Kyudo
弓道The Japanese way of the bow. Unlike sport archery, the whole process of the shot is judged; the hit is its consequence, not its aim.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Kyudo
About Kyudo
Kyudo is the Japanese way of the bow. Unlike Western sport archery, where the hit is the sole measure, kyudo judges the whole process of the shot — and the hit is its consequence, not its aim. It descends from the training of samurai archers (kyujutsu), which became a way (do) once the bow ceased to be a weapon. The procedure is described in eight stages (shaho hassetsu): setting the feet, forming the body, readying the arrow, raising the bow, drawing apart, completing the draw, the release, and the remainder — zanshin, staying in tension even after the arrow has gone. Each stage has its own criteria and grading looks at all of them. The Japanese bow (yumi) is asymmetric and over two metres long — the grip sits roughly a third of the way up. It is shot from the right side, with the thumb in a leather glove (yugake), by the technique known as mengiri. The draw is held longer than in Western archery, and the body has to hold the bow's tension too. Practice takes place in hakama and kimono, at a fixed distance of 28 metres to a target 36 centimetres across (kinteki), or at the long distance of 60 metres (enteki). Competitions and dan grading exist, but there too execution and bearing are judged, not merely the number of hits. The physical load is moderate, but the demands on stillness and concentration are high. Of the Japanese ways, kyudo is the one most plainly about one's own state rather than about an opponent.
Styles & Branches
Japanese mounted archery: three targets shot from a galloping horse. Minamoto no Yoritomo gave it its ceremonial form at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in 1187.
The family of branches of Japanese military archery from which most of today''s kyudo descends. The link to Heki Danjō is traditional, not documented.
Japanese mounted archery focused on technique rather than ceremony. Against yabusame it has freer targets, freer dress and continuous shooting during the ride.
A Japanese school of mounted archery, horsemanship and etiquette, documented since the Kamakura period. Besides yabusame it teaches nine ways of bowing.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.