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Kyūdō (弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on kyūjutsu ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, and following the example of other martial arts that have been systematizing for educational purposes, kyūdō also reorganized and integrated various forms of shooting that had been used up until then. High level experts in kyūdō may be referred to as 弓道家(Kyudo Master) and some practitioners may refer to themselves as yumihiki (弓引き), or 'bow puller'. Kyūdō is practised by thousands of people worldwide. The bow they use is called a 弓, and the most common one has an asymmetrical shape of more than , and is characterized by the archer holding the part of the bow below the center to shoot the arrow. The beginning of archery in Japan is pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period (c. 500 BC – 300 AD). The changing of society and the samurai class taking power at the end of the Heian period (794-1185) created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyūjutsu ryūha (流派, style), the Henmi-ryū (逸見流), founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu (:ja:源清光) in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryū (:ja:武田流) and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū (:ja:小笠原流) were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū (Ogasawara Nagakiyo), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery). During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), when Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate, archery became more and more popular, especially the three types of mounted archery: yabusame, inuoumono, and kasagake. From the 15th to the 16th century, Japan was ravaged by civil war. In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his new and accurate approach called hi, kan, chū (fly, pierce, center), and his footman's archery spread rapidly.

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Kyūdō

Yabusame

Yabusame is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed" arrows successively at three wooden targets. This style of archery has its origins at the beginning of the Kamakura period. Minamoto no Yoritomo became alarmed at the lack of archery skills his samurai possessed. He organized yabusame as a form of practice. Nowadays, the best places to see yabusame performed are at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura and Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto (during Aoi Matsuri in early May).

Kyūjutsu

("art of archery") is the traditional Japanese martial art of wielding a bow (yumi) as practiced by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Although the samurai are perhaps best known for their swordsmanship with a katana (kenjutsu), kyūjutsu was actually considered a more vital skill for a significant portion of Japanese history. During the majority of the Kamakura period through the Muromachi period (c.1185–c.1568), the bow was almost exclusively the symbol of the professional warrior, and way of life of the warrior was referred to as "the way of the horse and bow".