Asian Traditional Archery

October 25, 2007 12:21 PM

The Asian Traditional Archery Network!Atrocious, frame-y site design hides oddles of cool articles about: The Chinese repeating crossbow, archives from Instinctive Archer magazine, the Buryat bow of Mongolia, and why shooting nurtures the mind's eye. Perhaps the best indication of the depth and breadth of the site can be seen on this page of excerpts from the ATARN newsletter. There's also a small picture archive, but there are a lot of other pictures and illustrations scattered over the site.
posted by OmieWise (9 comments total)

Ah, the Chu Ko Nu, a fond memory of my time spent playing Age of Empires 2. Great post OmieWise.
posted by dazed_one at 1:42 PM on October 25, 2007

Surprisingly interesting! I love the scolding tone of the Chinese Repeating Crossbow article (how dare they stoop to using poison!). Great find, thanks OmieWise.
posted by saladin at 1:42 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Bugger. I was going to do an archery post that talked about both the Mongolian bow and the Chinese repeating crossbow.

Your's is better, that anything I would have come up with though, so I'm glad to see them here.

I found a very comprehensive site discussing the Mongolian bow, and this is a nice image of one, which gives an idea of what it looked like strung, unstrung, and drawn.

Some other fun facts: it was drawn to behind the ear, unlike western archery which is drawn to the cheek. The string was held with the thumb, (with the help of a small hook). This was necessary because the draw weight of a Mongol bow was in excess of 160lbs (as compared to an English long bow which has a draw of 'only' 70 to 80lbs.)
posted by quin at 3:18 PM on October 25, 2007

'Yours is better that anything I would have come up with, though.'

Wow, I really butchered that whole sentence.
posted by quin at 3:23 PM on October 25, 2007

*gives up*
posted by quin at 3:24 PM on October 25, 2007

As a kid I loved the idea of making my own mongolian composite bow.
Good link quin.
posted by jouke at 12:08 AM on October 26, 2007

I *heart* Kyūdō. A lot.
posted by dreamsign at 12:10 AM on October 26, 2007

Go for it quin, you're expected to double-post the Chinese repeating crossbow!
You might enjoy an old MoFi post of mine on Chinese siege warfare - includes Ming rocket infantry and a fancy colour-illustrated article on the 诸葛弩 including a modern re-creation.
posted by Abiezer at 2:34 AM on October 26, 2007

Oops - link to the said fancy colour pics.
posted by Abiezer at 2:36 AM on October 26, 2007