Abstract: Kyudo, as an art of archery popular in the world, has been regarded as a typical example of Eastern culture that integrates tradition, aesthetics, sportsmanship, and mysticism. However, this paper combines historical empirical research with Marxist cultural criticism theory to thoroughly reflect on the foundation of Kyudo, arguing that: (1) Kyudo is not a constant tradition but an invention of the Meiji elites. It carries the strong ideology of “national iconization” and combines the strategies of “Orientalism” and “Occidentalism”; (2) The reason why Kyudo has become a culturally influential phenomenon internationally includes the need for spiritual healing in the “one-dimensional age”, the clamor of mystics and cultural hippies, and the radical symbolic production behavior in the post-Fordist era. Given that the monolithic narrative of modern Kyudo has long deviated from the diverse cultural traditions of archery in Japan and Asia in its anti-historical radical role, only by “reversely writing the paradigm” to reawaken the true traditions of the “subjective multiplicity” and “extensive dissemination” of Asian archery can we truly promote human understanding and peace in a decentralized narrative of diversity, inclusiveness, equality, and exchange.

Key words: Japanese Kyudo, cultural criticism, capitalism, defamiliarization