Kyudo - the Way of the Bow - is one of the oldest of Japan’s traditional martial arts. It is also called standing Zen (Ritsuzen) and is considered as one of the purest of all budos or martial ways. It aspires at surpassing oneself with the target and the bow to reach one’s true self. Let’s explore history and how Kyudo as an ancient old Japanese target archery practiced as a martial art has been used in Japan since prehistoric times.
History of Kyudo
From the fourth to the ninth century, China and Japan maintained close contacts and had a great influence on Japanese archer, especially held in the Confucian belief that through a person’s archery their true characters could be determined. A blend of Shinto and Zen Buddhist religions along with the pressing requirements of warriors influenced the existence of archery for over hundreds of years.
The first molded metal images with unique Japanese asymmetrical longbow originated from the Yayoi-period (ca. 250 BC - 330 BC). The first written document about Kyudo is the Chinese chronicle Weishu dated before 297 AD. It narrates how at the Japanese isles people use “a wooden bow that is sort from the bottom and long from the top. Bows in the past stated to be used for hunting in addition to warfare. Japan then adopted the ceremonial use of a bow from China and continued in Japan even after it ended in China. Kyudo also adopted the composite technique of bow manufacturing by gluing together splinters.
As the society then changes as well as the military class or the samurai, it spurred the need for education in archery. This change led to the birth of the first kyûdô ryûha (style), the Henmi-ryû, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsi in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryû and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryû were later founded by the descendants of Kiyomitsi. During the Genpei War (1180-1185), it saw a dramatic increase of archers. As a result of the Genpei War, the founder of the Osagawara-ryû, Osagawara Nagakiyo, began teaching yabusame (mounted archery).
From the 15th to the 16th century, civil war ravaged Japan. In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjô Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his accurate approach called hi, kan, chû (fly, pierce, center) making his footman’s archery spread rapidly. Many new schools were formed dedicated to archery that some of them namely Heki-ryū Chikurin-ha, Heki-ryū Sekka-ha and Heki-ryū Insai-ha remain today.
The Europeans arrived in Japan in 1542 that ended the use of bow as a weapon of war. An early muzzle loaded firearm called arquebus was widely used by Europeans that prompted the bow to remain alongside arquebus. The bow is 30-40 times faster due to its longer reach and accuracy. Arquebus on the other hand did not require intensive training as a bow, so Oda Nobunaga’s army consisting mostly farmers were armed with arquebuses annihilated a traditional samurai archer cavalry in a single battle in 1575.
The Tokugawa period (1603-1868) witnessed Japan tuned inward as a hierarchial caste society which positioned samurai at the top of society. This period enabled archery as a “voluntary” skill practiced party in the court in ceremonial form and in different kinds of competition. Archery spread also outside the warrior class. The samurai were affected by the direct philosophy and aim for mind control Zen Buddhism introduced by Chinese monks. Earlier archery had been dubbed as kyūjutsu or the skill of bow. The monks acting even as martial arts teachers which created a new concept - called kyūdō.
Things changed when Japan opened up to the outside world in the beginning of the Meiji-era (1868-1912) when the samurai class lost their position. In turn all martial arts including kyudo grew less in teaching and esteem. A group of kyūdō-masters gathered to save the traditional archery in the year 1896. A kyudo teacher of imperial university in Tokyo, Honda Toshizane, incorporated the war and ceremonial shooting styles giving rise to a hybrid called Honda-ryū. It took some time however until 1949 before the All Japanese Kyūdō Federation (ANKF, jap. Zen Nihon kyūdō renmei) was formed. Guidelines published in 1953 kyūdō kyōhon define how in a competition or graduation, archers from different schools can shoot together in coordinated form.
Practice of Kyudo
The practice of Kyudo includes the longbow or Daikyu and the short bow or Hankyu. Kyūdō is widely practiced in different schools even between dojos with varying forms of practice. The All Nippon Kyūdō Federation (ANKF) was established in 1953 to harmonize practice and ceremonial shooting (sharei).
There are three kinds of practice (geiko) in kyudo: mitori geiko - receiving with the eyes the style and technique of an advanced archer, kufu geiko - learning and keeping in mind the details of the technique and spiritual effort to realize it and kazu geiko - repetition through which the technique is personified in one’s own shooting.
Learning the art of kyūdō begins with a rubber practice bow gomuyumi and by practicing the movements of hassetsu. The second step for a beginner is to do karabiki training with a bow but without an arrow. The beginner learns handling of the bow and performing hassetsu until full draw. Part of this training is the handling and maintenance of the equipment. After granted permission by the teacher, beginners start practicing with the glove and arrow. Styles do differ from teacher to teacher, but all include practicing first yugamae, then the draw and last release and shooting at makiwara. When the beginner is starting to shoot at mato, they may be asked to shoot from half or three-quarters distance from the usual. Advanced beginners and advanced shooters practise shooting at makiwara, mato and some with omato.
Makiwara is a specially designed straw target which is not the same makiwara used in kaate. The makiwara is shot at from a very close range about seven feet or the same length of the archer’s strung yumi or bow when held horizontally from the centerline of his body. This distance gives advantage to the beginner since the target is so close and the shot most likely will hit, the archer can focus on refining his technique rather than on the arrow’s arc.
Mato is the normal target for most kyudo practitioners. Mato sizes and shooting distances differ but most common is hoshi mato. Hoshi mato is thirty-six centimeters (or 12 suns, a traditional Japanese measurement equivalent to approximately 3.03 cm) in diameter shot at from a distance of twenty-eight meters. It is commonly used in competitions and graduations. For ceremonies it is most common to use kasumi mato which is the same as hoshi mato but with different markings.
Omato is the mato used for long distance enteki shooting at 60 m distance. The diameter of omato is 158 cm. There are separate competitions for enteki shooting.
There are three levels of skill:
Tôteki, the arrow hits the target.
Kanteki, the arrow pierces the target.
Zaiteki, the arrow exists in the target.