Archery in Feudal Japan - part 2:

In tracing the origins of this art, it seems to have emerged with the appearance of the Japanese knight on horseback – the military nobleman. The archer (ite), also called the holder of the bow (yumi-tori), was, in fact, "a warrior of rank in old Japan. The bow and long sword were the weapons of the noble; the common soldiers used the spear and short sword" (George Cameron Stone "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor". New York: Jack Brussel Publisher, 1961.) Kyujutsu was actually considered "an essential branch of the education of nobles and the habit of shooting from horseback while in swift motion, so as to deliver an arrow accurately in any direction, was diligently cultivated" (Edward Gilbertson "Japanese Archery and Archers. Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, vol. 4." London: 1895-98.) The word "nobles" in this context, howerer, does not refer only to the military aristocrats, that is, the buke who emerged during and after the ninth and tenth centuries, but also to those even more ancient nobles, the kuge, who traced their lineage back to the earliest clan leaders. Archery contests are said to have been held as early as the fourth century A.D., in commemoration of the nation's founding.

Archery contests on horseback were especially admired by "effete" court nobles throughout the Heian period. It was during this period that basic system of training in archery was developed and refined. Inevitably, this method was widely adopted by the ambitious warriors of the following age, their offspring often being presented with bamboo-grass horses and a bow in childhood (Tokiomi Kaigo "Japanese Education: Its Past and Present". Tokyo: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, 1968). The training program for archers was based upon repeated attempts to hit both fixed and mobile targets while on foot as well as on horseback. The major fixed targets were the large target (o-mato), the deer target (kusajishi), and the round target (marumono). The first, according to Kaigo, was set thirty-three bow-lengths and measured about sixty-two inches in diameter. The second consisted of a deer's silhouette covered with deer skin and marked to indicate the vital spots to be hit; and the third consisted of a round board, stuffed and then covered with strong hide. There are indications that these targets were often hung from poles and set in motion in order to develop skill in hitting targets whose movement would render them more elusive and difficult to pierce from a distance.

Training on horseback, naturally, was obviously more aristocratic, in both nature and tradition, than training on foot. It demanded great coordination in controlling a galloping horse, while simultaneously releasing arrow after arrow against a series of different targets which might be either fixed or in motion. Among the popular forms of archery were: three-target shooting (yabusame), bamboo-hat target shooting (kasagake), dog shooting (inuoumono), dog hunt (inuoi), bird hunt (oitorigari), and the grand hunt for deer, bear, and so forth (makigari).

Three-target shooting (yabusame) involved launching the horse at a full gallop in a pre-set direction, while releasing arrows directed against three targets, each constructed of a three-inch square board set on a pole along the horse's path. Bamboo-hat target shooting (kasagake) was performed within the confines of a course known as the arrow way (yado), properly fenced and with a shelf set at its end from which bamboo hats were hung. The rider was required to launch his steed at full gallop and begin to hit those hats, first from a distance (tokasagake) and then from close range (kokasagake). Dog-shooting (inuoumono) consisted of releasing a certain number of dogs into a closed arena and then chasing them around, while shooting at them from horseback. This particular training system developed into a ritualized contest in which thirty-six mounted archers were divided into three groups of twelve riders each. In turn, each group was allowed to enter the round, bamboo-fenced arena, seventy-two bow-lengths across, into which were then released fifty dogs for each group (Kaigo.) Revulsion at the sight of this pointless slaughter, prompted and deepened by the spreading of Buddhism's civilizing influence throughout Japanese society, resulted in edicts which commanded that archers use non-lethal arrows with large round arrowheads in these dog-shoots, while the dogs were to be outfitted with special, padded corselets. With only a few lapses, this modified form of training and competing lasted for centuries.

Finally, hunts of almost every kind imaginable were used to augment the warrior's training. These hunts became very popular with the bushi toward the end of the Heian period, and remained so in the centuries which followed. The practice of setting up encampments in the countryside, on a hill, or in the mountains during times of peace and then searching for small and large game to bring down with arrows is reported in glowing terms in ancient chronicles. "The warriors who took deer and wild boar," writes Kaigo, "attained honour just as if they had killed an enemy general." Yoritomo is said to have been delighted when his son shot a deer in one of these hunts on Mount Fuji, going so far as to express his pride in a letter to his wife, Masako, in Kamakura.