『(增訂)弓矢義解』에 나타난 조선궁술 고찰

Abstract

Zoutei Yumiyakigae is a Japanese book about archery that was published during the period of Japanese occupation; it deals with the tools Japanese archery and how to shoot a bow. Also, the book illustrates Choseon archery, which is the forerunner to Kug Gung, which is Korea’s current traditional archery. This historical record shows how Japanese of the past saw the Choseon period archery and this book can be an important source that can make the study of Korean archery approached from a range of angles. According to Zoutei Yumiyakigae, bows in the Chosen era were small and made of horn. Arrows had two feathers and the arrowhead was sharp. A yukage, which can protect the hand when shooting an arrow, was not used in Choseon’s archery; a kag chi was used instead. Also, the difference in distance to the target was about 120 steps. For the shooting technic, foot positioning was be jong be pal (not T and not V), and a pose of uchi okoshi was maintained that kept the bow above the head. Also, the grip location of the bowstring was near the chest, not the cheeks. These statements explain Choseon archery based on differences with Japanese archery. For example, this book called Choseon bows small because they were half the size of Japanese bows. Similarly, this book highlights that Choseon bows were made of horn, compared to most Japanese bows, which were made of wood. Based on these differences, other tools and shooting technics are described. Therefore, it appears that the purpose of this book was to reaffirm Japanese archery, not to describe Choseon archery. Because of the above reasons, Choseon period archery was not properly explained and various forms were ignored. In fact, Choseon archery was represented uniformly as just a branch of Japanese archery.