Reading your links, the correction you made seems semantically insignificant. Yumi is the word for “bow” in Japanese and longbows describe bows that are long. Longbows are not unique to the English, and there are a lot of bows that can be described as longbows. So my point is, if samurais used yumis that are long (which some did) then saying they used longbows is not incorrect. Nevertheless, thank you for letting us know what the Japanese called their bows, it was educational.
Yes, there have been bows that are long, but not like the longbow. As you say, the longbow was used to shoot volleys, while the yumi could also be used on horseback. The longbow had a very heavy draw weight, around 90-120 lbs. That’s the weight you have to pull to get it at full draw. The yumi possibly had a a lower draw weight (although Korean and Mongolian and Turkish composite bows had draw weights of around 100 lbs as well, and they were mainly used on horseback). Again, the yumi has a shorter lower limb which meant it could be used on horseback (and it was) while there is no way a longbow could have. So the longbow and the yumi are very different technically.
Very interesting indeed. Thanks for sharing. I’m just pointing out that people are assuming “English Longbow” when saying “longbow”. Which, to be fair to these folks, the English Longbow is likely the most famous longbow in history. Nevertheless, even the Wikipedia page sourced above mentions that longbows existed in “many cultures” and there is a separate Wikipedia page for the English Longbow. This pushes me to conclude that there is a symantical difference between the two terms, “longbow” and “English Longbow” though many people assume the latter when the former is mentioned.
Reading your links, the correction you made seems semantically insignificant. Yumi is the word for “bow” in Japanese and longbows describe bows that are long. Longbows are not unique to the English, and there are a lot of bows that can be described as longbows. So my point is, if samurais used yumis that are long (which some did) then saying they used longbows is not incorrect. Nevertheless, thank you for letting us know what the Japanese called their bows, it was educational.
Yes, there have been bows that are long, but not like the longbow. As you say, the longbow was used to shoot volleys, while the yumi could also be used on horseback. The longbow had a very heavy draw weight, around 90-120 lbs. That’s the weight you have to pull to get it at full draw. The yumi possibly had a a lower draw weight (although Korean and Mongolian and Turkish composite bows had draw weights of around 100 lbs as well, and they were mainly used on horseback). Again, the yumi has a shorter lower limb which meant it could be used on horseback (and it was) while there is no way a longbow could have. So the longbow and the yumi are very different technically.
Very interesting indeed. Thanks for sharing. I’m just pointing out that people are assuming “English Longbow” when saying “longbow”. Which, to be fair to these folks, the English Longbow is likely the most famous longbow in history. Nevertheless, even the Wikipedia page sourced above mentions that longbows existed in “many cultures” and there is a separate Wikipedia page for the English Longbow. This pushes me to conclude that there is a symantical difference between the two terms, “longbow” and “English Longbow” though many people assume the latter when the former is mentioned.