ATARNarchive

What is this picture and bows?

12 posts2006live thread
Rapsod
Digging some old pictures on my comp I find this. What is this picture? Does anyone have more of this pictures in high res? If it is too big you can sent them on my e-mail.
jack farrell
These are "Parlor bows", toy bows used inside for entertainment in Japan, in the past. -j-
Rapsod
I know about entertainment bows but I didn't know their unstrung form. Interesting. If we presume that handle is 10cm than this bow is not longer than 100cm. Small bow.
Stephen Selby
The illustration comes from a Japanese book dated about 1680. It was called a 'willow bow', and was used for a parlour game played by men and women in Edo.
Rapsod
Is there anything else interesting in that book? :shock:
Stephen Selby
Probably, if you can read 17th Century Sino-Japanese texts. I translated the introduction on p. 224 of "Chinese Archery" (text 9G1).
Rapsod
Everybody say that my handwriting is like chinese so I can try to read it. :D
Are there any others pictures?
Stephen Selby
There are ten illustrations of the equipment in the first volume. The second volume illustrates the scoring. Here are the ten.
Stephen Selby
More
Stephen Selby
More
Rapsod
Stephen thank you for pictures.

Why that target in last picture have pendulum?
Stephen Selby
The pendulum will swing, showing clearly that the target was hit. As the arrow is blunt and does not stay in the target, there is no other way to show a hit clearly.

Note that I have added the explanations for each picture.