Kyudo

[stickbow2442]

Any one heard of or practice with a bow of this type? I was watching some videos on utube. I know the word Kyudo is the name of the style, but the bows look cool.

[Ray Hammond]

You'll probably be disappointed unless you just buy a yumi and shoot it in your back yard.

If you take the class like I did - there's five hours before you even pick up a bow- then they get mad if you hit the target....

Its more of a religious experience/meditation thing than archery if you take kyudo as a discipline.

[stickbow2442]

If I did buy the bow, thats all it would be, me shooting it out in my yard for fun.

So the name of the bow is a yumi?

[slivrslingr]

Yep,  yumi is what the bow is called.  Kyudo is a martial art from Japan, some consider it the most spiritual of the martial arts.  It's not widely practiced in the US though there is a following.  Shooting is quite different from how we do it, the arrow sits on the right side for a right handed shooter and you make a loop with your thumb and fore finger to draw.  It's surprisingly difficult, definitely something different!  

There is a demonstration sport called yabusame where folks dressed in full samurai regalia shoot these bows off the back of a horse at full gallop at small clay targets.  Very impressive stuff to watch!

[Shawn Rackley]

yes the japanese asymetric bow is called a yumi the arrows are called ya. so yumi and ya. they are cool but shot completely different. the are shot of the other side of the bow." not the knuckle side. and kinda shot of the thumb, then they realease with the thumb. always wanted one. but never felt like buying the arrows for them. since they are usually over 4 foot long.

[Capt]

Shooting the yumi is very similar to shooting with a "thumb ring" on the short Asian style bows.  The arrow is on the other side of the riser and the thumb and forefinger form a "lock" of the arrow against the riser.  This was very important for horseback shooting or shooting while moving.

I shoot with a thumb draw and it is very difficult to switch from thumb draw back to finger shooting (at least for me).  In fact the other day I picked up my daughter's bow and shoot with fingers and I was "wide left" of the target by several feet.  The muscle memory becomes ingrained as far as follow through and draw length go.  It is just different enough to create a problem.  My point is switching to a thumb draw ot Kyudo style of archery is ALMOST like going from compound to traditional archery because of the change in sight picture, hold, release and follow through.

[Uncle Buck]

Kyudo is more of a meditation practice than what we would consider target archery. Although practioners of this discipline are capable of incredible accuracy, hitting the bullseye is not the goal. the purpose is to clear your mind through meditation and the proper form for shooting, they believe that by clearing your mind you let your natural human dignity and spirit emerge. Kyudo literaly means "the way of the bow". another thing to consider is the most Yumi are about 7 feet long. If you think your 64" longbow is a pain to transport, you probably wont be thrilled with a yumi