弓道Kyūdō (archery)

Kyūdō (Japanese: 弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on kyūjutsu ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, and following the example of other martial arts that have been systematizing for educational purposes, kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various forms of shooting that had been used up until then. Many practitioners may refer to themselves as yumihiki (弓引き), or 'ones who draw the bow'. Kyūdō is practised by over a hundred thousand people worldwide. The bow used is called a yumi (弓). It has an asymmetrical shape and length of more than 2.0 metres (6 ft 7 in), and its use is characterized by the archer gripping the lower third of the bow stave to shoot.

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