Archery was one of the time-honoured martial arts of the Korean ancestors.
Archery, which had thrived since Tangun’s Korea, reached a new height in the period of Koguryo (277 BC-AD 668).
This was evidenced by the fact that King Tongmyong who founded Koguryo was called Jumong, which means a man who excels in archery.
The Koguryo people enjoyed archery from their childhood and regarded it as part of their life.
They paid attention to teaching their children how to shoot arrows, and excellent archers handed their forte and special techniques over to their children to carry on the tradition through generations.
According to historical records, Koguryo people built a big house called Kyongdang in each village to teach unmarried young people how to read and write and shoot arrows.
On March 3 by the lunar calendar every year, a national hunting game was held in a bid to encourage archery and horse riding.
Archery is well represented in Koguryo tomb murals, particularly those in Tokhung-ri and Yaksu-ri, which depict people shooting arrows on horseback in pursuit of a tiger or taking aim at a roe or deer with bows.
This tells that archery formed an organic whole with labour and life of the Koguryo people.
Old books say that maekgung made by the Koguryo people was highly appreciated as a very good bow even by neighbouring countries.
Even after the Koguryo period, archery was long promoted as one of the popular martial arts.
Today archery is widely practiced as a sport or recreational game.
Kye Sung Mu, researcher at the Folklore Institute under the Academy of Social Sciences
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