Average Han Dynasty Composite-Recurve Bow

[Stephen Selby]

As I said, three to five. And I cannot be sure that some were not bamboo/wood composites, like Japanese Yumi.

You would think that having sat down with the things and stared at them that I could tell; but I couldn't. And the best preserved ones had an outer layer of lacquer, so I couldn't tell the composition accurately.

S

[jiao]

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[jiao]

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[Justin Ma]

Anybody willing to speculate what general shape the Mawangdui wood composite bow would take when strung? (In particular, would it have a pronounced setback in the handle, or would the handle be more-or-less straight?)

[Stephen Selby]

I can't see evidence for a set-back of the grip. If you can find the reports of the excavation of the burial of Zeng Hou Yi in Henan, there are some drawings. The burial is earlier than Mawangdui; but the bow design is similar.

[Justin Ma]

I'm having a little trouble finding books at our library containing good photos of excavated bows from Zeng Hou Yi's tomb. The books I found typically show individual shots of halberd blades and other excavated weapons, but no bows. How could they overlook bows? Lame.

Can you recommend a particular reference for detailed photos from that excavation?

[Justin Ma]

A friend in Beijing found a book for me that contained pictures of the Zeng Hou Yi tomb bows (and provided the following translation of some of the text). These bows were made of 3 pieces of wood: one for the upper limb and one for the lower limb (these two pieces overlap at the grip), and one to reinforce the belly of the grip in a setback fashion. I hope it's okay to share this pic.

Is this construction still considered "composite" or is it more along the lines of a selfbow?

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Translation:

五兵之一就只剩下弓和矢了。墓中出土的弓共55件，形制较为简单，而箭簇共有4507件，是已发掘的任何一座墓无法比拟的，形制也较为繁杂。
Among the five weapons(弓 、戟、矛、 剑 、楯: bow, dagger-axe, spear, sword, shield) are bows and arrows. There are 55 bows excavated from the tomb whose construction is rather simple. There are also 4507 pieces of arrowheads. No other tombs contain so large a number of arrowheads with the same structural complexity.

许多墓中都出土有竹弓。此墓的弓在现场时还误以为是竹弓，因为外形酷似竹片制作；经仔细辨认，才知全为木片所质，只有最下等的才为竹制。一些规格较高的墓中所出之弓，很可能还想曾侯乙墓一样为木质所制，非为竹制。
Bamboo bows were found in many tombs. Bows in this tomb were mistaken as bamboo-made at first for its slim shape. But after closer examination, it?s confirmed that these bows are all made of wood. Only bows of the lowest level are made of bamboo. Bows from other tombs which are as grand as tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng are probably all made of wood too, not bamboo.

每张弓均由三块木片拼接绕缠而成，用两块带有一定弧度的木片，一端平齐较厚，一段较薄，两根较薄的一端在弓的中部重叠，并在弧度的外侧，另加一块较段稍厚之木片，将这三片缠绕好，表面在髹漆，弓也就制作出来了。在弓的两端（弧形内侧）还装有角质弓弭。出土时，弦已不存，从弓弭上有横刻槽来看，出土的弓实际都是反弓，拉弦时，必须把弓的弧形反过来，这样弓的张力才大。
Every bow is made up of three pieces of wood. They were matched and then tied together. Two pieces were curved with one end thicker than the other. The two thinner ends were placed together in the middle of the bow and were on the back of the curve. Then a third thick piece of wood was placed on the two. And then the three were tied together. The last step is to paint them. On both ends of the bow (within the curve) are string nocks made of horn. After excavation, strings were gone. But from the horizontal cuttings on the nock it's clear that the bows excavated are all recurve bows. When adding the string, the curve of the bow is reversed to make the bow tense.

[Dusan]

Thanks Justin . Wonderfull info. Have you any knowlidge about measurments? Bows look short vith high reflex- any trace of sinew ?

[Justin Ma]

Thanks Justin . Wonderfull info. Have you any knowlidge about measurments? Bows look short vith high reflex- any trace of sinew ?

According to Stephen's JCMS article, the length of the bows from Zeng Hou Yi tomb were 112--117 cm long, 2.5--3.0 cm wide and 0.5 cm thick. It's unclear whether there was sinew, but it seems the custom of southern China during that time period was to wrap the bow in silk.

[Dusan]

Thank you Justin. Thats more info. I am very sceptical if 112 cm bow can be save only vith silk wraping...But i dont work vith haevy silk wrapink in wood /or bamboo/ bow.