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Yumi
 
 
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is the Japanese term
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 for bow
Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
s, and includes the longbow
Longbow

A longbow is a type of bow that is tall , is not significantly recurve bow and has relatively narrow limbs, that are circular or D-shaped in cross section....
, Daikyu and the shortbow, hankyu) used in the practice of kyudo
Kyudo

, literally meaning "Tao of the bow ", is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art .It is estimated that there are approximately half a million practitioners of kyudo today....
, or Japanese archery
Archery

Archery is the art, practice or skill of shooting with Bow and arrow. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport....
. The yumi is exceptionally tall (standing over two meters), surpassing the height of the archer (ite ??). They are traditionally made by laminating
Laminated bow

A laminated bow is a Bow in which different materials are laminated together to form the bow stave itself. Traditional composite bows are normally not included, although their construction with horn, wood, and sinew might bring them within the above definition....
 bamboo
Bamboo

The bamboos are a group of woody perennial plant evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae....
, wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
 and leather
Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of rawhides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses....
, using techniques which have not changed for centuries, although some archers (particularly beginners) may use a synthetic yumi.






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Yumi P1000624
is the Japanese term
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 for bow
Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
s, and includes the longbow
Longbow

A longbow is a type of bow that is tall , is not significantly recurve bow and has relatively narrow limbs, that are circular or D-shaped in cross section....
, Daikyu and the shortbow, hankyu) used in the practice of kyudo
Kyudo

, literally meaning "Tao of the bow ", is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art .It is estimated that there are approximately half a million practitioners of kyudo today....
, or Japanese archery
Archery

Archery is the art, practice or skill of shooting with Bow and arrow. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport....
. The yumi is exceptionally tall (standing over two meters), surpassing the height of the archer (ite ??). They are traditionally made by laminating
Laminated bow

A laminated bow is a Bow in which different materials are laminated together to form the bow stave itself. Traditional composite bows are normally not included, although their construction with horn, wood, and sinew might bring them within the above definition....
 bamboo
Bamboo

The bamboos are a group of woody perennial plant evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae....
, wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
 and leather
Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of rawhides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses....
, using techniques which have not changed for centuries, although some archers (particularly beginners) may use a synthetic yumi. The construction used may be a Japanese development of the laminated bow
Laminated bow

A laminated bow is a Bow in which different materials are laminated together to form the bow stave itself. Traditional composite bows are normally not included, although their construction with horn, wood, and sinew might bring them within the above definition....
s widely used for centuries across Northern Eurasia and in Jomon times in Japan.

Shape

The yumi is asymmetric
Symmetry

Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically-pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection....
; the grip is positioned at about one-third the distance from the lower tip and upper and lower curves differ. Several hypotheses have been offered for this asymmetric shape. Some believe it was designed for use on a horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
, where the yumi could be moved from one side of the horse to the other with ease. Others claim that asymmetry was needed to enable shooting from a kneeling position and yet another explanation is the characteristics of the wood from time before laminating techniques.

String

The string (tsuru) of a yumi is traditionally made of hemp
Hemp

File:Industrialhemp.jpgHemp is the common name for plants of the entire genus Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial use....
, although most modern archers will use strings made of synthetic materials such as Kevlar
Kevlar

Kevlar is the registered trademark for a light, strong aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora.Developed at DuPont in 1965 by Stephanie Kwolek it was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires....
, which will last longer. Strings are usually not replaced until they break; this results in the yumi flexing in the direction opposite to the way it is drawn, and is considered beneficial to the health of the yumi. The nocking point on the string is built up through the application of hemp and glue to protect the string and to provide a thickness which helps hold the nock of the arrow
Arrow

An arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow . It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures....
 in place while drawing the yumi.

Regard

Serious kyudo practitioners treat the yumi with reverence, as pieces of great power, and as teachers with much to impart to the student (a yumi is said to hold within it part of the spirit of the person who made the yumi). A kyudo student will never step over a yumi which lies on the ground (that would be considered disrespectful), and will typically treat a yumi as they themselves would wish to be treated (e.g. kept away from excessive heat or cold, kept dry, kept away from excesses of humidity or dryness, carried upright). It is also considered disrespectful to so much as touch another person's yumi without his/her permission; yumishi (yumi-maker) Kanjuro Shibata
Kanjuro Shibata XX

On-yumishi Kanjuro Shibata XX is twentieth in a line of master bowmakers and a kyudo teacher of the Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha tradition....
 has said this is tantamount to touching someone else's spouse in a sexual manner.

Care

A bamboo yumi requires careful attention. Left unattended, the yumi can become out-of-shape and may eventually become unusable. The shape of a yumi will change through normal use and can be re-formed when needed through manual application of pressure, through shaping blocks, or by leaving it strung or unstrung when not in use.

The shape of the curves of a yumi is greatly affected by whether it is left strung or unstrung when not in use. The decision to leave a yumi strung or unstrung depends upon the current shape of the yumi. A yumi that is relatively flat when unstrung will usually be left unstrung when not in use (a yumi in this state is sometimes referred to as being 'tired'). A yumi that has excessive curvature when unstrung is typically left strung for a period of time in order to 'tame' the yumi.

A well cared-for yumi can last many generations, while the usable life of a mistreated yumi can be very short.

Bow lengths


Height of Archer Arrow Length Suggested Bow Length
< 150 cm < 85 cm Sansun-dsume (212 cm)
150 - 165 cm 85 - 90 cm Namisun (221 cm)
165 - 180 cm 90 - 100 cm Nisun-nobi (227 cm)
180 - 195 cm 100 - 105 cm Yonsun-nobi (233 cm)
195-205 cm 105 - 110 cm Rokusun-nobi (239 cm)
> 205 cm > 110 cm Hassun-nobi (245 cm)


Yumi history


Time Period Type of Bow Bow Formation
Prehistoric Maruki Single piece of wood
c.800-900 AD Fusetake Wood with bamboo front
c.1100 AD Sanmaiuchi Wood with bamboo front and back
c.1300-1400 Shihochiku Wood surrounded with bamboo
c.1550 Sanbonhigo (Higoyumi) Three-piece bamboo laminate core, wooden sides, bamboo front and back
c.1600 Yohonhigo (Higoyumi) Four-piece bamboo laminate core, wooden sides, bamboo front and back
c.1650 Gohonhigo (Higoyumi) Five-piece bamboo (or bamboo and wood) laminate core, wooden sides, bamboo front and back
c.1971-Modern times Glass fiber Wooden laminate core, FRP front and back