The contractile ring, which is required for cytokinesis in animal and yeast cells, consists mainly of actin filaments. Here, we investigate the directionality of the filaments in fission yeast using myosin S1 decoration and electron microscopy. The contractile ring is composed of around 1,000 to 2,000 filaments each around 0.6 mum in length. During the early stages of cytokinesis, the ring consists of two semicircular populations of parallel filaments of opposite directionality. At later stages, before contraction, the ring filaments show mixed directionality. We consider that the ring is initially assembled from a single site in the division plane and that filaments subsequently rearrange before contraction initiates.