Yumi - The Famous Japanese Bows

Firing a bow from horseback is an insane skill to cultivate. If we want to make dresage a real Olympic sport, we should turn it into a mounted biathlon lol.

The Samurai were traditionally mounted archers. They perfected their art and performed it well. Plus the Yumis look really ornate and beautiful.

my family’s greatest treasure! My family owns many Yumi Bows and practiced Kyudo since i was in middle school. Love this video!

Video idea: where did the soldier go to bathroom during long combats?? Or snipers,The only scene I remember like that is in the opening of Dunkirk 2017 (Edit: I don't mean when the soldiers are in the bases I mean really combat situations )

I dig your use of RAN and other Kurosawa films for reference. That was such a great film and illustrated the brutality of life in Sengoku-era Japan.

Ran is such a great movie

a comparison video between different bows would be awesome. history, tactics, construction materials and methods, etc

I hope we’re gonna be getting medieval over here Johnny ⚔️ 🏰

An end of video pun AND Rocky Horror Picture Show reference in one. Fantastic work as usual, Johnathan Johnathanson

Hahaha loved the men in tights footage. I had many friends work on the last samurai here in NZ

Can’t believe you post such awesome and consistent videos everytime you upload!

Great one, love the footage from Ran!

I practice Kyudo with a yumi. It takes a careful technique, as the yumi is supposed to spin in the hand when the arrow (ya) releases. If the bow doesn’t spin, it can turn inside out and crack. I mention this because that’s what happens in the scene right around 3:30 to 3:35 in your video. The actor must not have known how to handle the yumi. It goes from a recurve bow to a no curve bow in a second. The leader of my school of kyudo (heiki ryu bishu chikurin ha), Kanjuro Shibata, is the 21st bow maker in his family line. I suppose that is not so strange for Japan.

Whereas the Japanese went for a very long bow and adopted a distinct method of holding the bow for horse riding others went for the composite bow giving a shorter bow more power. And is could be used on horseback or on foot. The English longbow was a little shorter than the Japanese bow, usually 6 foot, and is in fact a hunting bow. Much less powerful than the ones seen in Battles like Cressy, Agincourt and Bosworth which are called warbows. The longbow is D shaped in profile but the flatbow, which was flatter in profile, was just as good as the longbow. The advantage of a longbow was that it was much quicker to make requiring much less wood to be removed.

Good job as always, Johnnie! 👏 Can you do one on Mongolian and/or Chinese bows next? Or, if you already have. Can you repost it?

Your videos are always satisfying, always, just enough. Thank you.

Great breakdown. Thank you!

you make some of the most interesting content on youtube! keep up the great work

Another excellent video. Always wanted to know about this particular bow!!

"Quivering" with anticipation 😂