All Posts

Japan's 8 Native Horse Breeds In yesterday's post I mentioned that Yabusame competition requires a Japanese native breed horse. That might surprise people — but Japan has a deep and ancient horse culture, and eight native breeds have survived to this day. Here they are. All eight — the Hokkaido (Dosanko), Kiso, Misaki, Noma, Taishu, Tokara, Miyako, and Yonaguni — aAll eight are believed to descend from small horses introduced from continental Asia via the Korean Peninsula bet

A samurai rider gallops down a straight track, raises a bow with both hands off the reins, and hits a wooden target with a single arrow — this is Yabusame. Yabusame Competition A Tradition Over 1,000 Years Old Yabusame's origins go back to ancient battlefields, where mounted archery was a core military skill. It was created as a competition for samurai to sharpen those skills — accuracy with a bow, and mastery of the horse. In competition, riders shoot three arrows in rapid s