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Concept
Yumi
Summary
弓 is the Japanese term for a bow. As used in English, yumi refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer 大弓 and the shorter 半弓 used in the practice of kyūdō and kyūjutsu, or Japanese archery.
The yumi was an important weapon of the samurai warrior during the feudal period of Japan. It is typically shot with Japanese arrows known as ya.
The most famous style of yumi is an asymmetrically shaped long bow with a length of more than , characterized by the archer holding the part of the bow below the center to shoot the arrow.
Most of the excavated Jōmon period (14,000–300 BCE) bows are in length, while most of the Yayoi period (3rd century BCE–2nd/3rd century CE) bows are in length. The bows in these periods were made from a single processed wood, and the bows with this structure were called 丸木弓 and were used until the Nara period (710–794 CE). It is unknown when the asymmetrical yumi came into use, but the first written record is found in the Book of Wei, a Chinese historical manuscript dating to the 3rd century CE, which describes the people of the Japanese islands using "spears, shields, and wooden bows for arms; the wooden bows are made with the lower limbs short and the upper limbs long; and bamboo arrows with points of either iron or bone." The oldest asymmetrical yumi found to date was discovered in Nara Prefecture, and is estimated to be from the 5th century.
Some of the bows found as burial goods in kofun (ancient tombs) during the Kofun period (300–538 CE) were decorated with gold or silver, and it is believed that they were also used in ceremonies. The length of most bows in this period ranged from , and it is thought that they were powerful enough to shoot enemies and animals at close range.
In the Nara period, lacquered bows with more weather resistance and decorative features appeared. Euonymus hamiltonianus, Zelkova serrata, and Toxicodendron succedaneum, which are highly elastic wood, came to be used for making yumi, and many yumi became as long as roughly 7 shaku 3 sun (), increasing their power and range.
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