is archery a martial art?

[yamesu]

Definitely a martial art by definition of the term martial art.

I don't think you would be killed before loading an arrow. In fact, there is a lot of mounting evidence that bows were used in short range combat quite effectively in battle.

And as for long loading times, check this guy out!!!!!!

The video also gives a little historical context.

[MAfreak]

you got it wrong, i mean for modern sports bows, it would take to long.

not for the classical ones where you don't fit the arrow on the string and don't lay it on a curve the (modern) bow has.

[yamesu]

A leaf rest, or a brush rest?

No doubt it is slower, but I train with a compound "sports" bow regularly, and while not nearly as fast as the video link above, it is not as slow, cumbersome, or limited in short range abilities as some might think.

[MAfreak]

maybe my enunciation is bad (english as my second language).

from what i saw the asian styles use classical bows where the arrow lies on the thumb. so its more difficult to aim but one can put an arrow fast on it.

the "western" sports bows have kind of, well what i've postet as a picture there, i just don't find the right words in english, so i post a video of what i mean:

"arrow rest" is he calling it. and since its on the opposite side of the bow it takes hell more time to load the arrow. no chance when riding a horse in a battle.

[lowereastside]

Hitting someone with a Frying Pan is Martial Arts.

[MAfreak]

definitely a good self-defense, especially if its hot or full of hot grease.

[yamesu]

Hitting someone with a Frying Pan is Martial Arts.

Only if you have trained "saucepan kata"

[Martial Matt]

haha okay it prepares us for the zombie apocalypse.

the asian bows are huge. i guess they can also be used as bo/long staff when it comes to close combat. but must be hard to aim, especially on moving targets, when its a classical bow without that arrow-fixing stuff.

http://fs5.directupload.net/images/160205/nlyfcr7h.jpg

also fixing the arrow takes some time, so in a battle, you would be killed, before you could load the arrow, i think.

Asian bows are like those of any other continent. Some of them are large, such as the Japanese bows, others are compact, like the Mongolian bow. Neither would be particularly good in place of a staff.

The bow in your picture is a modern style Traditional with both a shelf and rest. Those are more difficult to load quickly, yet classical bows had neither as the arrow lays against the riser and flies off the hand. Also, the absence of the knock point on the string for classical bows makes them faster to load.

A bow is much faster to load and reload than a crossbow ever dreamed of being. That "zombie apocalypse" scenario isn't realistic in that respect. A bow would provide a far quicker weapon to use.

[MatsuShinshii]

haha okay it prepares us for the zombie apocalypse.

the asian bows are huge. i guess they can also be used as bo/long staff when it comes to close combat. but must be hard to aim, especially on moving targets, when its a classical bow without that arrow-fixing stuff.

http://fs5.directupload.net/images/160205/nlyfcr7h.jpg

also fixing the arrow takes some time, so in a battle, you would be killed, before you could load the arrow, i think.

I highly doubt that the only bows used in Far East Asia were the long bows. I'm no expert, so I could be wrong.

Any war derived activity/sport/whatever you want to call it could be considered a martial art. But when I think of martial arts, I think hand to hand combat or very short range weapons such as 6ft bo, sword, etc.

Yes the Yumi is long but there are other asian countries that utilized the bow as well that were not long. The flight bow that the mongols used is a very condensed version that sends arrows flying great distances. Then you have the cross bows that the chinese utilized.

There are many versions of the Bow in Asian culture.

[Alan Armstrong]

If archery is a martial art, then that makes Robin Hood a martial artist.