Directory of Kyudo Resources

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Kyudo, literally the "way of the bow", is the traditional Japanese form of archery. The roots of this martial art come from battlefield archery (kyujutsu) and from ceremonial court archery, which was formed by neoconfucianistic thought via Chinese influence. No further encompassing definition shall be attempted here, as there is a variety of schools and groups with different traditions and shooting techniques, and a large number of ideologies and viewpoints. The official governing body in Japan is the All Nihon Kyudo Federation (ANKF) overseeing examinations (the usual Dan graduations and advanced teacher's grades: Renshi, Kyoshi, and Hanshi) and organizing various championships where both esthetic and technical competence and the number of hits are evaluated. Affiliated to the ANKF are the European Kyudo Federation (EKF) and the American Kyudo Renmei (AKR). The ANKF teaches two shooting styles that differ in to the way of lifting the bow to or above head level: * Shomen style: Shomen uchiokoshi stems from horseback and ceremonial archery. The bow is raised in front of the body. Shomen style is the most common standard form within the ANKF and derived from Honda-ryu, an eclectic style established by Honda Toshizane around 1900. * Shamen style: Shamen uchiokoshi stems from footed battlefield archery, and is derived from the different branches of Heki ryu. The bow is raised on the left side. Besides these official shooting techniques of ANKF there are the classical schools (ryu) , dating back to the pre-Meji-period, including - Ogasawara-ryu: heavily stressing etiquette and ceremonies, for which they have been responsible at the imperial courts besides horsemanship and archery since the 13th century. - Takeda-ryu: teaching only yabusame, or traditional horseback archery (since the15th century) - Heki-ryu: preserving the foot soldier's traditional accurate shooting technique and battle drill dating back to the 15th century in a few surviving branches like Satsuma-ha, Chikurin-ha, and Insai-ha. There are other groups that are not affiliated to the ANKF: * Chozen-ji kyudo founded by Jackson Morisawa in Hawaii (combining Shomen style kyudo and Rinzai zen) * the groups taught by Shibata Kanjuro (having their main dojo in Boulder, Colorado and associated with the Shambala organization of Tibetan Buddhism)

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Resources in This Category

• American Kyudo Renmei

  http://www.kyudo.com/akr.html
  The national governing body for kyudo in the USA affiliated to the All Nippon Kyudo Federation (ANKF) and International Kyudo Federation (IKYF). Contact addresses and home pages of the USA state organizations and dojo.

• Hokkaido University Kyudojo

  http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~nf3m-ootk/kyudo_e.html
  A Japanese site with some English content. Movie of a Kyudoka, Japanese texts with English translation, a Japanese-English Kyudo dictionary.

• Japan Equestrian Archery Association

  http://www.yabusame.or.jp/
  The governing body of Takeda ryu. The English part of the web site gives an introduction to yabusame and other forms of horseback archery, including the school's history, technical and formal details, a list of annual events, and a gallery.

• Kyudo Association of Canada

  http://www.kyudo.ca/
  Currently one dojo in Vancouver, affiliated to the Georgia Kyudo Renmei. News, forum, FAQ, image gallery, contact information.

• Kyudo in Bavaria

  http://kyudobayern.de/
  Bavarian association (DKyuB member) offering introduction, contact addresses and events. [English/German/French]

• Kyudo South Africa

  http://www.kyudo.co.za/
  Kyudo at Mark's Park Archery Club in Emmerentia. Training hours, contactinformation, and weblog.

• kyudojo

  http://www.kyudojo.com/
  Online kyudo community with discussion forum, articles and news in Italian, English and Japanese.

• London Kyudo Society

  http://www.kyudo.org.uk/
  Offering a short, illustrated introduction to backgrounds and history. Includes training schedule, events and links.

• Meishin Kyudojo

  http://www.kyudo.com/kyudo.html
  Illustrated FAQs with information drawn from the author's book plus further reading, addresses, and links.

• Miyako Kyudojo

  http://users.erols.com/kenrawie/kyudo.html
  A dojo in Washington DC

• Nanka Kyudo Federation

  http://www.kyudosocal.com/
  Federation of Southern California, AKR-affiliated. Practice times and email contact.

• Ogasawara-ryu

  http://www.ogasawara-ryu.gr.jp/
  The oldest extant kyudo ryu, which also includes horsemanship / yabusame and sophisticated etiquette at court. The English part of this web site contains a very short overview of the school`s history, current events and a picture of yabusame.

• The White Rose Kyudojo

  http://www.japanese-archery.org.uk/
  This dojo in London is the oldest public kyudo club in Great Britain, features training address and email, club history, and kyudo background.

• United Kingdom Kyudo Association

  http://kyudo.org.uk/ukka/ukka.html
  The kyudo association of Great Britain (EKF-affiliated), very short information and an email address

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