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<blockquote data-quote="gamerprinter" data-source="post: 5348755" data-attributes="member: 50895">While having witnessed Japanese mounted archery contests, while in Japan, those contests usually entailed shooting at targets in relatively short range.Still historically its been recorded of mounted archers hitting small targets at great range - so impossible? I'm none too sure about that.There's a story from the Genpei War. After having defeated the Taira at their castle of Yamashiro on Shikoku by the Minamoto forces, the main Taira army managed to escape the castle cut round the back to a secret harbor and escaped Minamoto destruction. However the ships were barely in the water when Minamoto archers at shore began mowing the men of the decks. Almost out of reach, mostly for a ploy, someone on one of the Taira ships hoisted a folding fan up the main mast. A folding fan opened is about the size of human face, so was a typical target used for archery practice.The Taira hope was that that Minamoto would stop attacking them, and aim for the target as some kind of challenge. It worked. One of the Minamoto archers went at full gallop into the shallow waters of the sea, and loosed an arrow at the target fan, hitting and destroying it.For such a remarkable shot both the Taira on the ships and Minamoto on the shore cheered at the accomplishment. Which is cool in the recognition of the formidable archery skills of that one samurai, even from his enemies.Both a cool story, and suggests that firing a bow at great range from horseback with appropriate training is more than possible.Something about controlling one's breathing, and firing at the apex of a gallop when the rider is riding at the highest point - which is when the arrow is loosed.GP</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gamerprinter, post: 5348755, member: 50895"] While having witnessed Japanese mounted archery contests, while in Japan, those contests usually entailed shooting at targets in relatively short range. Still historically its been recorded of mounted archers hitting small targets at great range - so impossible? I'm none too sure about that. There's a story from the Genpei War. After having defeated the Taira at their castle of Yamashiro on Shikoku by the Minamoto forces, the main Taira army managed to escape the castle cut round the back to a secret harbor and escaped Minamoto destruction. However the ships were barely in the water when Minamoto archers at shore began mowing the men of the decks. Almost out of reach, mostly for a ploy, someone on one of the Taira ships hoisted a folding fan up the main mast. A folding fan opened is about the size of human face, so was a typical target used for archery practice. The Taira hope was that that Minamoto would stop attacking them, and aim for the target as some kind of challenge. It worked. One of the Minamoto archers went at full gallop into the shallow waters of the sea, and loosed an arrow at the target fan, hitting and destroying it. For such a remarkable shot both the Taira on the ships and Minamoto on the shore cheered at the accomplishment. Which is cool in the recognition of the formidable archery skills of that one samurai, even from his enemies. Both a cool story, and suggests that firing a bow at great range from horseback with appropriate training is more than possible. Something about controlling one's breathing, and firing at the apex of a gallop when the rider is riding at the highest point - which is when the arrow is loosed. GP [/QUOTE]

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