Japanese Archery!

By Kazetani, June 15, 2014

Its here!  That is my shiny carbonglass yumi, arrived via FedEx from Narita. Several years ago I had started looking into japanese bows, the way they were shot, how they were made, etc.  Its taken many years for me to save the money needed for all the neccessary equipment and then it took about four months for it to come in once ordered.   Yumi are traditional japanese bows, and their defining characteristic is the asymetrical limbs. Originally they were made of bamboo and some still are, but yumi are very sensitive to use.  Only the most experienced kyudo practictioners get yumi made from bamboo these days, and only in climates that will not harm it.  Because neither my skill or climate is suited to that, I ordered what 90% of all yumi are in materials these days, a mix of carbon fiber and fiberglass.  I ordered all my equipment from Sambu Kyuguten as they have an english translator so questions can be asked. And boy were there questions.  I ended up going to a few practices of the Nevada kyudo group in Las Vegas to get some of the measurements and information I needed.  I needed to know my height, which determines which kind of yumi to get.  I needed to know the right length I needed for my ya(arrows). I needed to know what poundage I wanted as yumi are measured in kilograms.  I needed to decide which of the properties of the bow where most important to me, size of the grip, or hand shock, etc, etc.  And that was the easy part.  The hard part was the yugake, the glove. Each glove is made specifically to your measurements, or they try to find one close. There were 18 measurements necessary for proper fit, and a physically mailed trace of my hand.  It was far more expensive than your typical archery glove, but as you can see to the right, it comes with an underglove you wear with it so you don’t sweat into this glove, or get it dirty.  Generally you will only ever need one for your whole life. I ordered everything I could possibly need including extra undergloves, extra strings, a string keeper, a spare grip wrap, a fabric and a plastic cover for the bow.  Eventually I’ll have some bamboo arrows to shoot, but until I can get arrows mostly on the bale? Aluminum for practice 🙂