Yabusame – Japanese Archery
On a overcast day in Tokyo it felt as if I had been transported back to the days of Edo. Under a peaceful canopy of greenery and cherry blossoms, magnificent horses and their riders (ite), dressed in traditional hunting attire (a-ge-shozoku), thundered down a narrow 240 meter track (baba), taking aim at three targets with their bow (shigedo) and arrow (ebira) along the way. I was watching a demonstration of Jabusame (Japanese archery on horseback), a martial art dating back about 900 years.
Royal guards or local samurai displayed their skills in exhibitions of Jabusame as a form of …read more
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