Rod Pavez wrote:
>Hi there everybody:
>I've got a question. I just had a look through one of the photoalbums
>for this forum and came across something called a whistling arrow.
>What exactly was the purpose of this?
>
>
Kaburaya (whistleing arrow) ia a sort of arrow whose tip has hollow
whistle made with hard stuffs like antler and a kind of magnolia. It
was originally used to scare quarries by hunters and in Heian and
Kamakura era, when riding archers had tactical importance, war was
begun with shout and exchange of kaburaya shooting. Gradually
riding archers had given its importance to infantry, kaburaya dissaperaed
in Muromachi era.
Nowadays, kaburaya is used in Yabusame that is samurai mounted
archery rite dedicated to some shintou shrines.
*Kaburaya
http://www2.odn.ne.jp/yabusame-fg/karimata.jpg
*Yabusame
http://www.shonan134.com/kamakura/yabusame/yabusame.html