When you go out into the town in Takayama in the evening, let’s visit Hankyudojo(半弓道場). “HAN(半)” means half (The distance to the target is half of standard one) and “KYUDO(弓道)” means traditional Japanese archery.
That is to say, the shop is a small Japanese archery training room.

Hankyudojo is along Ichibangai street (一番街) which has a lot restaurants and bars. Once upon a time, the bow was an important weapon of the samurai(侍) warrior in Japan. Kyudo is one of the ancient Japanese martial arts and values propriety and mental concentration.

The sign and the interior of the training room

After you pay JPY300, you will choose 10 arrows. You can get advice from the staff which arrows are the best for you. Then, you will put Yugake (gloves) on your hand.

You can choose your favorite arrows.

You will shoot arrows with sitting. It may be very hard to hit the target for the first time, but never give up. The more you try, the better you do. The feeling must be so refreshing when you hit the target. If you hit in the middle of the target and get the highest score, your name will be hung on the wall as other challengers on the picture.