Sport of the samurai still thrives in Japan It is about as far from the Olympic sport of archery as it can get. The bow is taller than the person shooting it, and, to the uninitiated, it appears lopsided and unbalanced. There are no sights, no high-tech stabilizers. And it is done on horseback, at upward of 40 mph. It's called yabusame, and it is the sport of the samurai. Each year, archers in feudal shooting gear climb atop their decorated mounts for a competition on the beach of Zushi, a town just south of Tokyo, galloping in the sand as thousands of onlookers cheer and shout. The first competition was held here in 1199. The scene is like something out of a movie by the great Akira Kurosawa. Banners mark the beginning and end of the shooting runway. Little boys in bright robes and black hats scamper about collecting the arrows and the debris from the wooden or clay targets destroyed by each hit. "There is nothing like this outside of Japan," said Ietaka Kaneko, who heads the Japan Equestrian Archery Association and the Takeda School of Horseback Archery, which traces its origins back more than 800 years. The targets, held about seven feet aloft on small poles or scaffoldings, are roughly the size of a mounted opponent's chest. There are three along the runway, which is 165 yards long, giving the archer just enough time to raise his bow, load and shoot three times -- all the while spurring on his horse. (pe.com, Jan 04) Link: http://www.pe.com/thingstodo/other/stories/PE_News_Local_S_samurai04.2b50bdf.html