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Man hit by arrow while walking in garden in Ibaraki

25 Comments

A man was struck by an arrow while walking in a garden alongside an archery ground in Inashiki, Ibaraki Prefecture, police said Sunday.

According to police, the incident happened at Potiron no Mori farm which is part of Edosaki Agricultiural Park, at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. TBS reported that a 33-year-old man was strolling in a garden when an arrow came flying over a fence from the archery ground and struck him in his right arm. The man was taken to hospital but released later Saturday with only minor injuries, police said.

According to park officials, the arrow came from a beginner who was learning the basics of archery.

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25 Comments
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Looks like someone clearly doesn't have the natural ability for archery .

8 ( +11 / -2 )

I like kyudo and I practice it once a week but I am often surprised that people forget that it is a martial art and a dangerous one at that. Poor guy, walking in the wrong place at the wrong time. Odaijini!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Poor guy, walking in the wrong place at the wrong time. Odaijini!

I agree with the wrong place and wrong time but this from the park is inexcusable.

According to park officials, the arrow came from a beginner who was learning the basics of archery.

Pray tell why the park did not have safety measures in place to prevent this from happening? There is an archery range in one of the public parks here and the walls are plenty high enough that errant shots would never go over them. The park needs to be held accountable for this accident.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

the arrow came from a beginner who was learning the basics of archery.

It seems he mastered it pretty quickly.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Pray tell why the park did not have safety measures in place to prevent this from happening? There is an archery range in one of the public parks here and the walls are plenty high enough that errant shots would never go over them. The park needs to be held accountable for this accident.

Wow, what a western point of view. Chances are he'll sue no one - not the park not the beginner archer - no one. That's the way it should be. People make mistakes. Let it be.

1 ( +12 / -11 )

At least the guy who was hit has something interesting to tell his co-workers on Tuesday.

Co-worker 1: "Hey man, what did you do during GW?"

The Guy: "I took an arrow to the arm while walking around muh garden."

8 ( +9 / -1 )

The comments Would have been Much different had the person been killed or hurt for life.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

He was in the right place. The arrow was in the wrong place.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Moving targets are much harder to hit

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Good thing it didn't hit him in the knee!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Maybe someone should suggest this individual switches hobbies to tiddlywinks or something....

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Wow, what a western point of view. Chances are he'll sue no one - not the park not the beginner archer - no one. That's the way it should be. People make mistakes. Let it be

Where does Yubaru mention ANYTHING about suing??! And since when has basic safety concerns only been a "western" point of view? Yes, they got "lucky" this time and the guy took a shot in the arm. What if a child had taken a shot to the head? Woud that have been a "mistake"? If the arrows can get out of the compound, safety is a serious issue.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I have to agree that this could have been a tragedy. Archery ranges in Japan are pretty lax about safety. I have a friend who does Western style archery and they practice at a local school's archery butts... which are right next to the sports fields, with just a chain-link fence separating people on the left practising with a deadly weapon from people on the right playing baseball. I pointed out that at least some wooden boarding would be a good idea and the archer's response was, "Just don't miss".

I was also struck by how casual some of the archers are, going to retrieve their arrows when someone is still firing at a target just two over from them.

If this was a gun range it would not be allowed, and I think that the similar standards should apply to prevent accidents. It wouldn't be prohibitvely expensive since some fine chicken wire covered by shade cloth would kill 90% of the momentum of an arrow, and archery butts could be covered quickly and easily.

For a point of comparison look at the local driving range and you'll see that they are tented a couple of stories high to prevent golf balls from escaping.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's easy to speak when you're not the one being hit. The park should place more safety measures to protect the public.... Lesson learned.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I agree, safety measures should of been well thought out for things like this. But I'm not surprised about the bad location spot. I took a trip to Pataya, Thailand and went to an Elephant zoo where you could ride and feed them. What was right next to it? A gun range with a hack job of a brick wall where the targets are set.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Lesson number one in archery, please point arrow in the direction of target.

Lesson number two, please do not let go of arrow until you are certain it is pointed at target.

Lesson number three, if you still cannot hit target, worse if you actually hit innocent bystander, consider a much safer hobby.

Meanwhile say you are sorry to unintended victim and see that he gets necessary medical aid.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Christopher, it's obvious you know nothing about kyudo. the arrow can be pointed at the target, and one can still miss by a few meters, only because your left hand did not do it's job.it is very common for beginners to hit the side walls of the shooting ground, even if the initial aim seems perfect. The kyudojo protection against stray arrows must be reinforced.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Not in the least surprised by this health and safety screwup. Potiron no Mori has one of those little road trains you see all around the Med. Unlike Europe, they needlessly leave the engine idling at the 'station' belching diesel fumes over the waiting children. Nice..

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Are the grounds (the sky over the archery area) fully enclosed with protective mesh, etc? If not, then the owners are negligent and this was bound to happen sooner or later.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It is usually safe and most places have well-established safety procedures. The problem is if you put someone new in there, they usually make mistakes. The sky over the archery area is never covered, and never fully enclosed but with enough practice, I hardly ever see people getting hurt, usually just forearms getting struck when shooting or someone forgetting to account for their glasses. Newbies spend a lot of time hitting very large targets about a quarter of the distance first, then they increase the distance to a half, then three-quarters and usually, by then, they are ready to hit a smaller target. Where I practice, this progression takes a few weeks.

We usually ask that new members stay in the middle of the shooting area to make sure that they have enough space on both the left and the right to allow for mistakes. Arrows going up are not usually a problem since the roof of the target area is very high and I have never seen someone shoot over that area. By the time they touch an arrow and let it loose, they have already spent a lot of time with the bow, practicing the shooting forms.

Ebisen is quite correct in saying that you can miss even when doing everything the right way. And it is surprisingly difficult for some to muster enough power to shoot the arrow all the way to the target the first few times.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Poor guy, imagine if it hit a kid in the neck.... Something has to be done to protect people in the park.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Is there, or should there be, bow-control regulation in Japan?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

that reminded me of a student being pierced by javelin in a sports field, i hope he/she is ok by now. god speed

0 ( +0 / -0 )

anyone else read the whole thing to check if he was hit in the knee?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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