When we use the word "archer", we primarily think of the British and their famous victories during the Hundred Years War. However, in the Land of the Rising Sun, the art of archery has been developing over the centuries and has reached amazing heights. True, here, unlike in Europe, the bow did not become a weapon equalizing the commoner and the knight.
A foot warrior with a katana, which is most often considered a samurai, is an image of the times of the war for the unification of Japan (XVI-XVII centuries). But before that, the Japanese aristocrats were primarily horse archers, and melee weapons were on the sidelines. Living on the island and rarely coming into contact with other cultures, the Japanese have created their own, unlike anything else, the bow, which, at first glance, may seem very strange.
Bamboo Pie
The English bow developed by increasing the length of the shoulders, due to which the power also grew. The bows of the Asians - Mongols, Buryats and other nomadic peoples - remained short, but they were strengthened to the extreme with overlays of various materials. The Japanese have managed to combine both of these approaches.
The traditional Japanese yumi bow is longer than the English longbow. If the dimensions of the latter, as a rule, do not exceed 2.1 meters, then the standard length of the yumi is 2.2 meters. And the most outstanding specimens reach 2.45 meters and even more. Initially, like the British, the bow was a simple stick with a stretched bowstring. But then the Japanese were let down by nature - no plants with such elastic wood grew on their island. Therefore, from the 9th century, a composite structure began to appear - bamboo linings were placed on the "back". And then bamboo appeared on the “belly” of the onion.
It is believed that the Mongol invasion that took place during the reign of Kubilai Khan in 1274 and 1281 forced the Japanese to seriously reconsider their attitude to the design of the bow. Mongolian archers, sending clouds of arrows, caused a lot of trouble for the samurai. And if not for the famous typhoon "Kamikaze" ("Divine Wind"), they would hardly have been able to repel the attack.
According to one of the versions, it was the Mongols who spied the idea of strengthening the bow with horn pads. Although other researchers prove that the Japanese learned to use the horn and tendons for pasting bows quite independently and did it back in the 11th century. One way or another, this practice did not last long. Both Shinto and Buddhism, the two main religions in Japan, condemned the killing of sentient beings. Therefore, in the manufacture of yumi bows, the idea was fixed that only plant materials should be used. By combining bamboo planks and wood, the craftsmen have achieved excellent results. By the second half of the 17th century, yumi was a structure of five to seven planks, covered with wood on the sides, and covered with another layer of bamboo in front and back.
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At full gallop
The main feature of yumi is its asymmetrical shape. The handle is one third of the length from the bottom, the remaining 2/3 rise above the archer. This formed a unique shooting technique. The English arrows pull the bowstring to the cheek or cheekbone, the Mongols - to the stomach, while the Japanese first raise the bow above their head and then lower it, spreading their arms evenly and very wide and pulling the feathering of the arrow quite far behind the ear. It is believed that this position is more ergonomic and puts less stress on the joints. After the shot, the bow turned in the palm, so the bowstring did not hit the left forearm. Accordingly, the only equipment of the archer was a glove on the right hand, which protected the fingers from the friction of the bowstring.
According to the main version, the asymmetry of the yumi was due to the fact that samurai fought on horseback for centuries. Accordingly, the short lower shoulder made shooting more comfortable. Then the art of swordsmanship developed, the samurai dismounted to make it easier to chop each other with swords, and bows gradually began to leave the battlefield.
Although there are also known cases of massive use of bows by the Japanese infantry. They did not shoot from yumi, but from simpler and shorter options that did not require special skills. Such small bows retained destructive power only at the closest range. The samurai despised such archers, and the commanders tried to use them only during the siege of castles, so as not to earn a bad reputation.
Bamboo bows were very sensitive to weather conditions. They were carefully looked after, covered with varnish, protected from heat, cold or moisture. Thanks to this, there were bows that passed in one family from generation to generation. Also, many samurai clans had their own unique tip shapes. Those who were poorer bought ordinary arrows, but they put brands on them so that there would be no controversy on the battlefields - who exactly killed the enemy commander or the famous warrior.
10 thousand arrows
Yumi still could not compare in power with the English or Mongolian bow. According to various estimates, its pulling force never exceeded 30 kilograms. Although an experienced master could send an arrow at a distance of about 100 meters, but for the most part, the aimed shooting distance was much more modest than 10-15 meters.
However, for the Japanese, form and ritual are much more important than content and efficiency. Therefore, they loved to arrange a wide variety of competitions, where archers amazed the audience with the most inconceivable achievements. For example, in 1686 in Kyoto, the archer Wada Deihatte fired 24 hours in a row, interrupting only for a short time to drink water or eat. He fired eight thousand arrows, and they all hit the target at a distance of 100 meters. In 1852, an archer named Masatoki repeated and even surpassed his achievement. Within 20 hours, he fired as many as 10 thousand arrows! Some of them missed the mark, but eight thousand hits were recorded. A popular pastime among samurai was shooting at fleeing dogs with blunt arrows. And the most desperate shot such arrows at each other.
When shooting, the archer fell into a state similar to trance or meditation. In modern competitions in kyudo (traditional Japanese bow shooting), ritual is also given great importance. Each shot includes eight obligatory movements that flow into one another. And the judges evaluate not only the accuracy of hitting the target, but also the correctness of all movements.
The title of yumitori (archer) remained the most honorable title for a samurai for many centuries. Warlord Imagawa Yoshitomo, who lived in the first half of the 16th century, was called the First Archer of the Eastern Sea, although by that time the art of shooting was no longer actively used in battle. But they still appreciated him.
Not by rank
The bow was not only a weapon, but also a symbol of prestige. The following story was told about the outstanding commander of the XII century Minamotono Yoshitsune. Once, during a battle on the banks of the river, he dropped his bow into the water. Although the forces were unequal and the enemy made one attack after another, Yoshitsune refused to retreat until he picked up his bow. It almost cost him his life, but in the end the bow still ended up with the owner again. After the battle, the veterans surrounded their commander and openly expressed their dissatisfaction with his behavior: “It was terrible, sir! Your bow may be worth a thousand, ten thousand gold, but is it worth it to put your life at risk? " To this, Yoshitsune replied, “If I had a bow like my uncle Tametomo’s bow, which only two or even three people could pull, I might even deliberately leave it to the enemy. But my bow is bad. If the enemies took possession of it, they would laugh at me: "Look, and this is the general's bow!" I didn't want that. So I risked my life to get him back."
Victor BANEV