenzo considered† Zen and archery as a single discipline. His pen name can also be interpreted as "Buddha shoots"; that is, the arrow must be shot from one's Buddha-nature and not as an individual athlete. Zenzo was awarded the highest rank of tenth dan from the All-Japan Kyudo Federation. He painted in the rough Nantembo-style so, it is likely he knew and perhaps practiced Zen under that master.
