Samurai as Archers

Until the introduction of guns, the best (and only) way to defend a castle at long distance was with bows and arrows. The samurai bow was long, usually about 8 feet from tip to tip. It took years of practice and strengthening before a samurai could shoot an arrow reasonably well at its longest ranges. Even for battles away from the castle, the bow and arrow was the weapon of choice for the earliest samurai, who fought mostly on horseback. However, as patterns of combat eventually changed to a more hand-to-hand style, the bow and arrow became seen as an inconvenience and eventually faded from use on the battlefield.

There is no shortage of accounts describing the legendary feats of samurai archers. The most legendary figure of all may perhaps be Minamoto Tametomo, who participated in the events leading up to the 1180 Gempei War. Aside from being a cunning strategist, Tametomo was reportedly over 7 feet tall, and had a bow arm four inches longer than the other arm. This meant that he could (and did) shoot arrows that were four inches longer than those of the common man. After having the tendons in his arm removed (to disable him from ever firing any more arrows) and being exiled in 1164, he returned six years later with a healed arm and a mind for vengeance. His old foe sent out several ships full of soldiers to defeat Tametomo and his army once and for all. As the ships approached, Tametomo fired an arrow directly at the hull of one of them, just above the waterline. The resulting hole caused the boat so sink, killing many of the 300 on board. Pleased with this result, Tametomo then retired to his home and performed the first recorded act of seppuku (ritual suicide) to preserve his honor in death.

Most of the fighting in Japan was done with the bow and arrow until the Mongol invasions changed the Japanese outlook on combat. From that point on, swords and spears became more commonly used.