During this period archery became a 'voluntary' skill, practiced partly in the court in ceremonial form, partly as different kinds of competition. There was an extended era of peace during which the samurai moved to administrative duty, although the traditional fighting skills were still esteemed. By the time of the 1598 invasion of Korea, samurai were armed almost exclusively with matchlock muskets and swords, having abandoned the yumi.ĭuring the Tokugawa period (1603–1868) Japan was turned inward as a hierarchical caste society in which the samurai were at the top. The tanegashima was far more powerful than the yumi and also did not require as much training, allowing Oda Nobunaga's army consisting mainly of farmers armed with tanegashima to annihilate a traditional samurai cavalry in a single battle in 1575. The yumi, however, would continue to be used alongside the tanegashima for a period of time because of a lack of sufficient numbers of firearms, something samurai repeatedly complained about during the Imjin War. The Japanese soon started to manufacture their own version of the matchlock called tanegashima and eventually the tanegashima and the yari (spear) became the weapons of choice. The yumi (Japanese bow) as a weapon of war began its decline after the Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543 bringing firearms with them in the form of the matchlock. Many new schools were formed, some of which, such as Heki-ryū Chikurin-ha, Heki-ryū Sekka-ha and Heki-ryū Insai-ha, remain today. In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his new and accurate approach called hi, kan, chū (fly, pierce, center), and his footman's archery spread rapidly. Civil war įrom the 15th to the 16th century, Japan was ravaged by civil war. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū ( Ogasawara Nagakiyo), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery). The Takeda-ryū and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū were later founded by his descendants. This led to the birth of the first kyūjutsu ryūha (style), the Henmi-ryū, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu in the 12th century. The changing of society and the military class ( samurai) taking power at the end of the first millennium created a requirement for education in archery. The first written document describing Japanese archery is the Chinese chronicle Weishu (魏書 dated around 297 AD), which tells how in the Japanese isles people use 'a wooden bow that is short from the bottom and long from the top.' Emergence

The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period (ca. The beginning of archery in Japan is, as elsewhere, pre-historical. In the hospital, Jim learns that a young man was injured, and a teenaged girl died.A Japanese archer with targets. As he reaches for a bottle of booze under the seat, he slams into an oncoming car. But Jim loses track of time, (and the number of beers he’s had), and proceeds to get behind the wheel of his car, where he hopes to speed back in time to see Julie off on her big night. He tells his friend Lou that he can’t stay at the bar long tonight, because his daughter Julie is turning 16 that very day, and going out on her first date.

'Julie’s Sixteenth Birthday tells the story of Jim, a guy who hangs out in bars, and enjoys a drink, or two, a little more than he should.

Instead the album has been singled out as the best of the worst – not for Bult’s singing abilities, but for its unfortunate cover art.' 'His one and only LP, Julie’s Sixteenth Birthday should have been his calling card to country music stardom. John Bult John Bult - Julie's Sixteenth Birthdayĭiscogs tells the story of this album best:

Way of the samurai 1 cover art