Bow holding technique (I)

Traditional bows, basic principles to be followed when holding a bow: the contact surface between the bow handle and the hand should be as small as possible to reduce interference with the bow. After opening the bow, the bow force should be transmitted through the radial side of the wrist joint (as close to the center of the joint as possible) to form a "bone support". The fingers should be relaxed as much as possible, and try not to "grip" the bow. The force point of pushing the bow should always be at the same position of the bow handle to achieve "opposite push bow".
1. Slant holding and low pushing This is the most conducive way to hold a heavy bow, and it is also a common technique in ancient paintings or old photos. "Slant holding and low pushing" in Dunhuang murals
1. Technical features The "slant holding and low pushing" technique slightly tilts the palm, and pushes the bow with the middle part of the thenar at the root of the thumb; the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger gently protect the bow handle to prevent the bow from shaking or falling; the pressure of the bow falls on the radial joint; keep the tiger's mouth lower than the first joint of the thumb to hold the arrow. Why do you need to hold it obliquely? From the perspective of human physiological structure, "slant holding" is more conducive to achieving two purposes than "straight holding": first, it is conducive to accurately positioning the middle part of the thenar to push the bow, avoiding holding the bow too deep and pushing the bow with the palm; second, it is easy to keep the tiger's mouth lower than the first joint of the thumb, so as to facilitate the arrow. You can experience these two points in actual shooting. 2. Advantages and disadvantages The tension of the hand muscles and muscles around the radial joint can be reduced accordingly, which is conducive to opening a heavy bow. The tiger's mouth is low, and the arrow feathers are not easy to scratch the hand; the contact area between the bow handle and the palm is large, and when there is a difference in the consistency of the force of pushing the bow, the interference to the bow body is large, affecting the shooting accuracy; the tension of the wrist muscles affects the height of the actual push point, and also affects the pull distance, and the shooting accuracy is not easy to stabilize; the pull distance is shorter than "straight holding and high pushing". 3. One advantage of the slant holding and low pushing technique is that the tiger's mouth is low, which can avoid the arrow feathers scratching the hand. There are two specific arrow-holding techniques: vertical thumb, holding the arrow on the inside of the first section of the thumb: "slanting low push" technique diagram. Holding the arrow on the inside of the thumb. In my personal experience, the biggest advantage of this arrow-holding technique is that the arrow shaft and feathers are not easy to hurt the hand. Even if there are individual arrows with wrong movements, they are not easy to be worn or scratched due to the buffering effect of the soft flesh on the inside of the thumb. But the disadvantage is that the position of the thumb is not easy to fix, which affects the shooting accuracy. The thumb is bent, the fingertip is against the middle finger, and the arrow is held on the inside of the first joint of the thumb: "slanting low push" technique diagram. Holding the arrow on the inside of the first joint of the thumb. This arrow-holding technique is very common in traditional Korean archery. The advantage is that the position of the thumb is easy to fix, which is conducive to improving the consistency of the action. In actual shooting, I personally feel that its disadvantage is that there is only skin and bone on the inside of the first joint of the thumb, and there is hard friction between the arrow shaft. When there is a mistake in the action, it is easy to scratch the skin.
2. Holding high and pushing This is the most conducive to accurate shooting. It is also a technique that requires the highest strength. "Holding and pushing" in Japanese Kyudo 1. Technical features The "holding and pushing" technique is to hold the bow handle straight, and push the bow with the upper part of the thenar near the base of the thumb; the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger gently protect the bow handle, and keep a proper gap between the three fingers and the bow handle (the gap of a chopstick); the pressure of the bow falls on the radial joint; the thumb of the thumb supports the arrow. Since the push point of the "holding and pushing" technique is relatively high, it is difficult to make the base of the thumb lower than the thumb, so the "base of the thumb" method is generally used.
"Holding and pushing" technique diagram Base of the thumb 2. Advantages and disadvantages The contact area between the bow handle and the hand is small, and when there is a difference in the consistency of the force of pushing the bow, the interference to the bow body is small, and it is easy to shoot accurately; it is easy to sense and fix the position of the wrist and the tension of the surrounding muscles to ensure shooting accuracy; it can increase the draw distance and increase the power of the bow and arrow; it takes a lot of force to fix the radial wrist joint, and when using a heavy bow, the bow pusher is prone to instability; the thumb of the thumb supports the arrow, and the arrow feathers are easy to scratch the thumb.
3. Miscellaneous talks To briefly summarize the characteristics of the two techniques, "slant holding and low pushing" is to push the bow with the palm, and "upright holding and high pushing" is to push the bow with the fist. Since it is easier to sense and fix the position of the hand and wrist with the fist, and maintain the consistency of the action, it is conducive to shooting accurately; on the other hand, palm pushing is more labor-saving and more conducive to using heavy bows.
It should be noted that: since traditional bows do not have the "pistol-shaped bow handle" of modern competitive recurve bows, it is difficult to hold the bow stably using the "tiger's mouth" pushing bow technique, so it is rarely used. From the perspective of modern competitive recurve, the so-called high push and low push mentioned here are actually "low push", but the position of the thenar push bow point is different.