Film of Korea, 1899

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:39 am

Evidently, this is the first film made of Korea. You might especially like to look starting at 1:23

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_DWCJ1B3g

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:38 pm

Thomas; These bows are larger than modern Korean bows. Does the Duvernay collection contain such a bow?

Dusan · Post by **Dusan** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:38 pm

Beatifull bows ! Jack, i dont see this old bows larger. I like his deeper angel in limbs curvatue . Like skitian bows !Maybe old bows have more curve in handle(?). If you imagine that old master construct not simetrical bow, but asimetrical , his lims curvature was very close old skiths bows.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:23 pm

Taking into account the distortions from the angle of view, I wonder if we are seeing bows with broader limbs than usual in modern commercial bows. This combined with a different way of adjusting the tiller of the bow after bracing might explain the reason they look different.

Very good film. It is amazing when things like this turn up. Maybe one day we will see one from Turkey or China.

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:43 am

I think the bows are no larger than modern ones. Keep in mind that the stature of Koreans a century and more ago was much smaller, so it's probably just a matter of perspective.

Bede,

I think it's very possible similar films may someday turn up about other countries. I would guess that the fellow who took the Korean film probably visited neighboring countries and filmed there, too, so one of China or Japan might be around.

T

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:01 am

What strikes me is the very limited area of the limb that seems to be working.

I have collected a couple of old Korean bows, and obviously these very narrow limbs are a post-1960 phenomenon.

Dusan · Post by **Dusan** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:13 am

Exactly. This is what i mean. Looks. like fantastic power is in limbs .

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:49 am

The tiller is indeed a little different and the non-bending siyahs make the bows more stable. I do not see the limbs to be wider, maybe only the back of bow seems to be more flat giving the impression of greater width.

Adam

jiao · Post by **jiao** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:25 am

in today ,who can use very limited area of the limb make it?

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:43 pm

These bows are very similar to a target Korean bow shown (unstrung, braced and at full draw) in the Edward McEwen?s pictures on pages 80-81 of the T. M. Hamilton?s book ?Native American Bows? ? most of the bending in each limb is done in a rather short section subjected to extreme flexing due to very pronounced set-back at handle. At full draw the part of the limb behind the extreme bend is parallel with arrow. The bow is not larger than modern Korean bows at all, it is hard to tell how broad the limbs are though, they don?t seem to be on the wider side however.
Unfortunately there are not any details about the bow in the book.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:22 am

jiao wrote:in today ,who can use very limited area of the limb make it?

Some of Lucas Novotny's bows draw like that.

S

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:20 am

I have an old Korean bow that was bought back to Japan 70 years ago. It is not shootable, but I could make measurements. I didn't in the past because it looked so much like modern ones.

Rapsod · Post by **Rapsod** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:08 pm

Nice bows. Very curvy.

ginni · Post by **ginni** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:31 pm

The ?kasan? part of the limb is working, it becomes straight at full draw, but it looks to be much reflexed that modern bows... That should make the bow more instable, maybe this is the reason why the limb looks little bit larger on the bending part.
Well, is an outsider point of view...