Yabusame (Japanese Horseback Archery) at Meiji Shrine on Culture Day 流鏑馬

Yabusame is mounted archery that is both sport (martial arts) and religious ritual. The earliest samurai were mounted archers and Yabusame was a way to keep up their skills. In Shinto, Yabusame is done to entertain the gods in return for blessings or divinations of the future. November 3rd is a public holiday known as Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) and at Meiji Shrine in Harajuku they do Yabusame where they shoot at hardened paper targets and small clay pots.