Nevertheless, White’s role has been a part of the rise of 23 clubs in Seoul and 48 nationwide with most starting in 2015 according to the Korean Archery College Federation.
Since then, it is also reported in a survey conducted by the federation that 10 to 20 members are joining Korean Traditional Archery clubs each semester with 70 to 80 new members per club per year and “the number is continuously increasing,” says White.
So much so that competitions have now started to be organised with the first one held at Induk in August, the 8:15 Liberation Day Commemorative, organised by White, other advisory professors and club leaders from Seoul’s universities such as Yonsei, Dongguk and Seoul’s Women University.
The most recent was on 17 November, the Second Patriots’ Day KTA competition at the indoor Hwalssoa range in the Nowon Gu district, which saw Induk come third overall with one of its members winning the freshman category.
Due to the enormous density Seoul is as a city however, room to have 145-metre ranges for universities is hard to come by, which is one of the reasons students shoot at lesser distances as well as it being much easier for them at beginner level.
“More popular is 30 metres, 50 metres and there’s totally nothing wrong with that at all,” said White when explaining the university rules. “The bows allow it. Smaller targets are needed but it kind of goes against the determined rules of the sport that have been happening, that Korea knows of.”
“I don’t want to say redefine, but the archery activity is more accessible to university students at the smaller level.”
In addition to tournaments, there is also the chance to upgrade students’ ‘dans’, like black belts in martial arts, through approved sanctioned tests where the archers must hit the target so many times to get one ‘black belt’.
For tests on dans one to three, the modern laminated bows are used but from dans four above, archers are required to shoot with the true traditional gakgung bow, which can cost around USD 700, much more than the laminated ones at USD 300.
The pricier gakgungs are made from water buffalo, fish bladder glue, bamboo strips and birch tree bark, inducing to keep the traditional craftmanship alive.
This was Part 1 on Korean Traditional Archery. Read Part 2.
