Where does Kyūdō (the way of the bow) come from?
Kyūdō comes from Japan. It grew out of the archery of the samurai and took its present name, 'the way of the bow', in 1919, and today it is practised by more than a hundred thousand people around the world.
The samurai's bow
Archery in Japan goes back to prehistoric times: bronze bells of the Yayoi period (c. 500 BC – AD 300) already show a long bow gripped below the middle. When the samurai class rose to power at the end of the Heian period (794–1185), archery had to be taught, and the first schools appeared in the 12th century. In the late 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu's accurate style of shooting on foot spread quickly. After the Portuguese brought matchlock guns in 1543, the bow slowly lost its place in war.
A new name in 1919
In the long peace of the Edo period (1603–1868), archery became a discipline and a contest more than a weapon. In the Meiji era (1868–1912) the samurai lost their status and their archery, kyūjutsu, declined. Teachers opened halls to ordinary people, schools took it up, and from 1919 it was called kyūdō. In 1953 the All Nippon Kyudo Federation blended the main schools into one standard form. The most common target is 36 cm across, shot at from 28 metres.
Why people think of China or Korea
Japan's archery owes something to its neighbours. The oldest written record of the Japanese bow, with its short lower limb and long upper limb, is in the Book of Wei, a 3rd-century Chinese history. Chinese ideas of ceremonial archery later shaped archery at the Japanese court, and Chinese composite-bow techniques led to bows of bamboo and wood in the 10th to 12th centuries. Korea calls its own traditional archery gungdo, 'way of the bow', but shoots a short composite bow of water-buffalo horn, bamboo and sinew.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Kyūdō ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Yumi ↗ · kyudo.jp ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Gakgung ↗
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