The bow has been used as a tool for hunting since the ancient times. Kyudo was first practiced as a Shinto ritual in the palace and had been developed as a material art of samurai training since the Kamakura Period (1185-1333). Events using bows such as yabusame (Japanese horseback archery) and makigari (Japanese hunting archery) had been frequently held. Now sport kyudo players use a bow of the standard length of 221cm and arrows with the length 5cm than the bow and compete the points scored by hitting a target.

yabusame (Japanese horseback archery)