Spring is on the way with flying arrows. Which proves that islanders living in Japan's Seto Inland Sea area don't just sit around doing nothing all day (well, not every day anyway). On March 6, Awashima Island (population 300) will host a Japanese archery festival called Momote, a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
Japanese archery, called kyudo (the way of the bow) has been around since Emperor Jinmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. He is always pictured holding a bow. According to ancient chronicles, Emperor Jinmu was born Feb. 13, 711 B.C. in what is now Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu. Before 711 B.C. was Japan's Age of the Gods. The emperor himself was a descendent of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess.
I figure Jinmu must have dropped out of mainstream god society to become emperor and create the Imperial throne. Perhaps he got an annulment. At any rate, I have no problem imagining that the Imperial family is descended from the Sun Goddess. It was all so long ago that it's like me saying I am the daughter of the stepson of the third wife of the fifth son of the King's horse twice removed.
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