Daibutsu, Kamakura

Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Otawara Archer

This statue is in the city of Otawara in Tochigi-ken. It is on a two-lane busy street near my in-laws house. I don't know the  background of this statue or who it is. Can anyone read the plaque on the base of the statue and tell me what it says? It is interesting that this archer is not in samurai attire so I am not certain what era it is supposed to be from or even if it is a warrior. The bow is a traditional bow used by samurai it appears. Samurai bows were asymmetrical. The samurai archer actually grasped the bow closer to the bottom rather in the middle of the bow. Some historians state one reason for this was that early bows were made from a single bamboo stalk that was narrower at the top, therefore the samurai grasped the bow lower on the wider and stiffer part of the bow. Later, samurai used composite bows but they continued to grasp the bow lower near the bottom, maybe to keep the long bow from tripping them or their horse up.


6 comments:

  1. Nice picture. I love spotting statues like these around Japan. The start of the plaque says Yukio which is probably the persons name but the picture cuts off the rest of the plaque, so can't read the whole thing. It looks like the statue is in front of an Elementary School?

    Japan Australia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. I wish I had thought of taking photo of the plaque. Maybe next week when I'm there. It seemed like some sort of office or government building.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Koya no Yonoichi Zou (幸矢の与一像) statue to Nasu no Yoichi (那須 与一)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is the samurai Nasu no Yoichi who fought alongside the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yep, I think so. The statue celebrates to the famous arrow of the battle of Yashima.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have good eyes island4jp.

    ReplyDelete