Bows and Arrows

[JustADude]

Hmmm an english longbow.... never shot one of those. I've got a good deal of experience with recurves but the only true longbow I've ever shot is the Japanese Yumi. I'm not sure if anyone here has had experience with both but if they have is there much different between a Yumi and an English Longbow for shooting style, etc.

Actually, Yumi is a term that encompasses both Japanese Short- and Longbows, IIRC. A Japanese longbow (the ~2m one) and an English longbow would fire pretty much identically, I imagine, while the short one would fire like any other short-bow.

[RayvenQ]

Actually, Yumi is a term that encompasses both Japanese Short- and Longbows, IIRC. A Japanese longbow (the ~2m one) and an English longbow would fire pretty much identically, I imagine, while the short one would fire like any other short-bow.

Aren't Japanese longbows held at about 1/3 of the way up the bow, wheras English Longbows (Technically Welsh as that's who we nicked them off ) are held halfway.

[Samaliel]

Yes they are. I was a kyudo-jin for one year and a half. A few notable differences between occidental archery and japanese archery :
- Japanese longbows are held at about 1/3 of the way up the bow;
- you put the arrow to the exterior of the bow (if you hold your bow in your left hand, the arrow will be on the right of the bow);
- you pull the string with your thumb, either wearing a glove or a ring;
- you open your bow downwards from above your head.

[JustADude]

Yes they are. I was a kyudo-jin for one year and a half. A few notable differences between occidental archery and japanese archery :
- Japanese longbows are held at about 1/3 of the way up the bow;
- you put the arrow to the exterior of the bow (if you hold your bow in your left hand, the arrow will be on the right of the bow);
- you pull the string with your thumb, either wearing a glove or a ring;
- you open your bow downwards from above your head.

I stand corrected. I've only ever fired Welsh Longbows and Recurves, so I was just going based on shape.

Incidentally, it's a real pain trying to get archery equipment for someone with my draw-length and muscle without spending way too much money for custom-made stuff. Even a 'typical' 30-lb draw target bow makes me feel like I'm going to break the thing, and anything but custom-cut shafts tend to fall out the back of the bow before I get to full extension.

[Jpurple]

I SO miss my bow.... it's been in storage for far too long. I have a recurve, my husband has a longbow. We used to shoot with our local SCA, but haven't lived at 'home' in the better part of 6 years, which makes it a little hard. I'm trying to find a place here where I can try out Japanese archery, just so I can say I've done it, really.

[Samaliel]

It's a great experience. Very stress relieving and... energizing at the same time. Revigorating, if I may say so. The sitting postures (se-za and ki-za) can be hard in the beginning or if you have issues with your feet, but it's a great way to improve your general posture. It actually taught me how to keep my back straight, which solved a lot of back pain issues I had.

I also gained a few centimeters from just standing straight. It helped me a lot with some self-confidence / self-esteem issues I had too, but I was lucky, for my senseis and fellow kyudo-jins were great people.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I used to do archery at Guides; I soo miss it. I was actually good at it, even tho for a while I was shooting without my glasses, I still managed to hit around the centre. A couple of years ago, I wandered into a fair while on holiday and they had an archery stand. I was extremely gratified to find that I was able to hit the target (a mock up boar) right in the guts.

[KitterCat]

Gosh, why should they listen to you? I mean, you've only actually used a bow and arrow. The customer is the true expert, he's seen every Errol Flynn movie ever made! [/sarcasm]

Oy. And these folks who think they know so much are always the ones who injure themselves spectacularly, and wonder why.

Put your egos away and listen to the teacher, kiddies. You really don't want to become Darwin Awards.

You know if they were actually using Errol Flynn as their example to emulate it would be a heck of a lot better. He’s actually using a long bow in his Robin Hood, and he’s shooting it correctly. The man did his own trick shooting and sword fighting. Unfortunately most of the people have never even herd of Errol Flynn.

What most of them seem to be copying is Kevin Costner, he seems to be using some sort of pincher move with the hand pulling back the bow string.

Strangely enough if you watch Mel Brooks “Men in Tights”, they guy playing Robin Hood is doing to correctly. One finger above the nock, two fingers below, using the tips of the fingers. You keep your pinkie off because the nail can be ripped off if you have bad luck, and your thumb off because it can throw off your shot.

[Bramblerose]

Strangely enough if you watch Mel Brooks “Men in Tights”, they guy playing Robin Hood is doing to correctly. One finger above the nock, two fingers below, using the tips of the fingers. You keep your pinkie off because the nail can be ripped off if you have bad luck, and your thumb off because it can throw off your shot.

Mmmmmmmmmmm Carey Elwes! (do we have a drool icon??)

Actually, teh Persians (iirc) had a cool ring with a hook for drawing the bow. I want one. I would never use my thumb otherwise.

I always laugh at any archer on tv/film that fists their arrow. Good luck with that- you might hit someone else's target. Maybe.

[Samaliel]

I don't know about Persians, but I know for sure that Mongol and Chinese archers use that kind of stuff and, for some reason, it kinda rubbed on a few Japanese archers too. The glove is far more common practice among Japanese, though. Said glove has generally only three fingers (thumb, forefinger, medius), the two other fingers left free in order to hold arrows. The glove is made of rather sturdy leather, which is especially thick on the thumb. The leather has a kind of dent at the base of the thumb, on the inside (towards the forefinger) which allows you to have a good grasp of the string.

[Becks]

fists their arrow

Well, I'm back in the gutter.

[lordlundar]

All to often, the people who are involved in injuries forget that they are handling a ranged weapon, and need to treat it like one. As such, they need to follow the simple rules:

1. Always treat is as if it's loaded. Yes, I know there's no arrow in there, act like there is one. It's only neutral if it's unstrung.

2. Point down and away until ready to fire. There's a reason why you never see a rested bow aimed above 45 degrees down, and it's so no one gets hurt.

3. Only load the arrow when you're ready to fire. There is no reason in the modern world for needing an arrow notched in a bow for any reason other than to fire.

4. Wear proper safety gear. Gloves, bracer or arm guard, and breast cover for more endowed women (sorry, I tried to put it as PC as I could) range from a good idea to essential, and should not be ignored.

5. IT IS A WEAPON! It's primary purpose is to injure or kill. Treat it with care.

I feel better. Now for the Yumi.

The Yumi is an interesting design which was made for calvary riders. The ideal pull point is 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the bow to allow for more flexible shooting. Ingenious design by my point of view, though from someone who has only fired European style bows, it would take some getting used to.

[LadyAndreca]

I think I had two weeks of archery in high school, one semester in college, and I taught archery at a boy scout camp one summer. 10-year-old boys don't like girls outshooting them, even girls twice their age.

Partially because they didn't like listening to me, I was VERY strict with my safety rules. You wear the arm guard. You only point downrange. Nobody is allowed in front of the shooting line unless *I* say so, and no one else. If there's any animal on the range (usually chipmunks), no one can even so much as nock an arrow until I chase it off. You do not break any rules if you want to keep shooting.

I only had one scare, when a kid had drawn back and then spun to ask me a question, leaving an arrow pointed right at my chest. I'm lucky he didn't release it, because my immediate instinct was to slap the point down! (He got a lecture and sat out a rotation for that. His father saw the whole thing and was a little upset at me for chewing his son out, but didn't stop me.)

I own a recurve...my aim is bad (I pull high and to the right), but I'm very precise. I suppose I should either practice more or get a sight. I don't know of any local ranges, but there's a small garbage dump nearby where no one cares if we shoot things.

[Samaliel]

The Yumi is an interesting design which was made for calvary riders. The ideal pull point is 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the bow to allow for more flexible shooting. Ingenious design by my point of view, though from someone who has only fired European style bows, it would take some getting used to.

It doesn't take long to get used to it, since they are quite light. But yeah, beginners tend to pull high (overcompensating the weight of the upper part) or low (undercompensating the weight of the upper part). But if you grab your bow the right way and have a firm wrist, you can't get it wrong.

[Naaman]

I tried longbow for re-enactment, was far too hopeless to take it on the field. I am looking at a nice Medieval crossbow though, even I'd have trouble frelling that up