Shooting from a moving horse.

An archive of mounted archery: where it came from, and who still rides today.

A Timurid drawing of a mounted archer with bow drawn, galloping to the right — Timurid drawing of an Ilkhanid horse archer, early 15th century. Image credit ↗

Interview

Why they started.

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Mounted archery was never one tradition. Different regions built different techniques around the same basic problem: hitting a target from a moving horse.

A historical painting of a Mongol mounted archer

History

Where mounted archery came from, and how it spread.

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A Turkish traditional bow displayed beside two arrows

Warfare

What made a mounted archer dangerous.

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A yabusame rider drawing a traditional bow on horseback in Zushi

Legacy

How a battlefield skill became ritual and sport.

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Line drawing of the forward shooting form, Fen Zong She

Technique

How the Three Forms and Yishi She approach the moving shot.

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An illustrated manuscript page with a mounted archer and handwritten text

Reference

The sources behind these pages, and what they can’t tell us.

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Three forms

The three forms are described in the Ming-dynasty archery manual Shishu (射书) by Gu Yu.

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Fen Zong She historical illustration — **Fen Zong She 分鬃**parting the mane · forward

Dui Deng She historical illustration — **Dui Deng She 对镫**toward the stirrup · left

Mo Qiu She historical illustration — **Mo Qiu She 抹鞦**brushing the crupper · rear

Line drawings of the three forms; source unverified. Reference ↗

The author riding a brown horse with a traditional bow in an open field

Technique

Yishi She (意识射)— instinctive shooting

Yishi She (意识射) means shooting by instinct rather than by conscious aim: the rider identifies the target and releases before there is time to aim deliberately.

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About the author

Zhikai Lai

I am a competitive horseback archer listed in the IHAA world rankings. I filmed the interview on this site and conducted the conversations myself. The museum photographs and the modern riding photographs are mine.