Fukiya: Blowguns in the Olympics

  Blowguns have been used to hunt small game for a long time. They were around though various civilizations. There will always be a passion for blowguns. You can hunt small game with them or you can use them for target practice. Did you know that there is potential for this sport to become an event? The International Fukiyado Association (IFA) is trying to get the Fukiya Style of blowgun shooting to become an Olympic Event. The Fukiya specifications are required to have a .51 caliber diameter. You are required to have a length of about 47 inches. The darts that are used with this usually consist of a paper cone that is 20 centimeters long (a little bit less than 8 inches) and weighs .8 grams. The Cherokee Annual Gathering Blowgun Competition is what most of the events are structured around. The shooter will typically run from a starting line to a target lane, and then fire his or her shot. They then head over to their next station and fire the next round of darts. The entire range of the course can span almost half a mile. Along this course, there are up to 16 targets set up at different lengths and heights. The final test for the shooter comes in the form or a ten-inch target that is roughly 22 yards away. There are various other forms of blow dart shooting specifications around the world. The Cherokee version of the blowgun is made of river cane. It is six to nine feet long and it shoots arrows that are six to twenty inches long. The Jakaltek version is slightly over 50 inches long and it has a sight that is about a foot from the end of the blowgun. This type of blowgun mostly shoots clay pellets. The modern specifications typically have a .40 caliber diameter with different lengths. They have a mouthpiece and they are limited to 4 feet in competition.