Fight Japan: Kyudo

[MsNikivee]

When I first started I couldn't even keep my fingers still at my sides in the standing stance. This showed me something about myself and the next times after that were much easier. Just because they say that hitting the target is not the point does not mean that people are not hitting the target. I am quite confident that a highly skilled marksman unrelated to kyudo would describe his method in similar terms. Your focus must be unobstructed - period.

[MsNikivee]

I just started Kyudo in Tokyo. Thanks for this video. Every movement is thoughtful and analyze, no movement is wasted. Your body is to be symmetrical at all times, with the bow, the arrow, etc. If you take the time to perform the movements and prepare yourself correctly, you will hit the target. The Target can be like a mirror for yourself...

[blackfeatherarchery]

Beautiful art.

[Ellryon]

japaneses are the best melee fighters with Kenjutsu and Iaijutsu, but, Kyudo isn't a good art... the best archery is the English Longbow...

[CorneliuList]

@Ellryon "the best" by what criterion?

[uzerofutube]

That's a lot of bulshit, I would care about ritual or elegance, all I care aboutt is fun.

[TheJapanChannelDcom]

Well done.

I agree with everything you said in this video.

[damonkey7]

whats up with the`weee...nnyoooohhh..neeee..­.noooo'??

[TurboBrit]

@HachiZenki

NNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDD­

[19melina92]

I really would like to do this..

[BurpietheClown]

@19melina92 : There are some great ppl doing Kyudo also near you ;o) You'll surely can google them...

[19melina92]

yeah I did after watching this^^

there is one, like a 15 min drive from where I live^^

so hopefully next year or the year after=)

[BurpietheClown]

What are you waiting for?

[19melina92]

a driverslicense XD

and time

[BurpietheClown]

*lol* That's just one reason ;o)

[HachiZenki]

Obviously 5tonyvvvv you miss the point. Whenever a Japanese martial discipline becomes an "art" as in any of the -do styles like karate-do, judo, aikido, kendo, kyu-do, etc. they become more spiritual and stylistic more for the training of the mind so much as the actual techniques. The martial scienceswith the -jutsu suffix or -o prefix like kenjutsu, jiu jitsu, bujutsu, and even osumo are more technique focused and such is for actual combat. The art is for mind/body training mostly

[CorneliuList]

@HachiZenki

"jutsu" is for the state of art of a martial discipline. "do" is for the state of one's way of life in that martial discipline.

[5tonyvvvv]

@HachiZenki Its unnecessary ..shoot the fuckin bow already..No other culture took this much time to shoot,its ridiculous!!.. Turkish bows are faster..much higher velocity

[HachiZenki]

@5tonyvvvv You miss the point entirely. the -do suffix of kyuudo denotes a more spiritual aspect of archery as opposed to a -jutsu suffix or -o prefix which denotes a martial science. That means kyuudo is more for the individual growth and mindset rather than just pure mechanics. Like meditation just while firing a bow.

[5tonyvvvv]

this is so overly exaggerated ritual archery this was never done in the heat of a battle,u just shoot the arrows thats it,this stuff is so ridiclious,and persian bows are faster

[fightjapanrc]

wow, you perfectly missed the entire point of the show. It is exactly inteded to be ritual. In studiously avoids being practical. Did you actually listen?

[SuburbanNinja8000]

@fightjapanrc nicely said sir. That guy has a ego anyways.



[Baihu108]

But the intro describes kyudo as a "martial art," perhaps kyudo practitioners should explain clearly from the beginning that it is not. BTW, there are people who practice archery as part of their internal training who do also hit the target. One can train to be both nonattached to results while still driving one's arrows into the center of the target.

[furtherdefinitions]

However, as proven against the Greeks, Persian arrows not effective against heavy armor.  Just the facts.

[bullmeecham]

And yet history says that the 300 died finally in a hail of arrows and stones. Tactics using the massed bows was where the Persians might have been weak - who knows. Greek armor did not cover much of the body - silly statement over all.

[N71789]

I believe it was said in the ancient book "Toxophilus" that the purpose of shooting the bow is to hit the mark, however one goes about doing it.

[sompret]

I'm not one to play the comparison game here, but I can't help but be fascinated at just how odd the Yumi looks. Rumors or not, there's still one thing I'm curious about... What difference would it make if the Yumi was shortened to lengths of orthodox recurves or horse bows while it still retains its weird structure?

[kokotenks]

good question i think the length has to do with range and the shape is made (someone please correct me if i'm wrong archery isn't my field) the way it is so that a horse archer can still have the advantage of a long bow without the bottem half of the bow getting in the way.

[nilloc4life]

ya your right it was mad that way so the samurai could fire from horse and on foot and in "legend" a skilled samurai could hit its target from a mile away thanks to the power of the bow

[123elnat]

It would either have a very short draw, a very low power, or break. Different bow materials have different limits to the flex they can take before breaking - horn and sinew can bend prodigiously, allowing a strong but short bow. The yumi is made from laminated wood and bamboo, I believe, and has to be longer to achieve the same effect. That long length is an issue on horseback, but with a greatly asymetric bow that length is sticking up out of the way were it won't interfere with the horse.

[takahashi279]

What's the point of comparing. The fact is the Japanese Yumi is an effective killing weapon in the right hands. Now that the Yumi is used in Kyudo and not for Killing shooting the further-est and who has the strongest draw weight does not matter.

[Vermi1337]

horn bow 180 pounds? haha at 34 zoll pull...

noob the strongest bows on earth which can be pulled by humans are english warbow with max draw weight 130-140 at 28 zoll... You need very long arms to overpull a hornbow

[5tonyvvvv]

how thick do the arrows have to be.and is and how thick is the tradtional strings of plant fiber or sinew right

[TYKKETYKKE]

Clearly, you do not know what you are talking about. Medieval english longbow archers shot longbows of poundages up to 180lbs.Some of the strongest composite bows had poundages up to 160lbs.

[bullmeecham]

- Welsh Longbow.

[TYKKETYKKE]

It's a mystery to me why people insist on calling the english longbow the WELSH longbow. If we were to be absolutely correct, we would have to call it the danish longbow, as the bow design originated from Denmark. I call it the english longbow, as this is what people know it as.

[Fuma159159]

although i like japan, i agree to chooechooe. Small bows are stronger , but big bows like the yumi can be shot as far as horn bows. that´s why the Mongolian horse archers were dangerous fighters in battlefield. because of their smaller bows.

[TYKKETYKKE]

Short bows are NOT stronger. In fact, longer bows are the fastest. Somewhere between 64" to 70" is the ideal length for a bow. Of course, composites are an exception. Still, the shorter the bow, the more it will stack (due to excessive string angle), which means less energy storage.

[chooechooe]

korean horn bows are smaller and stronger than japanese yumi bows

[sephiroth87932]

this is why everyone fights someone has to compare something making the other one look inferior stop!

but i can't disagree with your opinion because i have never held nor shot with a yumi boe or a horn bow

[chooechooe]

trust me, yumi bows are weak

[sephiroth87932]

like rate the weakness 1-10 1 being dried up twig 10 being diamond strong

[chooechooe]

horn bow 10, because it can go up to 180 pounds draw weight.

yumi bows 3 because it can only go up to 50

[DeathsFavorite1]

.....Stop comparing no one cares.

I like long bows and i dont like small ones if you like the opposite oh well.

i agree with sephiroth stop always comparing and making reasons for some one to fight.

[noradlf]

How beautiful. Thank you.

Is kyudo born for fight on horseback? I ask because Western archers do not raise arms high before pointing. Is that a necessity (fighting on horseback it could be, as we can see) or a development for meditation?

Excuse my English, it's not my mothertongue

[lulzbot]

kyudo in its current form is more ceremonial archery than anything

[Peekingduck]

Nice video

Thanks!

[holypablo]

i aint ever see anyone hit the bulls eye

[LadyKagome619]

the last samurai was interesting he sounds like that guy in the movie love how that movie capture the times back then no offens i'm not tryin to i just thought its interesting that the movie capture the history and how it was back then very remarkable besides i love this it's soo interesting

[betoian]

It reminds me a Greek myth that tells the story of a guy that went walking towards the horizon to reach the end of the universe. When he finally arrived, what followed was not possible to be traspassed by any human being. So, he shot an arrow to watch it reach the infinite where he was not able to be...

[Miriador]

Pleas tell me what is "shitel" or Tokku haiku"? I am a student of Shin Do Jutsu Ryu. Kenjutsu Romania. I need this answers. Pleas!

[takahashi279]

Thank you for posting this clip on Kyudo. Im a member of the South African Kyudo Renmei and I must say that viewing this really helps me understand Kyudo technique better.

[fightjapanrc]

Check out my remake of this show on my page. It is much better.

[DylKobashi]

ur amazing robert

[goraisan]

I like to see old people still active in martial art.I hope I will be like them when I get old!

[CrazyIllusionist]

The way of Zen...killing itself.

[RyuuHatake]

Woah, Kyudo's pretty awsome.

Thanks for posting!

[asherwade]

Very nice, however would have appreciated it more with traditional Japanese music rather than European Baroque. Next time!

[fightjapanrc]

We thought it would be too cliche to use Japanese music; more interesting to mix two different classical traditions.  A lot of Japanese commented favorably on the choice of music.

[Bigbluered]

way of the warrior..........

[osholover2000]

good work... but, still can improve on zooming at the target after the release...

[zarcath]

lol I said yosh outloud when the guy got a hit ganbatte to obasan :)

[ShanShui]

Beautiful! Thnx for posting!

[fightjapanrc]

Your welcome. Thanks for the support. I am in the process of editing some cool shows on sumo and Japanese throwing knives.

[MesutCK]

very good explanation of what Kyudo does to the mental level.

[fightjapanrc]

Thanks.  I tried.