Japanese Archery "Kyudo" Day

September 10th annually is Japanese Archery "Kyudo" Day. "Kyudo" is the Japanese for archery. The date was chosen as a pun on the 9th month, 10th day -  9 can be read "kyu" and 10 can be read "do"(doe) in Japanese: Kyudo. The anniversary was established by the director of Ikai Kyugu ten that sells and manufactures archery equipment in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture.

The purpose of Kyudo Day is to promote this traditional martial art of Japan. In 2015 "kyudo day" went viral on Twitter. As a result, the following year, 2016, they held an exchange archery event to commemorate the day.  The company that established the anniversary strives to convey both the tradition and the fun of archery. They have been coming up with initiatives aimed at popularizing and developing kyudo archery. 

In my own prefecture of Saitama, there are several places you can play archery. Even my local park has a kyudo archery range, called a kyudo dojo in Japanese. There is a beautiful one in the Saitama Prefectural Martial Arts Center (Budoukan) in Ageo city , where you can watch people practising archery from outside. You can try kyudo archery in several places around Japan including sports centers and theme parks such as Edo Wonderland. Have you ever tried it?