What Made the Samurai Bow So Deadly?
This documentary, featuring Mike Loades, explores the violence, beauty and reverie which surround the Samurai's earliest weapon. With stunning dramatic reconstruction, we reveal the ancient way of the Samurai and explore how the bow could avert wars when put in the hands of a true master.
Visit Japan's most revered archery teacher Master Ogasawara's mounted archery school and see the students intense training and dedication. Then follow Ogasawara's son as he prepares to shoot from a galloping horse in the Yabusame ceremony.
We then see a comparison between the Japanese bow and another great war bow, the English Longbow. Both are put through scientific tests to examine their specialities. Using stunning high speed footage we reveal their power and precision and ask what makes the Yumi so special.
Master craftsmen, martial artists and expert historians combine to tell the story of this noble weapon from its bloody past to its revered standing today in Samurai Bow.
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I have been an Archer for the last 25 years, competed in international events and reached the ranking of GMB in Olympic recurve, and longbow. Always have been fascinated by the Japanese bows and would love to shoot one, perhaps a visit to Japan 😊❤ the spiritual connection is indeed something that develops over the years.
And I'm sure it'd take a few years to master it being it's shot completely different than the recurve and long bow that you're use to shooting
Quite likely there's a Kyudo Dojo somewhere around your parts...
Edward O. Wilson: “We have palaeolithic brains, we have medieval institutions and space-age technologies. That is a really dangerous combination and we are seeing that.” Georges Clemenceau (1841 - 1929): "War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory." Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955): "War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace." There's no difference as the intent is to kill with an empty mind. This is hardly surprising. An empty mind is necessary to kill with the mind of a psychopath. An empty mind is necessary top serve an otherwise useless hereditary lord's fatuous ego, lust for power and acclaim. Once again religion, inculding Buddhism, is shown to be the tool of the rich, the arrogance of power, the lust for stupid violence in their mindless armies. Dante Alighieri: “Consider your origins: you were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.” Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809): “All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, [Zen Buddhist] or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” Farley Mowat: ”We are under the gross misconception that we are a good species going somewhere important, and that at the last minute we will correct our errors and God will smile on us. It is delusion.” Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
@@richardgraham7055 find inner contentment Ritchy, look to philosophical,Tao,Daoism, no need to look to others for your truth, look within,with a open honest heart, realise we allready know the answers to what we seek,become all you can be, show this world how we should live, embracing unconditional love, UL, WILL change your world,,love you,,fat,bob and Mr T,xxxx
Here is a tip, always use a glove. Yumi bows use a thumb grip to draw. They aren't too far off from how other bows but the quirks from modern techniques might trip you up.
Now I finally understand why anime heroes and villains mutually respect their opponents' self-introductions.
Awesome Documentary
Thanks for posting
Man japenese craftsmanship is awesome to watch
Well presented
As a kyudoka I find the the exaggerated rhetoric, the worn out stereotypes and the whole idea of comparing bows in this way rather puerile. Just one point: If one is to test the potential of a yumi, proper shooting technique is paramount. An arrow speed of 34 metres per second is embarrassingly low and simply due to a blatant lack of technique. Any of the Japanese students shown would have done better. We measured our arrow speeds systematically a while ago and averaged well above 50m/s (164 feet / second), even with lighter bows of about 18kg. With a starting point and “experts” like these, no meaningful results can be expected. Nice pictures, though.
I doubt the bow used in this video for speed test is not powerful enough for the arrows it shoots out.
@@philipx4525the “test” is weirdly unspecific about arrow weight. “Heavier because longer” would only be plausible if the material were the same, which it was not. The slow motion scenes show a blatant lack of basic Japanese shooting technique (and in the “bow against sword” scene there’s no discernible technique at all). There are more details that show sheer incompetence: It has long been established that ballistic gel is not a suitable medium for testing arrows and the notion of the honourable duel in Japanese battles is fictitious. They simply don’t know what they’re doing. But even these points aside, the whole idea to compare weapons from different cultures and geographies, not to elucidate their specific properties, but to find “the ultimate one” is fruitless and puerile.
The speed is low because they chose to use low/moderate draw weight bows, aprox 23 kg. Actual warbows would likely be twice that draw weight and the arrow speed similarly faster.
@@ycplum7062 with the Japanese shooting styles (there’s more than one), arrow speed is highly dependent on the subtle and energetic technique of both hands. For an experienced kyudoka one look is enough to know that these criteria were not fulfilled.
Long bowmen were drawing much higher draw weights than this. They trained since childhood.
What happened to the Mongolian Deadly Bow? No doubt about the Japanese Bow and The English Bow, but the Mongolian horseback Bow was a force to be reckoned with...
Nobody told you?? Oh dear…you may need to sit down. The last mongorillan bow discovered was outside of Denver Colorado. It seems the Godamn Mongolians were having problems selling abroad…so they were used to breakdown my shitty walls.
No doubt. They became one of the largest empires in history, conquering civilizations left and right, using just horses, bows, and arrows
the mongals were so deadly because they were very good at shooting off there horses. i dont think japan did that as much. basically all the mongal warriors could fire arrow's rapidly from there horse's. and this video is a not accurate at all. a horsebow of the same weight will shoot faster im pretty sure just by the way there built. also speed isnt everything the lighter the arrow the less momentum it will have and the less likely it will penetrate. heavy arrow's carry through targets with alot more force. with my compound bow i shoot 200 grain fixed broadheads with a 100 grain insert at the front. yeah such a heavy arrow loses 50 60 fps but it will also blast straight through a shoulder bone and a lighter broadhead and arrow combo will not do that. and if you dont get a full pass through when hunting deer there more likely gonna run for hundreds of yards of miles even and i dont like wounding deer and not finding them ive done it acouple times and its not a good feeling because most people wouldnt think so but i respect and love deer so much and most hunter's do. if it werent for hunter's there wouldnt be any conservation really because all the licences and stuff go towards that at least in my state it does.
Mongolian bow is crap. It's only good because it's supposed to be used while on horseback, and with proper nomad's combat tactics
It's called the Asiatic bow I prefer it over the long bow It is much more powerful
Trying to compare or see which one is "better" is pointless, each of the bows served its respective culture and was made for a specific purpose
Wow! What a ridiculous, ignorant comment… Weapons and armor were developed as parallel technologies. When one improved, the other had to improve. But in this video, they compared bows from 2 cultures, on the armor of 2 cultures. Additionally, they compared basic ballistic values. So all apples and oranges were tested… and you were found lacking… did you actually watch the whole video?
Thank you for an exceptionally educational video. This video has opened the door of inquiry to this amazing form of archery. Very much different than English archery.
i always thought that the Yumi was asymmetrical to facilitate it's use while kneeling and on horseback and not necessarily to give the arrow more speed.
That IS why it is asymmetrical. Does the video say something different? I fell asleep. The samurai {Those Who Serve} were originally the Emperor's "tax collectors" and law enforcers. They were mounted. Thus, the lower arm of the bow is shorter than the upper arm, to facilitate use from horseback. Does the video say or imply that it was meant to affect arrow speed? Any such benefit would be COINCIDENTAL to WHY it was asymmetrical.....
@@scotthewitt258 The Yumi design is not novel, it's predecessor before Samurai era also had the same bow shape. Because it's a composite recurve bow, it allowed faster string speed for a given draw weight, leading to higher velocity for a given arrow weight. There are Yumi samples over 1500 years old that had same shape, well before horse archery was common in Japan, and bows were foot weapons.
@@SilverforceXjapanese composite bow….? you sure?
Both, actually. It also makes it easier to shoot and reduces stress on the user by decreasing hand shock due to the grip position being located in a perfect node. There's little to no detectable vibration making it more comfortable to use while increasing accuracy. In any case the asymmetrical design predates mounted archery in Japan by centuries, so it's arguable that the technique may have been more so adapted to the tool than the design of the tool was adapted to the technique.
point of disagreement #1: a 50lb draw weight would be stupidly light for a long bow #2: it's been established that the longbow was likely shot from both sides of the bow limb and its simply preference of the archer
It’s stupidly light for a medieval Japanese bow too, why only mention this for the long bow?
@@Heresjonnyagain coz i dont know the historic weights of japanese bows so i speak about the things i do know about. have you got a source for draw weights so i can study?
@@Heresjonnyagain dont worry, did some digging. the numbers seem to be around 70-160ish which is fair enough
@@BH-rx3ue worth a read for any further interest! gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/2017/07/yumi-japanese-bow.html
Modern Yumi are pretty light, it's not made for war. It's mostly a spiritual sport now. Older Yumis go from 116 lbs to 200 lbs.
Bamboo is not wood. It is a type of grass. A great material for building a vast variety of things and structures.
It's not a tree either
@@metricstormtrooper Trees are wood. Grass is not.
Absolutely correct.
Wood (xylem) is a structural material made of cellulose fibers grown by many plants, not only trees as you say it. define "tree". Is a palm a tree ? Or fern ? Both of them have xylem as support material.
Is bamboo a tree? No it's a GRASS 😂😂😂😂
Significant comparable video between English long Bow and Japan Samurai cultures Bow ....thank you (Hit history) channel for sharing 11:42
The English long bow was 4-5x more powerful, and used to defeat armor, the Japanese bow was used against unarmored civilians, or conscripts.
How was it more powerful. What metroc are u using. Ehm the Yumi was used against armor as well. And by the 14th the longbow was essentially useless against plate armor. Useful only against the ligjtly armoured.
@@Cyber_Nomad01 factually incorrect
This is history
I have built about 80 bows, some years ago, but the yumi has to be the most difficult bow ever to build well. Almost every other style of bow is balanced by tillering, or scraping, balancing the belly of each limb to achieve symmetry. The yumi is assembled with the outside of bamboo on the back and belly, no tillering possible without compromising the belly strength. Add to that the asymmetrical design, boggles my mind on how to achieve it well, if at all. I managed to build a few all bamboo bows, nodes intact, but symmetrical design. Very nice bows, but a Yumi is way, way beyond me.
that samurai bow seems to be really technical
Yes and no… A lot of the style factors of shooting, e.g., shouting, advancing, leg position, and mind-set are all facets of Japanese archery. But if you look at the basics of shooting a Japanese bow, I could make a list: - Pull with thumb draw - push with bow arm AND pull with arrow arm - Twist bow on release - Put arrows in quiver, oriented for proper arrow orientation to string These points are the same in Japanese, Chinese, Turkish and Hungarian archery… That is what you need to practice, to shoot a Japanese bow. BUT it is just the first few hours of learning Japanese STYLE archery. The mechanics, and the style, are 2 separate factors/styles/understandings/techniques…
Enjoyed this though the test itself…
What was the draw weight of the longbow tested? Tods workshop has done various longbow tests - the archer in those tests does not easily draw his longbow....
It was mentioned is the beginning of the video. They made sure both bows have the same draw weight. Also, I'm sure these are not war bows used in the past. You can be sure that war bows used in actual combats would have higher draw weights than the ones used here.
Both bows were 23kg/50lb draw weight. Both tested at 34 mps/112fps/122kph/76mph. So bows were the same. Arrow weight, release method, draw method, and arrow point weight differed.
@@gregwein1 is a 50lb long bow a long bow? What is the point of comparing it to a weak longbow?
@@mcreadyIt is certainly a longbow, but na a war bow.
@@mcreadyEnglish Warbows generally have draw weights over 120-200 pounds, with 1000+ grain heavy arrows. A 50 pound longbow with a heavy arrow and sharp broadhead will kill any animal in North America.
Interesting.
I love how the Japanese archer hats almost look like coyboy hats, bamboo isn't a tree it's a grass and the individual is a stock of bamboo not a tree
Then you would enjoy the TV series "Kingdom" set in Korea. Great costumery.
I love how they artificially handicapped the English long bow. War bows regularly had draw weights of 75-100kg, 3x-4x the Yumi
When you were choosing "like for like" you should have chosen the common usage of the average Samurai bow draw weight vs the average longbow draw weight. I've tried a few longbows, and as a bigger relatively fit guy I was told I would likely go for a pretty heavy draw. What would the "commisary" issue to a general soldier in either army type.
Good point! But… An archer, English, Turkish, Chinese or Japanese, would only pick a bow he could draw well/comfortably/effectively. For this video, the goal was an ‘apples to apples’ comparison. So the bows were the same draw weight. Both of those archers could have drawn a heavier weight, but to compare the bow strengths, not archer strengths, they matched bow weights.
Love how the revolver guy at the beginning of the video bump fires accidentally. Lucky that cylinder wasn't loaded.
What is a bump fire?
by experience, a bow WILL NOT penetrate a forged breast plate, even on a direct hit. There is a massive difference between a forged and hardened piece of armour an a flat sheet of mild steel. But in overall I really liked this documentary (O:
Sorry, you are wrong, but glad you enjoyed the video. As they explained in the video, the style of arrow point made a huge difference in penetration. As armor got tougher, crossbows penetrated it. And how much penetration was needed? An arrow 1” deep meant you had trouble breathing, swinging a sword, or controlling your horse. Then came came crossbows (in Europe), and the lethality of arrows increased. Then muskets hit the battlefield, and armor was no longer effective at all. So arrows were effective to the end, despite steel/iron armor.
@@gregwein1 have you tried it ? With mild steel breast plate, hardened high carbon steel breast plate ? With both iron and spring steel arrow heads ? We made ours, with a 1400 pounds cranequin crossbow. And Todd's Workshop also made a serie with Toby Capwell in which there are going to the same conclusions.
I can put an arrow through a stop sign how is that any different than plate armor
@@willynillylive stop signs are mostly made of aluminum 🤷🏻♂️
Not where I live they are old steel stop sign
Though many long bows were made cheaply from a single stave, the better crafted bows coupled a hard durable wood with a softer elastic wood for flexibility. The result was a remarkably efficient weapon far more accurate and deadly than its Japanese recurve equivalent, which had less draw weight, less range and less killing power.
That is not true, the Japanese bow likely have more of all three.
No British longbows were composite. The ‘practice every Sunday’ longbow was always (+\- 3%) a single yew stave. Cheaper and easier to make, and easier to shape for an even draw. Composite bows of mixed materials were very common in the middle- and far-East, and North America! But not in England…
Lol another bUtthurt Brits who don't wanna accept that the Japanese, Mongolian and even Korean bows were more powerful. Also don't compare your long bows with composite bows
No wonder you were never known for bows. It was the invention of guns which gave them the advantage. Other than that by long bows you wouldn't have conquered even Bangladesh😂😂
I would place a Mongol war bow up against either of these in a hot second.
Lol.
The Great Khan approves this message 🏹
The pathetic tone in documentaries is out of place. All of these war tools had their evolution and specific function - from the "light" cavalry bow to the heavy Roman crossbow - the scorpian. AND by the way, the samuria swords were not equal to the roman - frankish swords. Their evolution took a 1000 yrs - and Europe had the better steel.
I'd take a Korean bow
I don't know how to do archery so I would bow out
It would have been great to know what each Samurai was saying to each other!!!!!!
It would have not made sense to you even if translated; it was merely a list of ancestry to show rank and importance.
“I’m Bill, son of Jim, son of Frank. From Franklin township, working for the Smith family in the Johnson principality. I am 4th ranked in Joseph style archery, and the 3rd best in my school. I can draw a 50 lb. bow, and if you stand still, I’ll kill you at 200 yds. If you can match that, come forward, or everyone here will know you are a coward!” Something like that… There are records of what certain samurai said, but that’s the gist of it…
I wish you could do some work on the Steppes, Hun , Russ, Mongolian wood and since recurved bows meant fo horse riders
because bow is the first and ancient weapon of samurai before spear and sword use so intense later period
They built a recurve Bow. Two become one and the force of the arrow is Huge!
All the Englishmen getting defensive about the longbow 😂😂😂
So true lol. They like to think they’re far superior to everyone else lol
A recurve and a straight bow of the same poundage would alwayw make the recurve better. A real test would be using equivalent poundage.
japan was a poor place in ancient times, so expensive recurves are out of the question. Having good quality well designed longbows is impressive enough.
Simply the difference is represented like Japanese food and English food.
Probably the same reason why every bow is deadly
Remember watching a film by Lindybeige (youtuber) he once interviewed professional competition archers and was struck by their (almost) deformed draw hand, its also been shown that Medieval English bowmen shared similar deformities (calcification on shoulders hands etc.), i wonder given the skill needed to wield a sword meant Japanese archers didn't practice to a disfiguring degree ?.
We fairly tested these bows by taking away the Longbows single advantage. Oh... and this short fat man will be shooting it, lol. Is this a joke? Also for power it's not just speed. It's speed and weight of the arrow, with tip for penetration. Katana which is beyond compare... almost had to shut it off right there. From surviving examples. The Yumi averaged 80-90 pound draw at it's peak. The longbow was 140-160. This is the most malformed and one sided documentary ever made. A Japanese archer couldn't have even drawn an English longbow all the way. Neither could you or myself for that matter.
@@Thickcurves a yumi could actually get that high draw weight, it was recognized as a powerful bow even outside Japan. "July 12, 2017 Wakyuu (和弓) - The Japanese Bow"
Japan has a stronger archery culture than most of Europe just like most countries in the East, if you look at the article I just left they also use high-power bows.
@@eagle162 Yeah I've read that, you posted it lower. It's all estimates and speculation. The Japanese Yumi didn't need to be over 80-90 pounds. There are no real examples at anything over 100 pound draw weight. There's no evidence of the changes to bodies of the warriors that happen when drawing that weight. The way the Japanese train and use the bow means there's zero chance any where above 100 pounds draw. The article claims 200 pound draw weight and it's literally BS. You can't point to a blog with no sources listed. The techniques. The history. The surviving examples... ALL SAY about 80-90 pound draw weight, whcih makes sense because that's about what they needed for their style of warfare. Look, I understand it's cool for some to look up to Japanese culture. That's fine, but you are wrong. The katana wasn't magic and the Yumi wasn't stronger than the English longbow.
@@ThickcurvesI didn't even mention katana but if you want me to bring articles or threads about it no problem. I got no problem debunking myths like bad steel. It Clearly showed you a video where they measure a high-power yumi and even bring up it was recognized as a powerful bow outside Japan by other cultures that used or face other powerful bows, there's nothing about how they train or techniques that suggests Japan didn't use high-power bows, if you're talkin about kyudo that is not war archery.
The English Longbow is also heralded as masterpiece 0:43
English Longbow IS a marsterpiece indeed.🏴🇬🇧❤️💪💪💪
i don't know, the Native American bow from East Coast are probably better.
@@bjung8858Interesting! Why the East Coast? The Penobscot compound now in New England? I think the Plains and Southwest compound bows were better… horn backing, and tendons on the belly… Increases in compression and tension effects… BOOM!! Speed and power beyond imagination!
@@gregwein1 At present, I wouldn't mind having a Comanche bow. But, the Sudbury bow looks very nice. At worse, I might have to construct a laminate version of it because the plum wood cracks when drying. I decided to make a chessboard with it.
@@norbertocarlosagustinkushi1916it is not. Only because of guns the brits were able to conquered.
I think it was probably more about the skill of the archer, than the bow itself.
True…but a craftsman is only as good as his tools.
@@vanillathunder3024 not necessarily true . A master archer will still perform pretty well with a very average bow . Much better than average anyway .
Excellent documentary, and it warms my heart that the old skills are being passed down the generations. But it is not fair to the English Longbow. It shows the arrow skidding sideways losing speed all the way to the target before the fletching finally brings the tail back in line. This means the arrow has the incorrect spine (stiffness) for that archer using that specific bow. Yes it is that particular. A "50Lb bow" is measured at 28 inches of draw, and every inch over or under 28" is ~ 3Lb over/under whatever the bow is rated at. So if the archer only has a 27" draw, it's only a ~47Lb bow. If the arrow was properly spined (for that archer using that specific bow) it would leave the string oscillating (like a fish swimming) perfectly around the bow. All arrows which are heavier at the front than the rear, bend when force is applied to the tail. All arrows launched from fingers have some sideways force applied to the tail as the bow string leaves the fingertips which makes the arrow bend sideways in the middle. For a right hand archer the tail is deflected left, which makes the arrow bend in the middle towards the right, around the bow, then the middle of the arrow oscillates back the other way to the left flicking the tail to the right and around the bow. A properly spined arrow does not touch the bow but does one left/right oscillation in perfect synchronisation around it. The tail first deflects left towards the bow and looks like it's going to hit (while the middle is bending to the right around the bow), then at the last moment the tail flicks right and also misses the bow. The arrow in this video is deflecting off the bow, losing speed in the friction, and more importantly, flying sideways all the way to the target, and striking it slightly sideways which then has a HUGE impact (pun intended) on the penetration. If you think I'm being fastidious, look up "archer's paradox".
Wow! Holy crap! OMG! I bow to you, your knowledge, and your ability to explain the extraordinarily complex forces compelled by a bow onto an arrow. I had to read your comment 3x’s before I felt I’d ‘got’ it. Wow! Thank you!! Not sure if I should stop at adulation, or move on to blandishment… Archer’s paradox - never thought about it minimizing friction when properly matching bow weight to arrow spine. I always figured when you test-fire, you know. But examining the physics helps one to understand high FOC (front of center) arrow physics. And as you know, the more physics you understand, the better your arrow selection and archery performance become. Ah sħǐť - you freaking rock, dude! Thanks for expanding my viewpoint in such an understandable way… 😎
What in the Deadliest Warrior is this? The editing and narration is so hokey. It's like a children's history picture book in film form.
Most folks aren’t as smart as you think you are. So the story is simplified, edited down to make an easily understandable video. They covered hundreds of years of history, 2 cultures of technology, multiple ways of measuring performance, cultural history, various training regimes, mythology, spirituality, and various styles of practice in less than 60 minutes. You want Cliff Notes? Go take kyudo lessons. Tell us how it goes…
Most folks are smarter than you think they are. The narration style is patronizing. You can make information accessible without speaking down to your audience.@@gregwein1
I do agree the Japanese craftsmanship on everything they do is second to none. But you cant down play how important and affective the English longbow was. It was hated by all who came against it. It can also peirce chainmail.🙏
Really good points to bring up! No doubt the longbow was a HUGE factor in military effectiveness. I think that is why they compared the longbow to the Japanese bow - there weren’t any other bows that could compare, unless you got into the Turkish/Native American composite horn/ligament bows… The English longbow ‘clouds of arrows’ strategy was incomparable/unmatched/peerless in its effectiveness. It created a combined machine gun and artillery impact on the battlefield that no other technology could even approach, let alone neutralize.
@@gregwein1 yes Greg your right,could you imagine being an enemy trying to storm an English castle with longbow arrows raining down on you. Don't fancy it myself.👍
Horses for courses, the English/Welsh longbow was a simply made artillery piece intended for foot soldier use, not a knights weapon. Having a bow draw weight of 80 to 160lbs, delivering heavy war arrows (two to three times the weight of modern hunting arrows) up to 300yds at a rate of 10 arrows a minute. When the archers' stock of arrows (typically 2 dozen) was exhausted he joined the rank of foot soldiers. Despite accuracy not being the ultimate requirement, when a youth was able to fell a squirrel at 100 paces he could enlist in the army, where the requirement became to deliver his arrows into a designated distant piece of ground over any terrain. Can you imagine advancing on foot to engage the enemy when flanked by up to 5,000 longbow archers delivering a steady (over 60,000 a minute) hail of war arrows which are far from spent by the time they reach you, as the French forces faced at Agincourt. Realistically, you need to survive a minutes at least in the kill zone before engaging the enemy. Consequently, it is understandable that the availability of suitable longbow staves (Yew preferred) and archery practice became a matter for royal decree and charter in 16th Century England. Needless to say, I could not even pass the enlistment entry requirement with my modern recurve today, let alone hit the "Cloth of Gold" at 240yds (as King Henry VIII did with12 arrows in 1520) with my longbow, no matter how hard I try. Incidentally one József Mónusa using a traditional English longbow shot a flight optimised arrow over 450 yds in 2017.
I hear the best way to test whether or not a yumi is more powerful than an English longbow is to use a longbow with 1/2 the draw strength of what was used historically.
Pretty sure it's used for a long shot
Historic japanese bows were heavier too. The difference in the test is that the japanese bow has a longer draw lenght tho, so ofc it performes better. For a real test they would have to shoot both same draw weight and lenght. The japanese bow would likely still win tho. The english longbow is a rather inefficient bow desing, similar to stone age bows from 10000 years ago. No chance against a composite recurve really. The reason the english made em like this was because its cheap. Minimal effort to make a decent bow from a natural spring. Dont get me wrong tho, I love those bows, im shooting english longbows for 22 years now.
Both stand-off weapons, but with different purposes and ranges. 🏴 Infantry with Rifles and hand mortars. 🇯🇵 cavalry with pistols or carbines. It’s an apples to oranges comparison.
Yes and no… the two styles were used in different very ways, but they tried to compare apples to apples in this video. The technology of the bows were caee re fully compared. But how they were used in the field were very different. And there is NO way to compare those - individual as l targets vs. sending clouds of arrows. You can’t compare them, and that is really what differentiates the 2 styles…
One question if I may! > Is it true that up until the mid/late XIXth century, the Japanese did not use screws to put together their firearms - they (basically from what I've read) assembled them like they were a sort "lego-blocks" - ONLY AT TIMES - reinforcing them with small "pins" that looked quite similar to rivets? PS. I've read that in a book describing the History of portable firearms (muskets, carabines, guns, pistols, etc). It was only during the Meiji period (when Japan started an extremely fast modernisation) that they adopted metal bolts and screws (...apparently...) ...?...
The draw weight of your tested bows has nothing to do with a real warbow. The Mary rose bows are around 160 lbs of draw weight. How much is a Japanese war bow. In my opinion it does not make for a historic relevant comparison if you shoot weak target bows that have nothing to do with their historic counterparts.
I doubt the samurai would want to withstand a barrage of longbow arrows. Just saying, the Japanese bow may be better overall but being on the business end of the English longbow will kill you just the same. While the lamellar type armor the Japanese used is pretty protective, it’s less so than the steel plate of the French knight and they still suffered greatly from the English longbow.
You need to add the Ottoman or Saracen bow to this comparison.
Shooting an arrow from a long, asymmetrical, recurve composite bow like Yumi while mounted is obviously hard. Most horse archer use a short bow for a reason. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is an awesome game.
Practice. Every tool gets better with practice.
Very interesting and well made docu.
The Japanese have a tradition of perfecting everything they do 💯
So, the Yumi arrow went roughly a foot into the gel aka 30cm, and the Long Bow went roughly 10 inches aka 25cm. The reason the Yumi went deeper is simple. It uses a longer arrow. We already know they travel at the same speed. Physics teaches us that if two objects are traveling at the speed and one of the objects is longer it will have a greater impact. If they have the same mass. Which from the look of them if they don't the Yumi arrow is heavier and that would also make it go deeper. Side note: both would go through any normal size human's thigh.
They wasted a perfectly good bucket there.
Someone who made this programme needs to read Dr Ed Ashby's work and learn about the difference between kinetic energy in flight and the momentum through the target after impact, also ballistic gel has proven to be an unsound medium in which to test arrow penetration as it acts nothing like an animal carcass in practise.
100% agree I shoot asiatic recurves and my Turkish and tatars bow outperform my longbow with the same weight arrows. On an elk I shot last year I went clean through the shoulder and back out the hip . Complete pass through with single bevel broadhead at 550 grains shot from a Turkish bow. 60lbs at 28
Cet arc est réputé pour être très encombrant malgré tout
the pound rating ?
0:41 3:23 left handed kyudo? 3:45 Showkyudo... 47:38 false aiming - look the arrow is left to the mato - false technique?
On horseback nothing beat the Mongol Bow you can shoot while attack and while retreating
I'm inclined to agree with you. However, I would like to see some historical evidence. Shorter bow is more maneuverable and can be carried easily than a longer bow.
@@tyronekim3506 i think the historical evidence is the scale of mongolian empire
@lukaslorenc Maybe so, however, the Mongols' attempt to conquer the Japanese failed.
@@tyronekim3506 They failed because of 2 typhoons wiping out their invasion force, not because they failed in combat. However, the combat that they did do vs Samurai, their written records show they had respect for the Samurai, as the fighting was fiercely matched.
23kg (50lb)n is a bit light for a longbow, the ones recovered from the Mary Rose were twice that, 90 - 110lbs (40 - 50kg) While the yumi was only used by Samurai the English longbow was used by everyone. Imagine a French knight facing 7000 archers at Agincourt. I have yet to see a yumi win against a conventional bow in any bare bow archery competition.
50lb can be used by someone who has little training and body strength. For a few looses at least. My recurve that I use not as often as I would like is 85lb and even that is ridiculously light compared to an English warbow.
@@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis Some English longbows were up to 180 lbs. They have found skeletons of archers with noticeably larger arm bones on one side of their body, indicating years of practice with progressively heavier bows.
Problem with the Mary Rose is those bows are not medieval.yumi reach up to 180 Ibs or higher,yumi also wasn't only use by the samurai. July 12, 2017 Wakyuu (和弓) - The Japanese Bow
Guy at the begining wore the armor flipped😂
I'm curious: Why do all of these archer samurai seem to be wearing tachi instead of katana? Are they basically reenacting characters from a period that predates the period of the katana? I like tachi!
Before Edo period (started around 1600s) main sword was tachi(simply longer katana) and during edo period katana's lenght was regulated by the law (katana's lenght must be 70.5cm ). If you watch accurate sengoku period movies you will see mostly tachis. edit: Also fighting on horseback requires longer sword so mounted archers would use tachi
@@mreba-bh9lrWow! Great response, informed and intelligent! I didn’t know all that… Thanks for sharing!
interesting, but I'm immediately suspicious when it says "the arrow is longer, and therefore heavier" ... since when is that a thing? Why could you not have just weighed the arrows and shown us which is heavier? Thickness comes into play, as well as the materials used to manufacture, so just saying "it's longer" doesn't really mean anything. They may well be heavier, but by not simply weighing the actual arrows and showing everyone it makes it feel deceptive.
I think you have trust issues. 😅 I've wooden arrors and bamboo, different vibe but broadly the same.
never heard of an longbowman in europe shooting an 50 lbs bow in a battle.. I also dont believe samurai did that.. Things do change quite alot with drawweight
While this is interesting and well done, I do think they should have used war bow draw weights for the long bow and a comparable poundage for the Japanese bow if there was one comparable
Fyi, the comparison here is a 50 pound Yumi vs Longbow, same draw weight for accurate comparison. In war times, the Longbows were typically 120 pounds, some were 150 pounds. Likewise in Samurai era, the WAR Yumi, had 3 layer of composite materials, and required 3 men to string, past surviving samples from temples & museums have been tested, and they have draw weights of 120 to 150 pounds. Surprisingly similar to English War Longbows. Modern Yumi are for archery practice & ceremonial, they are typically only 30 pounds draw weight, this is why there's a common myth that Japanese Yumi was weak. Historical records show it was not weak, it was the main killer in the field of battle.
And to add, when the Mongols invaded Japan, they were met with archers vs archers and horse archers vs horse archers, and their own records showed the Samurai put up a fierce fight. We know the Mongol composite bows were very capable weapons in battle.
It probly had so much power because of overall draw length and Bamboo arrows of coarse.
The katana & wakazashi swords were the symbol of authority of the samurais; even bumping into a samurai accidentally could lead to that persons immediate execution. The samurai's soul was said to inhabit his sword, I don't think the sword was "secondary" to the bow.
It would appear that everyone has forgotten the main component in this arsenal... A long bow capable of traversing the field of Azincourt? No, these riders relied on their dexterity and agility to outmaneuver their opponents... It rained that day... the field was muddy, but... I kept my promise and from this day onward
What made it so deadly is it was used against unarmed peasants. What also made it so deadly, to it's user, was the fact that rifles were the norm in the rest of the world at the same time.
No just no.
If I had to guess, I'd say it would be the arrows...
30:06 MY NAME!!! IS GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA!!! AS I BREATHE!!! YOU WILL NOT PASS THE CASTLE GATE!!!
Manchu bow is even more evloved than longbow and yumi
The Manchu and yumi are actually very similar to each other.
Interesting how they downplay the fact that the English long bow is actually accurate, effective, and deadly. The English would have developed some other way of killing if the Longbow didn't live up to expectations. They are equal weapons with slightly different uses, tactics, and cultural influences.
And the english war bow started from 80 pounds upwards
This I what I was thinking, it is a flawed test, the weights of arrows and power of bows are not contemporary, because they are the same here it is not how they would have performed at the time
English long bow will go through a car door, I have seen it happen. I own a Japanese bow, and it would nto go half way through it
@@bujinsakuraThen you own a very poor quality Japanese longbow. There is a reason that the Mongoms complimented Japanese bowmanship.
@michaelterrell5061 your reply shows me you need to go and study mongol and Japanese bows. There is a huge difference and power. When you have done that come back for a chat
"Sam-yoor-eye."
While I respect the Japanese bow and culture the comparisons this makes vs the english longbow is pretty bad imo. Fact is we have no surviving medieval English longbows so we have no idea if they were recurved at the tip or not after the concept moved westward with the crusades and mongols. Partly due to late industrialization, Japanese medieval history was retained to a greater degree.
5 centimeter is only 1.9 inches. So not really much different but say that when you get shot HAHAHAHA I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
9:15 Seems he put a little...English on it
The archer firing the English longbow seems to draw it far too easily for it to be anywhere near the draw weight of a 14th century English warbow. The Yumi seems.to be drawn holding the arrow in a pinch grip, something which would be impossible with a 120-150lb 14th century English longbow.
Discounting the mongol’s bow because their fleet sank during a storm, is like sport before black people can play
Why did mounted Japanese archers use long bows? Turkish/Mongilian tribes used smaller recurved bows that were powerful but did not interfere with their horsemanship and rapid arrow release.
Well we know English warbows we’re reflexes as well and had varying draw weights. Not sure this was an accurate comparison
Bruv English longbows were the truth and one huge reason why they became a world superpower
Yes, and the whole point of a longbow is that it didn't power from a measly 23 kg of draw strength -- but two or three times that. It took decades of strength-building for a mature yeoman to acquire the musculature to draw a full longbow.
A super power in the Middle Ages? 😂
I thought a true Yumi bow was made frome a single branch from a tree and asymmetrical and the arrow was drawn off center to make up for the change in thickness from bottom to top i think that's what the first Yumi bow was
Of course in reality the Yumi would be around 100lbs draw weight while the longbow pushed 150-200lbs You'd probably see similar performance between the two with the same weight arrows at the historical draw weights, especially when you consider most longbows were slightly recurve, and technique varied between individuals
Ooh, ooh, I know, I know -- the samurai, right?
What makes a bow deadly ? Any bow ? Simple. The archer. Why is so many different types of bows ? Different methods of fighting and different available materials. At the end is the man holding the bow, who kills, not the bow by itself.
Put the nock point in the same place as the Japanese bow.
Not really an accurate comparison, since the draw weight of a longbow was usually over 100 lbs
Yumi has to be the most silly looking bow ever. And I am skeptical about its power too
They were usually 30-55lbs. They were used to kill routed troops, and civilians in raids.
The fartpipe bow was the most lethal.
I'm gonna give up at "The Samurai sword is beyond compare".
It was not better or worse then the European ones, as is proven multiple times, only the way it was operated was different. Every topsword is made the same way with layered steal and different hardness at the core then at the cutting edge and every topsword is made with some kind of "magic" , it helps with his reputation. What also helps is rigorous quality control. Get rid of the bad ones and never let see a test on video where the sword brakes or bends.
@@harrybruijs2614'it' isn't a thing, they're taking about a katana while using inappropriate language for a history documentary.
@@Mupworphe top sword in mediëval Europe also wasn’t a thing. It was given a name and was revered.
You did the right thing bud, I've persevered to the end and they are talking about how revered the process is for making a Japanese bow and how it has to be made with the precise materials, well ANY good bow has to be. Plus they steadfastly refuse to mention the difference in poundage but the longbow looks like quite a low poundage.
Poor you! Where did the katana touch you huh?
Give me a korean bow over a ewe english long bow or japanese Yumi any day of week , and a set of good matched arrows , Short , light , fast , smooth , it ticks all the boxes
Why was the evil spirit depicted as Shrek?
The archer made it deadly
Sam-You-Rye?!?!
What made the bow so dangerous, erm that would be the sharp pointy bit on the front of the arrow. You say it was made to kill, well bows were design to kill.
🇦🇬 Sa-MU-Rai. MU, as in MOO, not MYU. 🙇🏾♂️
Imagine if the Japanese discovered the combustion engine! In what extraordinary way would it have developed?
Simmer down... The Japanese played at war while the real fighting was done on the continent.
@@snorcutter Your mind clearly scampered off in a completely different direction to mine. I was imagining along the lines of aesthetics and innovation rather than conflict.
@@peterfrance702 War drives innovation. I think there some kind of connection.
@@snorcutterokay get that crap way of thinking out of here both of them.
The amount of people who stopped watching after the words 23 kg draw weight is really disappointing. It's a friendly exhibition guys, this isn't an official archery competition.
But a 23kg draw weight longbow is something a child might use, crank the weight up to something that is vaguely realistic, like 80 pounds (36kg) and even that is borderline. From what i know the highest draw weight of a Yumi is about 80 pounds, so a comparison between a longbow would've been possible at that level, even though even 80 pounds is fairly light for a longbow.
@@robinburt5735 Have you ever drawn an 80lb bow (flat, or recurve)? It's not easy for most adults to do so. As long as both of the bows being compared have a similar draw strength and power stroke it's a fair comparison.
@@robinburt5735 80 pounds would be for a modern Japanese bow for sports such as yabusame and kyudo. (There is also a fair bit of evidence that 14th Japanese warriors were actually rather larger than their later descendants) Documented historical Japanese war bows have been pushing 200lbs draw weight
@@zenhydra 65 pounds was the biggest i have ever used and that was quite the struggle for me, but that was my first time holding an actual real bow.
@@robinburt5735 In my experience that is about the tipping point for draw weight, for most people. You obviously don't want to be straining at a full draw. Many people don't understand that most of a bow's drawing strength comes from the back muscles (or at should be). That's something you do see in this video in the use of the yumi. Without the cams of a modern compound bow, one has to exert the strength necessary for a full draw while aiming at a given target. The harder the draw weight, the stronger those back muscles need to be (and historically, there are many sources across various cultures depicting how those capable of using 100+ pound draw weight bows are proportioned compared to those who cannot.