Light but Powerful

With the original version of the Dream Pool Essays lost to time, transcription errors are always a possibility. Yi Degang discusses the work of academic Wen Renjun here, who speculates, partly based on an earlier manual, the Artificer’s Record (考工記), that the character 性 is a copying error for 往 (to go). If the phrase was originally 往体少而劲, this puts a different complexion on things since the ‘going bow’ (往弓) may have been a technical term to describe the deformation of the bow after the string is released. Commentaries on the Artificer’s Record detail the different use cases for a bow where the ‘going bow’ is either more or less. After a long discussion on these intricacies, Yi draws on his own bowmaking experience to point out that, compared to other factors such as the selection of materials, weight of arrows, strength of the bow etc, the size of the ‘going bow’ has a very limited effect. He therefore favours the traditional and straightforward reading of this bowmaking criterion: a good bow is indeed light and powerful.

Harmonious Yet Strong

Yi Degang says the ‘harmony’ (和) of Shen Kuo’s formulation is found in the rapport between the deforming of the bow as the bowstring is drawn back to full extension, and the elastic tension. A harmonious bow, says Yi, is one in which the elastic force at full extension is on par with, or even less than, the elastic force in the middle of drawing back the string. In a traditional bow, this is achieved by correctly handling the core materials of the bow – sinew, bamboo and horn – and modern composite bows follow the same principle. Why is this a desirable property? At full extension (traditionally defined as when the bowstring reaches the corner of your mouth), the arm’s strength is greatly diminished and the support of the shoulder is needed. With the fine adjustments of position required to target your quarry, reduced tension at the full extension of the bow leads to better accuracy and still plenty of strength. Yi Degang, agreeing with the general formulation of Harmonious Yet Strong, nevertheless throws some doubt on Shen Kuo’s archery expertise because in his elucidations the latter seems to equate stiffness of the bow with efficacy, suggesting that maximum tension when the string is drawn back is preferable.

Its Strength does not Diminish after Long Use

Yi agrees here that a good quality bow can shoot hundreds of arrows a day without losing much elasticity. As an experienced archer and bow-maker, he does offer advice that if the bow string is not loosened, the bone plate of the bow can become tired under tension and slightly diminish the force of the bow. If this happens, you just need to unstring the bow and wait a while and it should restore itself to its original form. A good bow, with the right composition of sinew, bamboo and bone, can be expected to last several years without a loss of strength.

Its strength is the same in Winter and Summer

This is more of an ideal than an achievable goal, says Yi. Owing to the natural ox or sheep horn used in the construction of a traditional bow, there is always a variation in the strength of the bow between summer and winter. Above 35ºC , the bow will be weaker, while below -20ºC the bow will be stiffer. Archers do their best to shield their bows from direct sunlight to avoid affecting the bow. Nevertheless, with well-chosen materials and top quality construction, the variation can be lessened. Again, our friend Shen Kuo is correct in principle but shaky on the detail, according to Yi: his solution of using more glue on the bow would actually just make the bow heavier and do nothing to protect against temperature extremes.

The sound of the bowstring is clear and sharp

If you’re imagining giving the bowstring a little pluck in the archery shop and hearing a clear doi-oi-oing, think again. As Yi points out, ancient bowstrings were made from animal hide, silk or hemp and wouldn’t produce any sound at all when plucked. Yi’s conjecture is that Shen Kuo must be referring to the sound of the bowstring after an arrow is released. A dull sound would indicate that something is out of whack: either the bowstring with the bow, or the bowstring with the notch on the arrow.

Once stretched, it immediately straightens

Needham translates this as, “Once released, the arrow flies straight to its target.” Here let’s follow Yi who applies it instead to the body of the bow, to mean something like “once extended (drawn back?) it immediately straightens”. Yi gets very technical here (not to mention a little sniffy about academics in their ivory towers who have never got their hands dirty making bows). I confess I have a little trouble visualising the how the bow straightens based on Yi’s description. The gist seems to be that the animal horn that is used to fabricate the bow has a natural bend both vertically and horizontally. You can make it straight by heating it, among other processes, but over time it will tend to return to its natural curvature. If you unstring a traditional bow, the body of the bow will actually bend slightly forwards, if I understand Yi correctly, meaning it straightens once the bow is strung and taut. In short, whatever subtleties I am missing from Yi’s argument, the upshot is that making bows properly straight is the devil’s own business and the downfall of many a keen amateur bowmaker. Clearly, though, once achieved, you’ve got yourself a very fine bow.

Sources and Further Reading

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