Hiya. Got some questions coz I'm curious. Can anyone tell me how kyudo and Western archery differ? Aside from the difference in bow style and surrounding etiquette, is it basically the same? Also, how does the "zen" aspect of it work? I've seen a video of a kyudo master loosing an arrow in the general direction of a target which is hidden in the dark, and he still hits it. How the hell does that work? :| I find it difficult to imagine loosing an arrow without seeing the target doing anything but hurting someone or losing you the arrow lol. Secondly: What are the purposes of a compound bow? I've seen some videos with them and they always seem so clunky, with sights and all sorts.. strikes me as cheating, but I've only ever used a plain bow so that may be an unfair evaluation. Cheers.
All modern bows are 'clunky' with lots of additional equipment. It's one of the reasons I eventually gave up archery at 18. Compound bows often have a hardwood or alloy riser (the middle bit) and laminate limbs and the wheels have a gearing, as you pull back past halfway the anchor position at full draw is half or less the earlier poundage. This would make it a lot easier for hunting when you would need to hold position for some time. Competition compounds are usually alloy riser. These require stabilisers to dampen the vibration, less necessary but often used too on composite wooden bows. I've never seen a stabiliser on a standard longbow. Scopes have come a long way, the type used by most competition archers allows easy set up for a number of distances. I've no experience in kyudo but just watching they use shoulder muscles differently. The draw looks not unlike an Overhead Press top position, the draw always takes the bow down as the string closes to the head. Whereas an archer with a composite or compound bow would raise the bow arm while pulling back the string arm, the two meeting at the level where the aim and shot is taken. I think (but again have no direct experience in classical english longbow) they would be closer to the japanese method, I imagine for battlefield reasons, shooting over shielded infantry and onto cavalry. If you have seen any slo mo pictures of an arrow as it leaves the bow it follows a spiral trajectory, this can vary a bit depending on number/type of arrow flights/fletchings, the arrow point and the arrow shaft material. Modern competition arrows are (or were when I was shooting) based on carbon alloys, so a lot more rigid, travel on a flatter trajectory and faster. I only mention it because it could be possible to predict the point you could hit based on your archery knowledge, ancient or modern
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NldCp7Dt2ck"]compound bow arrow rest in slow motion - YouTube[/ame]
There is one major, fundamental difference in technique. In kyudo the arrow is rested upon the thumb rather than across the back of the hand. For ambushes this would give you an advantage, as a Western archer will be lying on their bow in order to draw (if they are lying down) whereas an Eastern archer will have the bow resting on their chest. I don't know if there's any particular reason that this came about. They also tend to draw back further, while occidental archers will generally draw back to the cheekbone, oriental archers will draw to behind the ear. The slight problem with this is that a bad draw can lose your ear. The only other part I've noticed is that the bows tend to have lighter draws. The highest I've heard spoken of for kyudo is a 40kg (about 88lbs) draw, whereas the heaviest warbow I've seen was 140lbs, and my own longbow is about average at around 80-90lbs (depending on draw length, obviously). Nothing special. If you know where a target is, and you're accurate, then you should be able to hit it. Whether you can see it or not is pretty much irrelevant. For a Western version of this you could look at field shooting, where archers are aiming to arc their shots over an obstacle to hit a post, which may be several hundred yards away. Many of the good ones can get within 10ft at 200yds. Think of it in the same way as the difference between a flintlock and an automatic, laser-sighted pistol. They're both built to do essentially the same thing but the second is much more efficient at it and easier to use - though personally I think the first is more fun and has far more 'art' to it.
Cheers guys. I have to say the idea of a compound bow feels like cheating to me lol but I've never used one (only used recurve) so I can't really fairly claim an opinion, at least not one based on experience. 'preciate the answers
