Overview 概要
- The archery competition of Sanjusangendo is called “Toshiya.”
- In 2025 , it takes place on Jan. 12.
- Photos BANNED.
- It is famous for female archers in Kimono but it also has Men’s and Master’s matches. About 2,000 competitors shoot arrows.
- Toshiya has about 600 years of history.
The ladies in Kimono
Women’s match is the most popular because they are in beautiful Haregi Kimono.
Haregi is an outfit for important occasion like wedding ceremony. The archers of Toshiya are in it because they celebrating a coming of age.
The bows they use are the longest one in the world. Even in Samurai archery called Kasakae or Yabusame, archers use ones in nearly the same length. (Actually, the length of bow depends on height of archers.)
Enjoy the videos, BAAH!
The seats 鑑賞スポット
In 2025, the competition was not open to us.
No photos and video allowed.
If you wanted to take photos like this, be around the red alien in the map.
Under the roof, archers shoot arrows. If not crowded, you might see the targets (They are indicated in the green line in the map.).
This is a popular seats to see the archery. The blue line in the map. Under the roof, there are 4 or 5 benches.
You can have a good view of the competition in 1. There is rule to sit on the benches:Wait in line to be there.Be on the 4.Some minutes later, security person urge people to move. Move to the 3.In this way, you are on the 1 in the end.
Time schedule 当日のタイムスケジュール
Date: 12th January, 2020/Reiwa 2 at Sanjusangendo
- 7:45 Opening ceremony
- 8:00 The Master archer shoots an arrow
- 8:30 Men’s
- 10:50 Women’s
- 13:50 Master’s
- 15:00 Final match
Many competitors shoot arrow and the hours indicated will be delayed. Women’s match is the most popular as indicated before.
The competition 通し矢のルール
Preliminary match 予選
Sanjusangeno is about 130 yards in length. Archers aim at targets about 65 yards ahead. The archers shoot arrows form north to south though they did in the opposite direction.
The targets except for the masters are about 40″ in diameter. The ones for the masters are about 30″.
In the video, you see 5 or 6 archers but there are 12 competitors. They shoot 2 arrows.
If they could shoot 2 targets, they would be in the final match.
The final match 決勝
Archers aim at a targets about 65 yards ahead.
The targets except for the masters are about 31″ in diameter. The ones for the masters are about 20″.
The final match is a tournament.
Let us learn about a history of Toshiya archery in the next page!
