Turkish archery
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The history of the arrow and bow of the Turks stretches back to very distant times. In the legend of Oguz Khagan it takes its place as both a weapon of war and a symbolic element.
In Central Asia the arrow and bow, together with the sword--whether used in hunting or warfare--was a most important weapon. The sword was used as the primary close-range weapon, and the bow as the primary long-range weapon.
With the acceptance by the Turks of Islam, there was added a special religious significance. In the written sources from the first century of Islam the bow, even more that other weapons, is given a special place.
We see more than 40 Hadiths (study of the prophet) attribute to Hazrat Mohammad and directly and persistently indicating his efforts. We want to give a few examples from the Hadiths concerning the important of archery:
"The one who makes the arrow, the one who presents the arrow, and the one who shoots the arrow are destined for paradise"
"Teach your children to read the Koran and arrow shooting (archery)"
"The spaces between where an arrow is shot and where it falls are gardens of paradise for you"
From medieval times through the nineteenth century, archers of the Islamic crescent, which stretches from Turkey eastwart to India, were renowed for both their exceptional skills and their superior weapons. And archery developed and reaching its zenith in the Ottoman Empire.
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[edit] Disciplines
There were several kinds of sportive archery contests in Ottoman. The foremost contest was long distance shooting. It was a fact that Ottoman archers had been shooting to tremendous distances. The second kind of contests was target shooting. Due to the name of targets (Puta), these were called "puta shooting" and the bows using were called "puta bows" and even the arrows were "puta arrows". The feathers and the forms of those arrows were suitable for target shooting and arrow points in form of olive stones as it is used today were common.
Disciplines of penetrating hard objects and horseback archery are the other kinds of performance shooting or archery games.
Penetrating thick wooden logs and hard metal plates with hardened steel arrowheads was a spectacular performance. A powerful archer with high technique of shooting could easily penetrate a couple of metal plates stick together. Those bored objects can be found in museums. These shootings were called "darp" shootings. The "ayna" targets named after the big metal plates of mirror armour were other kinds of targets.
Another performance shooting named "Kabak (gourd) shooting" was performed on horseback. This kind of shooting done to a target placed at the top of a long pole while the archer was riding at full gallop. The archer made his shoot when he was going just under the target. The name of the shooting came after the targets were gourds in general. In this kind of shooting, concentration, condition of archer, the abilities of riding and shooting were at their top levels. As the entrance of ungulates to ok-meydans was forbidden, the places for gourds (kabak-meidan) were used for this kind of shooting.
There are three classes of shooting from horseback:
- kighaj or qiqaj, "slant", or shooting downwards,
- shooting up (kabak or qabaq, "gourd")
- horizontal shooting, which is in between the two main ones.
Within these classes there are from 10 to 17 basic ways recognized by various archery masters.
Medieval Turkish archery is detailed in Kitab ghunyat at-tullab fi marifat ramy an-mushshab ("A Book of Essential Archery for Beginners") and Kitab fi bayau fadl al-qaws w-al-sahm wa-awsufihima ("A Book on the Excellence of the Bow and Arrow")
The books say that the fundamentals of archery constitute six elements:
- grasping the bow,
- nocking the arrow,
- locking the fingers on the bow string,
- drawing the bow,
- sighting the mark,
- loosing the arrow.
[edit] Training
[edit] 1.Qualifications and Training of the Turkish Archers
Shooting at ok-meydani was bounded to government approvals. One had to have a license or be taking lessons from a proficient archer. A proficient archer was determined to the archer candidates who had provided pre-conditions, and gained the right for education by a small ceremony. With those written approvals, students could only be allowed to shoot and take education at the ok-meydani, but were not allowed to compete or perform flight shooting. Students were informed about the rules to obey, things to beware and their obligations at the beginning of their education. Ones whose backgrounds were ambiguous, ones who behaved improperly, fools and mentally retarded were manifested not to be taught to shoot.
To be a proper archer, one had to complete his long education and finally had to able to shoot at the distance of 900 gez (approximately 594 meters). The successful candidates used to acquire their proficiency license with a mass ceremony and were enregistered.
[edit] 2.The Method
A novice archer's initial work was to practice drawing the bow. A special bow called "kepaze" was made for this with a padded string. This practice was done with a Mediterranean release (three fingers) only the bow was pulled to full draw and then let down again. This is done until the archer can pull and let down 500 times without tiring. Practice like this makes the correct draw and technique automatic, much like the practice of moves in some martial arts. The muscles also strengthen and become elastic.
The style of the draw was then slightly changed to the one used in target shooting, and a heavier practice bow used. Again 500 draws was used as the number to be achieved without tiring. Archers also had to learn the same draw style in the same way whilst seated. Eventually the archer was ready to move on to a strong bow.
Often training with the practice bow would be interspersed with pulling a heavy bow 5 or 10 times to build strength. Another method was to use three bows. The archer would draw the lightest 50 times, then the medium bow 50 times and finally the heavy bow 50 times.
Apparently it was common advice for archers to draw their practice bow 66 times every morning to keep their strength up.
At about this time the lock of the thumb was worked on with an arrow fixed to the string. Finally indoor practice would start using a sack at 44 degrees to the archer. The sack was filled with wood shavings, cotton seeds and similar stuff. Practice had to be every day. The bow used for this simulated flight shooting was a weaker bow. A special arrows was sued for this sack shooting.
After a period of this training and if the weather was suitable the archer was allowed to practice outside. The bow used for this stage of training was 130lbs draw. When he got tired he would finish with a lighter bow. Each morning and each evening 300 arrows would be shot.
Occasionally an arrow with "peculiar fletching" was used. This seems to have been some kind of Flu-Flu Arrow as it rapidly slowed and had short range. It was used to detect errors in technique and to be able to see the course of the arrow.
At last the archer was deemed to be ready to try flight arrows, starting with easy flight arrows and ending eventually with the best and hardest. There were four types. He would shoot 60 to 100 of each every day. Now he would be ready to try to enter the archers guild but would have to be able to prove through eye witnesses that he could hit distant marks and shoot over 900 gez.
[edit] The First Sport Club
Contests played an important role in Turkish sporting history. Wrestling contests, caicque races, horse races, cirit (a game with horses and javelins) and cögen games (a game similar to polo), sword-shield combats drew the attraction of public for centuries.
The most spectacular contests were undoubtedly marksmanship and archery contests. Archery has been performed as a regular and planned branch of sports in the Ottoman Empire since the second half of the 15th century. Thus, there were 34 big arenas specifically assigned to archery activities in the Ottoman period. These places that were provided in several cities were called 'okmeydanı' ("oq-meidany" arrow-place). Those were the places where the contests and trainings were held while they served as grand facilities where the sportsman lived and had their own allocations, managers and staff. There were standing sportive activities under a scheduled order in those arenas.
The most notable of these arrow places was of course Istanbul Ok-meydani. It was officially donated to archery activities by Mehmed II. (Conqueror) just after the conquest of Istanbul in A.D. 1453. The borders and purpose of use of the field were set clearly by the Sultan's firman in order to prevent violations such as burial of the dead, entrance of ungulates, construction of houses, agricultural activities.
The facility was opened at Hidrellez and closed at November (Ruz-i Kasim). Shootings and contests used to be held on Mondays and Thursdays, so there were 48 days for official contests and practice and the sportsman could do free practice (mesk) for the rest of the time.
[edit] Competitions
[edit] 1.Flight Shooting Competitions
[edit] a. Flight shooting (for record)
Places of shooting were detected according to the direction of wind. The point where the shooting was made called was called "foot stone" and the directions specified by erected stones called "main stone" were named as "range". In this "flight shootings", the longest distance that an arrow could reach was taken as a new record under specified rules and conditions. A marble column, "range stone" that bears the name of the archer, his profession, the date of the shot and the distance on the shooting face was erected. Those writings were in poetry and penned by a famous poet of the time, written by a calligrapher and finally engraved by masons. Each of these columns was an art object and those that could survive today are astonishing. Despite being a site nowadays, the area of Istanbul Ok-meydani is still an open-air museum.
[edit] b. Long distance shooting contests
Long distance shooting contests, often confused with flight shooting were completely different types of sports activity. In this type of contest, archers made their shoots to any direction, by any wind and used to try to beat each other. The main difference, the distance wasn't measured in this type of shooting; the winner was the furthest one.
Long distance shooting contests, frequently confused with flight shooting were a completely different type of sportive activity. In this activity, archers made their shots to any direction, by any wind and tried to beat each other. The main difference between long distance shooting and flight shooting was that, the distance wasn't measured in long distance shooting: the winner was the one who shot the furthest. Shots were performed from a fixed point named "foot place".
[edit] 2. Target Competitions
Target shooting began as a training in the skills needed to hit a target, either an animal or an enemy.
Scoring & Rules: In target competitions, shooting was between either individuals or teams. Number of arrows to shoot defined before competition and it was generally even. And the number of hits determined the score which was calculated by counting the arrows on the target. It was like today's "hit or miss" system.
After the completion of shots, arrows were pulled from the target and dropped to the front of the Sheikh of Meidan (chairman of the archery club). If the hits were equal, the results will the competitors would tie. All shots have to be performed in right knee and the right foot on the ground.
- Betting was forbidden in anyway.
- If an arrow was broken after a shoot (or shot a bird while its flight) the archer could repeat this shot.
Range: Shooting ranges changes between 250 gez (~165 meters) and 400 gez (~265 meters).
Targets: The targets were generally pear-shaped leather bugs stuffed with cotton seeds or sawdust. Also flue-shaped baskets were used in the competitions.
[edit] 3. Performance Shootings
There where another shots generally are performed and seems like as a show or game other than official target and flight contests. And the "target" has lots of meanings in Turkish archery:
- Clay blocks which were softened with water before a shoot.
- Mirrors or metal plates (please see Mirror armour) and very hard objects to penetrate an arrow, like marble, wooden logs and ploughshares.
used as targets by archers on foot... And horseback archer uses;
- Small pots placed top of tall pole (in Gourd Archery)
- Human sized dummies,
- or soil mounds,
as a target. These type of shots has "keep in form" mean before the game or the show.
[edit] External links
[edit] Further reading
- Essential Archery for Beginners, translation
- A Book on the Excellence of the Bow and Arrow, translation
