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I have only just recently take up this venerable martial art to complement my sword work. As such, my knowledge is limited largely to my own discoveries and the guidance of the internet, but I shall attempt to convey them here.

Kyudo as a formalized martial art predates many other Japanese arts, even fencing and staff formats. The original weapon of the predecessors of the samurai was the longbow. Over the centuries, the masters of the bow refined a codified philosophy and an accompanying art which eventually came to be taught hand in hand with swordsmanship and many other Samurai pursuits. Even when the sword and spear began to take precedence, the most skilled Samurai practiced Kyudo, passing it down over the years as a refined art. Many consider Kyudo a gentle art, practiced by placid individuals who are more deadly by far than the most skilled members of any other school. This, of course, remains subject to debate.

Rather than a boring history lesson, let us focus on mechanics. Kyudo is better known in the west as "Zen Archery", which is a largely correct way of looking at the art. The primary goal of the Kyudo-ka is the perfect shot at the perfect moment. A sense of this is garnered through intensive meditation training and hour upon hour of practice with the bow. The traditional weapon of the art is the yumi bow, which is typically longer than the artist is tall (resulting in the odd, low grip that is seen when the bow is fired.) Notably, the arrows that are fired by the kyudo-ka are significantly longer than those fired in any other archery format (including the notorious English longbow) and impart a significant amount of force due to this. The heads are often iron (though steel is more prevalent in the modern age) which makes accuracy that much more important in a world where steel armor stymies softer metals.

When firing the bow in Kyudo, the practitioner focuses on the shot. They do not concern themselves with the proximity of the target, whether it is moving, standing still, etc. The primary idea is to fire the shot when you are ready, when your soul and the bow and the target are in harmony and your intentions are pure and perfect. This is a very, very difficult state to attain, even in a practice situation. It takes years and years of hard meditation to achieve this state, and I have found it trying to get that deep into such a state even with years of similar meditation training in other arts. When the exact moment is achieved, the kyudo-ka must know deep down that their shot will hit exactly as aimed. This is where the hours and hours of practice with the bow come in. In a single, smooth motion, the arrow is nocked, the bow is drawn, and with the simples of releases the bow is fired. Such a shot can be supremely lethal. (For a fine example of kyudo bowmanship, check out the Deadliest Warrior episode Samurai vs. Viking. Both eyes!)

In comparison to many other martial arts, kyudo is a silent, passive art often relegated to the rank of exotic and mysterious. Not much is known of the art by those who do not practice it exclusively. Even those who practice parts of it (such as sword students and those who practice the arts of the ninja) barely scratch the surface of a devoted student. There are legends of masters who could fire a bow at over three hundred yards at a target they could not see and because of their focus and sense of placement would bullseye that target. Even the supposedly invisible were not safe. Stories in the kyudo community abound of masters who could slay assassins before the assassins even realized they had been noticed.

All in all, Kyudo is for the most serious-minded of martial artists who don't mind the fact that even basic levels of mastery may take over a decade to attain. All other arts can benefit from the patience and focus learned with a bow.

The English are going to send out a volly and hope one hits, the Japanese are going to take about 15 minutes to think about it and then shoot.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Not too much is different. The modern Japanese bow takes it's desing from the Heian period (12th century) when the need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū, Ogasawara Nagakiyo, began teaching yabusame (mounted archery). When you look at it, you can see that it was made to fire off horseback. The bow is not symmetrical like that of the English longbow, so the short end can pass easily from either side of the horse while maintaining a virtical angle. It's quite a brilliant desing really.

The English longbow started as an infantry weapon and it's desing changed very little. If you wanted to fire from horseback, you may want something a bit shorter.
The English were thinking "It's a line of shot. If we get a bunch of people together and send up a wall of arrows, we can take out allot of people if the wind is in our favor" while the japanese were thinking "If you put it on horseback, it's a single fast-moving unit." Today, most kyūdōka are on foot in an archery range, but there are still schools teaching yabusame in both Japan and around the world. The Mongols as you might guess, are a pretty darn good shot off a horse.


PS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCKLGMK_3No
I fall in love a little bit every time. Zen is sexy.

PPS
quiet_way I don't mean to steal your thunder man. It's just that I've got friends who've been doing this stuff for half my lifetime.

So how long do you have to train to be proficient at the use of the bow ...

I'd like to start Kyudo (don't know if I'll ever be able to spell that right). From what I know it is a very hard road to pursue. I do like bows though and can shoot both a re-curve and compound bows.

Well, In some cities you are just going to have a lot more luck finding a school than others.
Don't just give up on something because at first it seems hard to find. Try walking into a karate, aikido and/or kendo dojo and start asking about kyudo in your area. Chances are the instructors hang out on weekends.

I was watching Last Samurai (damn you Tom Cruise) ... and well got me to thinking ... what is the rate of fire of the yumi bow ... because for a bow of that size ... it seemed to have a relatively high rate of fire ... not sure if it was thearics or the real thing ... anyone care to elaborate ...