Thumb ring
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A thumb ring is a piece of equipment designed to protect the thumb during archery. This is a ring of stone, horn, wood, ivory, metal, ceramics, plastic, or glass or which fits over the end of the thumb, coming to rest at the outer edge of the outer joint. A flat area extends from the ring to protect the pad of the thumb from the bowstring; this may be supplemented by a leather extension. Many surviving historic thumbrings are hardstone carvings in jade and other gemstones, most very practical but some ornate and perhaps too heavily ornamented with jewels and gold filigree to be usable. The rings were also hung on a cord from the belt for display, in China often in a special box. In the 16th century court of the Ottoman Empire they had the useful extra function of being "used when executing disgraced officials to tighten a handkerchief wound round the throat".[1] The author of "Arab Archery" refers to rings as being usually made of leather.[2] Possibly, most ordinary archers historically used tabs of leather, much cheaper and easier to make, for this purpose.
When drawing a bow using a thumb draw, the thumb is hooked around the bowstring just beneath the arrow and braced with the first (sometimes second) finger. The bowstring rests against the inner pad of the archer's thumb and the thumb ring protects the skin. The bowstring rests against the flat of the ring when the bow is drawn. This technique is often referred to as the "Mongolian Release" or the "Mongolian Draw". Today, thumb rings are used by archers practicing styles from most of Asia and some regions of northern Africa. Ishi, the "last wild American Indian", used a thumb draw, but no skin protection.
[edit] External links
- A collection of thumbrings at the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology
- How do I use a Thumb-ring with a Mongolian Draw?
- Making a thumbring from a billiard ball
- Ancient Chinese thumb rings, Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty
- Thumbring galleries and articles
[edit] Notes
- ^ Rogers and Ward, 152
- ^ Arab Archery. An Arabic manuscript of about A.D. 1500 "A book on the excellence of the bow & arrow" and the description thereof. Translated and edited by Nabih Amin Faris and Robert Potter Elmer. Princeton University Press, 1945. http://www.sacred-archery.com/arab%20archery%20anno%20domini%201500.pdf
[edit] References
- Rogers J.M. and Ward R.M.; Süleyman the Magnificent, 1988, British Museum Publications ISBN 0714114405
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