Bow-hand question
I am trying to improve my technique with ?Saracen Archery?, and have a question:
How should I hold the wrist of my bow-hand? Now I ?break? my wrist upwards. It works well with the grip of my Gr?zer Turkish TRH (flat inside), but it is considered as a great error in modern archery.
Taybugha wrote that the bow should be held with the little finger strongly, with the ring finger less strongly and the middle finger even less strongly. The thumb and the index finger are loose, thus can form a fine ?arrow-guide?. If I break my wrist, I can grip the bow this way, moreover I see broken wrists on many miniatures:
http://nomadok.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=31573331
However today it is one of the biggest mistakes, because it makes the bow-hand rigid, the wrist vulnerable and less effective the shot.
What are your opinions? How do you hold your wrists?
How should I hold the wrist of my bow-hand? Now I ?break? my wrist upwards. It works well with the grip of my Gr?zer Turkish TRH (flat inside), but it is considered as a great error in modern archery.
Taybugha wrote that the bow should be held with the little finger strongly, with the ring finger less strongly and the middle finger even less strongly. The thumb and the index finger are loose, thus can form a fine ?arrow-guide?. If I break my wrist, I can grip the bow this way, moreover I see broken wrists on many miniatures:
http://nomadok.gportal.hu/gindex.php?pg=31573331
However today it is one of the biggest mistakes, because it makes the bow-hand rigid, the wrist vulnerable and less effective the shot.
What are your opinions? How do you hold your wrists?
These techniques are used for different purposes.
Modern archery is a sport oriented just on sharpshooting. Everything is optimized for this purpose - center shot bows, light draw weight and extremely light arrows for flat trajectories. A modern recurve bow has a pistol grip and weighs 3 times as much as an old warfare bow. You are not supposed to hold the grip at all. Many archers are using a string strap so they do not drop the bow. This serves accuracy, not the power, versatility and stability needed in warfare.
The techniques described is SA are optimized for the asian horn bow - horseback shooting, thumb draw, no arrow shelf.
The flat inside and the "bumped" outside helps to rotate the bow forward by just gripping it correctly (see figure 26 in SA). Modern archery uses weights to balance the bow and "force" this movement without relying on the archer to do it.
Modern archery is a sport oriented just on sharpshooting. Everything is optimized for this purpose - center shot bows, light draw weight and extremely light arrows for flat trajectories. A modern recurve bow has a pistol grip and weighs 3 times as much as an old warfare bow. You are not supposed to hold the grip at all. Many archers are using a string strap so they do not drop the bow. This serves accuracy, not the power, versatility and stability needed in warfare.
The techniques described is SA are optimized for the asian horn bow - horseback shooting, thumb draw, no arrow shelf.
The flat inside and the "bumped" outside helps to rotate the bow forward by just gripping it correctly (see figure 26 in SA). Modern archery uses weights to balance the bow and "force" this movement without relying on the archer to do it.
koreans say: the bow hand must be like pushing a mountain". if you look at their technique it is with "broken" wrist as you say, derived from grabbing the grip obliquely to rest on the thumb muscle pad.
in my (limited) experience, for a heavy bow thumb draw its important to hold the grip like this, and firmly (as Taybugha stresses) - not like the modern recurve. otherwise no stability and the string will hit the forearm.
btw if you bend the wrist the other way it is the "falcon's talon" grip used for flight archery with the siper.
in my (limited) experience, for a heavy bow thumb draw its important to hold the grip like this, and firmly (as Taybugha stresses) - not like the modern recurve. otherwise no stability and the string will hit the forearm.
btw if you bend the wrist the other way it is the "falcon's talon" grip used for flight archery with the siper.
What are you calling a "broken wrist" is very similar to the longbow grasp. The Korean form of this grip has some elements of the hawk's grip (changal-baz), but with the hand turned up.
All of Taybugha's grasps have the bone at the base of the thumb roughly horizontal. The changal-baz in Saracen Archery has the thumb pointing down at an angle. In the others the thumb is more horizontal. The Korean grasp is very useful with bows with a set back handle like the Korean bows. Pressure from the base of the palm can be used to cause the arrow to strike higher. In heavier Turkish or Persian bows, the hand has to be held straighter. Most of the force goes through the part of the hand at the base of the thumb and index finger. The belly of the lower part of the grip has only the lightest contact with the palm of the hand. However the three lower fingers are holding tightly pulling back towards the palm while the relaxed thumb and index finger are pushing forward with the flesh at their bases.
Regarding your miniature, this looks like one from Mazanderan because of the characteristic daggers and the toothy smiles. This particular style of painting often has very close observation of objects, but is somewhat weak in physiology. The archer is not at full draw and is shooting left-handed despite wearing his quiver as would a right hander. It is even possible that the painter is trying to show the awkwardness of this action for a right hander. There are a few instances in Persian painting of right handed archers shooting left handed for dramatic effect, as when they are being attacked from an unexpected angle. In general Persian painters stylised the hand positions of archers. The archery manuals are much more specific. The hawk's claw grasp is the most recommended for all uses, not just flight archery though it was particularly successful at that sport.
All of Taybugha's grasps have the bone at the base of the thumb roughly horizontal. The changal-baz in Saracen Archery has the thumb pointing down at an angle. In the others the thumb is more horizontal. The Korean grasp is very useful with bows with a set back handle like the Korean bows. Pressure from the base of the palm can be used to cause the arrow to strike higher. In heavier Turkish or Persian bows, the hand has to be held straighter. Most of the force goes through the part of the hand at the base of the thumb and index finger. The belly of the lower part of the grip has only the lightest contact with the palm of the hand. However the three lower fingers are holding tightly pulling back towards the palm while the relaxed thumb and index finger are pushing forward with the flesh at their bases.
Regarding your miniature, this looks like one from Mazanderan because of the characteristic daggers and the toothy smiles. This particular style of painting often has very close observation of objects, but is somewhat weak in physiology. The archer is not at full draw and is shooting left-handed despite wearing his quiver as would a right hander. It is even possible that the painter is trying to show the awkwardness of this action for a right hander. There are a few instances in Persian painting of right handed archers shooting left handed for dramatic effect, as when they are being attacked from an unexpected angle. In general Persian painters stylised the hand positions of archers. The archery manuals are much more specific. The hawk's claw grasp is the most recommended for all uses, not just flight archery though it was particularly successful at that sport.