Yabusame - Japanese Mounted Archery Video

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Yabusame is a Japanese Shinto ritual involving mounted archery. Archers ride at a full gallop and shoot at three targets set up at certain intervals. To hit all three, an archer is considered to be very skillful. The ritual's purpose is to bring prosperity and peace.

This video is a complilation of Yabusame events I have been to over the last two years. There are two different schools of Yabusame - Ogasawara Ryu who perform at Asakusa (here 2007&2008) and Takeda Ryu who perform at Meiji Shrine (2006), Miura (2007), and Kamakura (Spring 2007 & Fall 2008)

The song is called "Gunslinger Man" and it fits with the old tradition of samurai on horseback using bows rather than spears and swords as they did in later times. The Yabusame costume looks rather cowboy-ish.

The music is by the Exotic Ones:
The Exotic Ones



This is a short clip of Yabusame being performed at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo


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