Lajos Kassai

Considered by many to be the father of modern horseback archery, it was the destiny of Lajos Kassai to make the sport into what it is today. Born on September 16, 1960, in Kaposvár, Hungary Lajos Kassai’s lifelong obsession with archery came at an early age: “Yes, our ancestors the Huns were the greatest horseback archers of the world. I imagined the wild gallops, the horses foaming at the mouth, the drawn bows. What a great sensation! I wanted to be like them, a terrifying, fearless warrior, a true eagle archer. There was not a single willow tree or walnut bush I passed that I did not check carefully for branches that would make a good bow. During those years, I fashioned bows even from the handle of a bucket, anything that was flexible and that I could bend.” (Page 7, Kassai Lajos. Horseback Archery Püski Kiadó kft. 2002)

Path of Our Ancestors

Lajos Kassai began producing his bows in the mid-1980s. Based on the archaeological finds analyzed by Karoly Cs. Sebestyen and Dr Gyula Fabian. Using modern materials and technologies, he reconstructed the traditional Hungarian bow used in the age of conquering the Carpathian basin. According to his ars poetica, “We are not to follow our ancestors, we are to follow what they were following.” Kassai was the first in the world to mass produce reflex bows with rigid ears (Siyah). Besides Hungarian (Magyar), Kassai makes other types of traditional bows, including Scythan, Hun (asymmetric type), Avar, and Mongol.

Modern Horseback Archery

Kassai invented the competitive rule system of horse archery in the late 1980s, and started to propagate this new sport. Lajos Kassai popularized the modern sport, first in Hungary, and from the 1990s in the rest of Europe, the United States and Canada. He familiarized himself with Zen-archery in Kamakura, Japan, and travelled to Shao-lin in China to study.

Acheivements

Besides playing an important role in the revival of horseback archery as a modern sport, Kassai established several world records. The first in 1998, by constantly riding on relay horses during a 12 hour competition, he rode through the 90 meter long horse archery range 286 times, and fired more than 1000 aimed shots. In 2002, on a record run that lasted from 6 AM to 6 PM, he fired over 3000 shots, collecting 7126.05 points in 323 rides, surpassing his previous record. On 10 June 2006, he again surpassed his two previous 12 hour world records by competing in horse archery for 24 hours continuously. From Saturday 7 AM until Sunday 7 AM he rode 661 times firing 5412 shots and collecting 15,596.43 points overall, for an average of 212.35 points per ride.

He set his last record with his disciples in the Budapest Sports Arena on 5 December 2009. He shot 12 thrown up discs with 30 cm diameter under 17.80 seconds from the back of a racing horse.

The Valley and The School

Kassai established his base of operations in a valley in the south of Hungary near the village of Kaposmero. He describes first coming across his future base in his book “The valley we had entered was a dead-end. Coming to the end of the path, the horse had nowhere to go unless it wanted to run up a steep hillside. In a rather unusual fashion, he stood still, and i tried to find something to liken the sensation to. It felt like finding one’s place in the world. Well, I found it. I found my valley.” (Page 20, Kassai Lajos. Horseback Archery Püski Kiadó kft. 2002) Horse archery centers based on the Kassai-school are currently operating in fourteen countries, and organize world cups regularly.

Kassai’s Website: http://www.lovasijaszat.hu

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