Many kyudo beginners meet the gomu-yumi (ゴム弓, “rubber bow”) in the first weeks of practice. Many dojo and school clubs have new members repeat the shooting sequence with one before they are allowed to draw a real bow. Later, people who want to keep practising at home search for “the best gomu-yumi”.
The most useful thing to know before buying one is simple: a gomu-yumi is a tool for learning the form, not a substitute for the bow. If you keep that in mind, it is hard to choose badly.
What a gomu-yumi is
A gomu-yumi is a grip with a loop of rubber attached — nothing more. You hold the grip in your bow hand (yunde, the left hand) and hook the rubber with your right hand (mete), then go through the movements from raising the bow (uchiokoshi) through the draw (hikiwake) to full draw (kai).
Because no arrow is used, you can repeat the movement indoors in a limited space. It is also far cheaper than a bow or a glove.
What it trains — and what it does not
Separate these before you buy. If you expect a gomu-yumi to do something it cannot do, a different model will not fix that.
| Can be practised | Cannot be practised | |
|---|---|---|
| Torikake (hooking the string) | ✓ How the fingers are placed | The feel of the string seating in the glove’s string groove |
| Tenouchi (bow-hand grip) | △ The shape, if the grip is close to a real bow’s | The actual thickness and angle of a bow grip |
| Uchiokoshi to hikiwake | ✓ The path of the arms and left–right balance | Supporting the weight of the bow |
| Kai | ✓ The direction in which you extend | Holding your own bow’s draw weight |
| Hanare (release) | △ Whether to practise it depends on your teacher | An arrow leaving and a string returning |
| Yugaeri (the bow turning in the hand) | ✗ | A gomu-yumi is not built to turn |
A gomu-yumi is good for putting the order and direction of the movements into your body. The weight of the bow, the draw weight and the feel of the release can only be learned with a real bow.
Four things to check when choosing
1. The shape of the grip — do you want to practise tenouchi as well?
Some gomu-yumi have a plain, stick-shaped grip; others have a grip shaped and sized to resemble a bow grip.
- If you only want to practise torikake and the path of the draw, a plain grip is enough.
- If you also want to learn the shape of tenouchi, choose a grip closer to a real bow’s — it connects better with dojo practice.
Teachers differ in how they teach tenouchi, so ask your teacher to look at the grip once before you settle on one.
2. Rubber strength — too strong spoils the form
Some models let you choose the strength of the rubber. Do not assume that stronger means better practice.
Pulling rubber that is too strong tends to raise the shoulders or shorten the draw — you end up building, with the gomu-yumi, the very habits you will later need to correct with the bow. As with choosing a bow’s draw weight, the standard is a strength you can draw to kai while keeping the correct form.
3. Can the rubber be replaced? — rubber is a consumable
Rubber stretches with use, and as it ages fine cracks appear on the surface until one day it snaps. Check whether replacement rubber is available or whether the rubber alone can be changed; the tool will last much longer.
4. Where you will use it — you need the width of your open arms
During hikiwake both arms open wide to the sides. At home you need a place where your outstretched arms do not hit furniture or walls.
- In a room with a low ceiling, your hands may hit it at uchiokoshi.
- Practising in front of a full-length mirror lets you check your own left–right balance.
Check it before every use — rubber breaks
One accident to guard against is old rubber snapping in the middle of a draw.
- Before use, look all the way round the rubber for cracks, whitish discolouration or thinned spots.
- If you find a crack, replace the rubber that day.
- Never draw towards your face or towards other people.
- Always draw with the rubber on the outside. The All Nippon Kyudo Federation’s guide to equipment says: “When drawing, always draw with the rubber on the outside” (All Nippon Kyudo Federation, “Equipment”, in Japanese).
- Do not leave it in direct sunlight; that speeds up the ageing of the rubber.
Should you wear the glove?
If you are practising torikake, wearing your glove (yugake) and under-glove (shitagake) as you would in the dojo is the natural choice. But if you do not have your own glove yet, or you want to spare the glove, practice differs from dojo to dojo and teacher to teacher. Follow the policy where you train.
What an under-glove is and how many you need is covered in Shitagake: The Under-Glove, and looking after the glove itself in Yugake Care and Storage.
What comes after the gomu-yumi
Once the movements are stable, practice moves on to drawing a real bow without an arrow (subiki) and shooting at the straw target (makiwara). When you reach the point of choosing a bow of your own, Buying a Used Yumi explains what to look at in a second-hand bow.
A gomu-yumi is not something you graduate from and throw away. It can still be useful later on for re-checking your form; ask your teacher how they would like you to use it.
Where to buy one
Kyudo equipment shops carry them, and they are also sold online. The shape and thickness of the grip are hard to judge from a photo, so if you want to practise tenouchi, choose one in a shop where you can hold it, or borrow a senior member’s or your teacher’s gomu-yumi to try the grip first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I improve with a gomu-yumi alone? It teaches the order and direction of the movements, but not the weight of the bow, the draw weight or the feel of the release. It supports bow practice; it does not replace it.
Can I practise yugaeri with a gomu-yumi? No. Yugaeri is the bow turning under the force of the string, and a gomu-yumi does not have that structure. Forming the shape of tenouchi is as far as it goes.
How strong should the rubber be? Strong enough that you can reach kai with correct form and hold there briefly. If your shoulders rise or the draw stalls each time, it is too strong.
Is it useful for adults who started kyudo later in life? It can be. People who can only get to the dojo on a few days a week can keep repeating the form at home between practices.
When the rubber breaks, do I need a new gomu-yumi? If the rubber can be replaced on its own, replacing it is enough. Check that replacement rubber is available when you buy, so a snapped rubber does not stop your practice.
Summary
- A gomu-yumi teaches the form; it is not a replacement for the bow.
- It trains torikake, the path of the draw and the direction of extension in kai — not yugaeri, draw weight or the feel of the release.
- Choose by grip shape, rubber strength, replaceable rubber and the space you have.
- Rubber that is too strong builds the habits you will later have to undo.
- Check the rubber for cracks before use, draw with the rubber on the outside, and never towards a face or a person.
- Whether to wear the glove follows your dojo’s and teacher’s policy.
This page describes the general features of a practice tool. For how to use it in practice and how strong the rubber should be, your teacher’s guidance comes first.