Editing Cavalry (section)

====Japan====
[[File:Sakaotosi.jpg|thumb|upright|In the [[Battle of Ichi-no-Tani]], Japanese cavalry moving down a mountain-side]]
The [[History of Japan|ancient Japanese]] of the [[Kofun period]] also adopted [[Kofun period#Introduction of equine culture to Japan|cavalry and equine culture]] by the 5th century AD. The emergence of the [[samurai]] aristocracy led to the development of armoured horse archers, themselves to develop into charging [[lancer]] cavalry as gunpowder weapons rendered bows obsolete.  Japanese cavalry was largely made up of landowners who would be upon a horse to better survey the troops they were called upon to bring to an engagement, rather than traditional mounted warfare seen in other cultures with massed cavalry units.

An example is [[Yabusame]] (流鏑馬), a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed" arrows successively at three wooden targets.

This style of archery has its origins at the beginning of the Kamakura period. [[Minamoto no Yoritomo]] became alarmed at the lack of archery skills his samurai had. He organized yabusame as a form of practice.
Currently, the best places to see yabusame performed are at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura and Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto (during Aoi Matsuri in early May). It is also performed in Samukawa and on the beach at Zushi, as well as other locations.

Kasagake or Kasakake (笠懸, かさがけ lit. "hat shooting") is a type of Japanese mounted archery. In contrast to yabusame, the types of targets are various and the archer shoots without stopping the horse. While yabusame has been played as a part of formal ceremonies, kasagake has developed as a game or practice of martial arts, focusing on technical elements of horse archery.