Korean Archery just before the end of the Joseon Dynasty

[Bede]

Here is a quote from the book At the Court of Korea by William Franklin Sands, an American who was employed by the Korean King.

Archery was still a live sport and almost more than a sport, for it was not long since that bows had been used in war. The bows were shorter than the American or the old English bows, but much heavier and broader. They were made of wide strips of ox horn cunningly welded together and were more powerful than the former. I could not even bend one, though the Koreans who practised con?stantly could send their yard-long reed shafts tipped with iron very accurately and with incredible rapidity and strength. They never hesitated to take one on in target competition against a .45 Colt revolver at a hundred yards. I have seen them make a series of bull's-eyes at two hundred and even make a target at three hundred yards.

As a person who only saw finished bows and not a historian of composite bow construction, he can be forgiven for thinking ox horns were welded together though he was probably using the term figuratively.

Three things stand out.
1. He describes the bows as broader than contemporary American and English bows, which would have been longbows at this time. Most modern Korean composite bows are narrow in the limbs for efficiency purposes.
2. He suggests that Korean archers were a match for Colt revolvers at 100 yards.
3. He mentions shooting at two hundred and three hundred yard targets, farther than today's ranges.

The first point is consistent with the bows being heavier than contemporary Korean bows and leads to the possibility he saw war bows in use. While I had read this years ago, on rereading it today I was struck by this implication.

[Bj?rn Sofeit]

I'd love to see one of these warbows.

[Bede]

Here is a link to an illustration of a similar bow with a wooden, not horn, belly. http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayso ... -bow.shtml

[suomialex]

Do you know if that has been a working bow? It?s hard to think that even compression pine could take that kind of stress.

[Uli]

wow this sheds some light to korean warbows

[Bede]

The bellies were wrapped in sinew. this adds to the compressive strength of the bows. There are lighter bows which look a little like modern target bows with wooden bellies completely wrapped in sinew and lacquered black. If they did not have a few breaks in the lacquer you would think they must have horn bellies. http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayso ... -bow.shtml

It is possible that these are "half horn" bows with horn only on the bending parts of the arms, but usually the horn on that type of bow is exposed. Horn was expensive in Korea and many approaches were used to make bows that performed well but did not require horn in large quantities.

I have examined the bows in the Grayson Collection and they appeared to have been used. The war bows were massive in the hand the proportions of the string nocks suggested large diameter strings consonant with very heavy bows.

[Markus]

Sorry, mistake