弓道 kyūdō Kyudo

弓道 is Japanese archery as a martial art: shooting arrows with a bow, and the forms of conduct that go with it. The characters say the way of the bow. The word is far older than the art's name. In 1675 it headed a chart of the schools of the bow. The period's texts mostly called the art itself 弓術, kyūjutsu, the technique of the bow. A sword treatise of 1729 gives the archer's practice under this word: draw to the full, loose with no mind, and quietly lower the bow. The modern name came from below: school clubs took it from 1909, the archers' society in 1919, and the newspapers had made the change by 1930.

The Japanese word 弓道 meaning "Kyudo" is composed of the kanji 弓 (read kyū) meaning "bow" (as in "bow and arrow") and 道 (read dō) meaning "the way; teachings".

弓道 is attested in Edo titles from 1675 and in prose from 1712, for a school's or a teacher's way and for the schools together, while the art was called 弓術; school clubs took the name from 1909, the archers' society 大日本弓道會 registered it in June 1919, a motion for it was put to the Dai Nippon Butokukai in July 1919, and the newspapers had settled on it by 1930.

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