Kyudo

Kyudo

 

Kyudo is a modern Japanese martial art. kyudo practitioners are referred to as kyudoka. Kyudo is based on kyūjutsu (art of archery), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan.
Kyudo is practiced by thousands of people worldwide. In Japan alone as of 2005, the International Kyudo Federation had 132,760 graded members, additionally kyudo is taught at Japanese schools and some traditions refrain from federation membership.



The beginning of archery in Japan is, as elsewhere, pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period . The first written document describing Japanese archery is the Chinese chronicle Weishu (dated around 297 AD), which tells how in the Japanese isles people use "a wooden bow that is short from the bottom and long from the top." During these times the bow began to be used in warfare in addition to hunting. Later, the ceremonial use of a bow was adopted from China and continued in Japan after it had ended in China. The composite technique of bow manufacture, by gluing together horn, wood, and animal sinew, was also imported from China.