Lajos Kassai

Lajos Kassai (born 16 September 1960) is a Hungarian bowyer, archer and equestrian.

He is primarily known for his work reviving the traditional art of horse archery, including adapting it into a modern sport.

For his work he received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.

Lajos Kassai started making his bows in the mid-1980s and was competing successfully in field archery.

He made himself familiar with kyūdō in Kamakura, Japan, and travelled to Shaolin in China to study.

He summarized his experiences in his book Lovasíjászat ('Horse Archery'), which since its issue has been translated into German, English and Russian.

[4] Horse archery centers based on the Kassai school are currently operating in fourteen countries, and organize world cups regularly.

His life and work was dramatized by Géza Kaszás in the film A lovasíjász ('The horse archer'), which premiered in January 2016.

He shot 12 pieces of 30 cm diameter flying discs (thrown by his students) from the back of a galloping horse in 17.80 seconds.

2006: Riding 12 horses, Kassai Lajos did equestrian archery continuously for 24 hours during 661 competition runs, he achieved a total score of 15,596.43 points with 5,412 shots.

2002: Riding 12 horses, during 12 hours of continuous equestrian archery, he managed to achieve a total score of 7,126.05 with nearly 3,000 shots in 323 competition runs, breaking his previous record.

USA: Solvang, California – training camp at Monty Roberts’ farm (Flag is up) 2015.

Malaysia: Penang, Turf Club, International Festival with Horses – training camp and presentation 2015.

USA: Fort Dodge, Iowa – presentation 1999: China: Shaolin – study trip 1999.