Utou Yabusame tournament in Gapo Japan

Sunday the 10th Of October saw a team of 5 Australians invited to compete in a traditional Yabusame tournament on the beach of Gauto Park in Aomori Japan. This event, in its 15th year, was heralded by the organisers as an Australia verses Japan tournament. The Australian team rose to the challenge with Norbert Hein placing second and Amelia Strivens and Jim Gaynor placing equal third.

For this international horse archery tournament we were given our horses by the event organisers. We got the opportunity to ride the horses for a short while on the Saturday to get used to them. In the meantime we watched and waited for the oncoming typhoon to hit the beach we were to compete on. It was then back to the traditional Onsen where we stayed during the competition to get warm and dry and enjoy a welcome dinner with the other competitor’s who had come from all over Japan to compete.

As the impending typhoon was due to hit the day of the tournament we waited for an assessment from the organisers the morning of the competition to confirm that it would be safe to go ahead. Once we were given the all clear we were able to warm up our horses before the opening ceremony. Simone Monaghan was the Australian flag bearer and Stephen Lawson from Australia was given the honour of firing a whistling arrow down the track and officially beginning the competition.

The Australian team consisted of:

Stephen Lawson an Australian competitor who is also a permanent resident of Japan. After meeting his Sensei, Tachibanano Kimishige, at the ranch 11 years ago he began training in Tachibana-ryu Yabusame, which involved learning kyudo and equestrian techniques. Yabusame requires correct yumi technique to be performed precisely, which makes kyudo an essential element of the ritual. He aims to keep the traditional elements of the practice in his uniform and equipment, preferring to use hand-made equipment where possible. Stephen placed second in this event last year and was the highest placed Australian in 2017’s Aomori tournament.

Jim Gaynor is a horse archery coach from Far North Queensland and former Aomori resident. He competes in Horse Archery also using a traditional Japanese yumi bow and Kyudo techniques. Jim learnt the art of horseback archery through the Aomori Joba Club Riding school and has competed at this event for 10 years.

Norbert Hein a WA resident and runner up in the Australian national championship in Horse Archery in 2016. Norbert took up horse archery back in 2014 and has proven himself to be a consistent competitor in the sport today also competing in the World Championships in South Korea in 2017.

Amelia Strivens is an 18yo competitor from Far North Queensland. Amelia previously held the Australian JR National title for two consecutive years before entering the open ranks. Amelia had set attending this competition as her goal for 2018 and has been training regularly in preparation for the tournament. Amelia will be demonstrating horse archery at Equitana after winning the Equi-talent Competition this year.

Simone Monaghan is a NSW resident and current President of the Australian Horse Archery Association Simone has been competing in Showjumping and Eventing for most of her life and began horse archery for something different to do. She has been competing in the sport since 2016 and was excited to be attending her first international tournament and also enjoying her first trip to Japan.

This tournament has set a very high benchmark for the Australian competitors as the hosts treated us as friends and family and made us all feel at home, consistently going out of their way to make sure we were happy and comfortable. We would like to extend our thanks to the good people of Aomori who made this event possible and look forward to inviting them to Australia for a friendly tournament in 2018.

The team would also like to take the opportunity to thank Performa Ride and Guardian Horse Products for their support supplying uniforms for the team that were perfect in the ever changing weather.

For more information on Horse Archery go to http://horsearchery.com.au/ or contact Jim Gaynor on jimburpis@hotmail.com or check out @amelia.horse.archer and @australianhorsearcher on instagram.