S. Korea: Mounted Archers Training in a Mongol Plateau

muye24ki.com ^ | 08/04/06

[familyop]

rahbert wrote:
"The horses must be very well trained - noone seems to be holding a rein. Keeping ones seat at the gallop with no hands?"

TigerLikesRooster wrote:
"I suppose so. The rider and its horse may need to spend a lot of time together to get comfortable to each other."

Yes, the rider uses his knees for a little control of the familiar horse. It is best to exercise horses for such practice every day. Some riders can ride with hands free without saddles or bridles for fair distances.

[Dustbunny]

Neat !!!!

[curmudgeonII]

I was talking about Mongolia's communist era.:)

Thank you for the clarification. Having served in the Army during the Korean War I'm, perhaps overly, sensitive about this.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #83

Thank you for your service.

[Pride in the USA]

Yes, Hollywood is remaking Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, "Seven Samurai." It is being made by Harvey Weinstein and is only slightly updated according to press releases. Most of the fight scenes are done using CGI. Akira Kurosawa, on the other hand, always sought to achieve what he called "immaculate reality," which will not be accomplished using CGI. The mounted fight scenes in "Seven Samurai," many of which are shot close up, are nothing short of brilliant. For more really amazing mounted archery scenes in cinema, see Akira Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress" where famed Japanese actor (and Kurosawa's favorite leading man), Toshiro Mifune, does some amazing mounted archery work. He was a graduate of the Japanese archery school, Takeda School of Archery.

"The Takeda archery school was begun earlier by Minamoto Yoshiari in the 9th century at the command of Emperor Uda. This school became known as the Takeda school of archery. The Takeda style has been featured in classic samurai films such as Akira Kurosawas Seven Samurai (1954) and Kagemusha (1980). The famed actor of many samurai films, Toshiro Mifune, was a noted student of the Takeda school."

[lonevoice]

Great info, thanks! Kurosawa and Mifune. The world will probably never see the likes of their film magic again. There's a really well-done article about Japanese horseback archery here: Traditional Japanese horseback archery

Yabusame Ritual Mounted Archery

[SunkenCiv]