Tōshiya
Encyclopedia
The or the arrows which hit the target, was an archery
exhibition contest
held on the west veranda
of Sanjūsangen-dō
temple in Kyoto
, Japan
.
named Asaoka Heibei is said to have shot 51 arrows in rapid succession down the length of the veranda. In the beginning, archers fired arrows from the southern end of the veranda to the northern end where a curtain
-like ornament was erected as a target
. The contest gained popularity during the Edo period
and by the late 17th century competitions between participants from the Owari
and Kishū provinces were drawing big crowds. The Tōshiya would later be used as a motif
in stories and film.
There were four distinct events at the competition:
Champions were honored by having a certificate hung in the temple showing their name, age, the number of arrows fired and the date of the competition.
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
exhibition contest
Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
held on the west veranda
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
of Sanjūsangen-dō
Sanjusangen-do
is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama District of Kyoto, Japan. Officially known as "Rengeō-in" , or Hall of the Lotus King, Sanjūsangen-dō belongs to and is run by the Myoho-in temple, a part of the Tendai school of Buddhism. The temple name literally means Hall with thirty three spaces between...
temple in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
History of the contest
The contest originated in the late 16th century dating back to 1606 when a samuraiSamurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
named Asaoka Heibei is said to have shot 51 arrows in rapid succession down the length of the veranda. In the beginning, archers fired arrows from the southern end of the veranda to the northern end where a curtain
Curtain
A curtain is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières...
-like ornament was erected as a target
Bullseye (target)
The bullseye, or bull's-eye, is the centre of a target , and by extension the name given to any shot that hits the bullseye...
. The contest gained popularity during the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
and by the late 17th century competitions between participants from the Owari
Owari Province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture, including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū .-History:The province was created in 646....
and Kishū provinces were drawing big crowds. The Tōshiya would later be used as a motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
in stories and film.
There were four distinct events at the competition:
- The The archer who hit the target with the most out of 100 arrows was declared the winner.
- The The archer who hit the target with the most out of 1000 arrows was declared the winner. In 1827, an 11 year old named Kokura Gishichi successfully hit the target 995 times firing from half the distance of the hall.
- The Boys who had not yet celebrated their GenpukuGenpukuor genbuku was an historical Japanese coming-of-age ceremony. The etymology is atypical; in this case means "head" and means "wearing". The ceremony is also known as , , , , and ....
, or coming-of-age ceremony, could compete in this event. Archers would fire as many arrows as possible for a 12 hour period during the day. In 1774, the third year of the An'ei era, Masaaki Noro, a 13 year old from Kishū, fired 11,715 arrows with almost all of them hitting the target. - The This event is said to date from the KeichōKeichowas a after Bunroku and before Genna. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:* 1596 : The era name was changed to Keichō to mark the passing of various natural disasters...
era. Archers would fire as many arrows as possible for a 24 hour period, firing an average of 10,000 arrows. On April 26, 1686, Wasa Daihachiro from Kishū successfully fired 8,133 out of 13,053 arrows averaging 544 arrows an hour, or 9 arrows a minute, and became the record holder.
Champions were honored by having a certificate hung in the temple showing their name, age, the number of arrows fired and the date of the competition.