Kyūdō
/kʲɯːdoː/noun
A Japanese martial art devoted to the disciplined practice of archery.
Did you know?Kyūdō developed from samurai archery and later absorbed spiritual and ethical ideals, but its popular identification with Zen is a modern interpretation rather than the word’s original meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Old Chinese
弓
“Bow; the weapon represented by the character later read as kyū in Japanese”
Ancient Chinese
Old Chinese
道
“Way, path, or method; the character later read as dō in Japanese”
8th Century
Classical Japanese
弓道
“A compound meaning the way or method of the bow; the characters entered Japanese literary usage through the Sino-Japanese tradition”
Medieval Japan
Japanese
kyūjutsu
“The technique or art of archery, the more practical term used for martial bow training”
Early 20th Century
Japanese
kyūdō
“The modern ideal of archery as a disciplined path of personal cultivation, increasingly replacing kyūjutsu in formal terminology”
Modern English
English
kyūdō
“A Japanese martial art and contemplative discipline centered on traditional archery”