Like many Hokkaido residents, Gregory Stewart is an avid sportsman who enjoys snowboarding, telemark and cross country skiing, hiking, paragliding and even ice climbing. Gregory has been living in Shihoro, Hokkaido, since 2005 working as an ALT Teacher, and I’ve known him for a few years, but just recently I found out he’s been practicing yabusume, a traditional Japanese martial art that involves riding horses and shooting arrows.

More surprisingly, after taking up the sport for just a year, he became the Japan Yabusume Champion. Amazed, I met up with him to find out how it all happened.