Japanese Hankyu 88lb Warbow Review
Channel: Historical Weapons
Date: 10/04/2021

Review of 2 Japanese style yumis of 71" length. 
One is 88lb@32" and one is 87lb@32". These are not Kyudo bows. 
Typical feudal samurai war bows were slightly shorter than modern kyudo yumis of 2.2m, but slightly longer than the bows I'm reviewing of 1.8m. During the Heinan to Early Feudal Period, there are some surviving Yumi from that era in the 1.90+ m lengths, in the Temple and Great House Treasuries. A bow of 1.8m (71") is possible, for shorter archers.


These are closer to historical weights during the feudal period. Based on my research, they were around 2 meters in length, from the archeological evidence we have and paintings. Remember people were shorter back then and a shorter bow can be more advantageous in fortifications or forest terrain. Samurai horseback archers often can't do full kyudo draw (beyond 35") because their armor can be obstructive. Also, horseback archery is very timing sensitive, so a shorter draw might mean the difference between hitting the target or missing. 

These are the heaviest ones made by Sarmat Archery

might do some comparisons with the english longbow 

Today, bows for Kyudo and Japanese horseback archery (Yabusame and Kasagake) are done with light draw weight bows. Historically, draw weights of 80lb+ can be expected while shooting on horseback. If I can do it, people back in the day can too.

Much of mainstream media cover the Japanese military during the Sengoku Jidai period, but I am interested in all the time periods of japan.

"Senbazuru" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

#Samurai #Yumi