Sanjusangendo Temple in Kyoto has always attracted Kyudo archery enthusiasts. It's the longest wooden building in Japan.

It's an interesting challenge to shoot an arrow from one end of the building to the other at it's 120 meters, or 390 feet, long.

In 1606, a Samurai gave a demonstration of his Kyudo prowess — shooting 100 arrows in rapid succession the entire length of the temple . He hit the target 51 times.

This famous story inspired an annual kyudo contest at Sanjusangendo Temple with events that resembled archery marathons:

Most target hits with 100 arrows.

Most target hits with 1000 arrows. The 11 year old boy who won the 1827 competition hit the target 995 times.

The number of target hits in 12 hours. The 1774 winner shot 11,715 times. That's an average of 16 arrows a minute for 12 hours with no break.

The number of target hits in 24 hours. The 1686 winner hit the target with 8,133 of 13,053 arrows he shot.

The Modern Competition

The modern competition is called Ohmato Taikai. It's a little less extreme.

The contest takes place on the second Sunday of January. That's the day before Coming of Age Day . The contestants are all 20 years old. There are also demonstrations by older, more experienced archers.

Each year, around 2000 archers participate. The targets are set 60 meters away. That's half the length of the temple.

The archers shoot in groups of six. There are only 4 targets. Each archer has two arrows and two minutes. Archers that hit the target with both arrows go on to the next round — the days of 13,053 arrows per archer are long gone.

Access

Sanjusangendo temple is a 3 minute walk from Kyoto Shiyakucho-mae Station.

View location in Google Maps

Schedule