The hama yumi (
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Yumi-p1000624.jpg/170px-Yumi-p1000624.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Hama-ya%2CHama-yumi%2Ckatori-city%2CJapan.jpg/170px-Hama-ya%2CHama-yumi%2Ckatori-city%2CJapan.jpg)
According to legend; at that time, the Imperial Palace was taken over by an evil demon, which caused the Emperor to fall ill with great anxiety and suffering. When the Imperial High Priests tried and failed in their efforts to destroy the demon and dispel the Imperial household of its influence, they were at a loss. Finally, an archer, Minamoto no Yorimasa, was summoned to the Imperial Palace in the hopes of slaying the demon with his bow and arrow, ridding the palace of this plague.[2] With a steady hand and a virtuous heart, Yorimasa vanquished the demon with the first arrow, and his bow was declared to be a hama yumi, an "Evil-Destroying Bow" (and the first arrow a hama ya an "Evil-Destroying Arrow").
Since then, hama yumi have been used in Buddhist and Shinto rituals of purification (i.e., Shihōbarai,
As a result, hama ya (
Hama-yumi replicas are scale versions of the sacred Japanese bow, coated with urushi, wrapped in fine rattan and accented in gold leaf. They are displayed in a stand, along with two arrows tipped with yanone (traditional warrior tips); one representing male and the other female, yin and yang (vermilion signifying male energy (yang), and black representing female energy (yin)).
See also
edit- Apotropaic magic
- Omamori
- Ofuda (
御札 /お札 ) - a paper charm - Azusa yumi (
梓弓 ) - a bow made from the wood of the Japanese cherry birch tree (Betula grossa) - Saigū-yumi (
祭 宮 弓 ) - a ceremonial bow
References
edit- ^ "Zenko.org". Archived from the original on 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
- ^ Kyudo.org Archived 2007-02-20 at the Wayback Machine