Archery-Moral Education (II)

Since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family began to decline, and its old system and old ruling order were destroyed; new systems and new ruling orders were established, and new class forces were growing. The root of this social change hidden in this process was the revolution of productivity characterized by iron tools.

The development of productivity ultimately led to the reform movement of various countries and the establishment of the feudal system, which to a certain extent promoted the prosperity of ideology and culture. From the development of archery, with the decline of national archery games, the moral preaching in archery came to the fore; with the decline of the archery ability of the scholar class, the alienated pitching pot game became a substitute for archery; with the frequent war activities, the level of bow and arrow production has been generally improved.

2. From archery to pitching pot In the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the importance of the Zhou king to the archery activities, the princes of various places also paid attention to the etiquette of inviting guests to shoot arrows when entertaining guests. Therefore, the whole society formed a trend that men who could not shoot arrows were regarded as shameful. The host invited the guests to shoot arrows, and the guests could not refuse. However, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, under the influence of "shooting is not for the skin", some guests who could not shoot arrows gradually appeared, but the etiquette of banquet archery was still preserved, so an alternative etiquette form of throwing arrows into wine pots appeared. Over time, pitching pots replaced the original archery ceremony and became a popular entertainment game during banquets.

There should be no doubt that pitching pots came from archery ceremony. The "Book of Rites·Tou Hu" introduces that the etiquette of pitching pots in Lu and Xue is not to speak loudly, not to be arrogant, not to stand sideways, and not to talk to people far away, otherwise you will be fined. Therefore, Zheng Xuan's note in "Book of Rites" said: "Tou Hu is the finer details of archery." Xu Shikai of the Qing Dynasty also said in "Tou Hu Yijie": "Tou Hu is a change of archery ceremony." The picture of pitching pots in the decoration on the bronze pot with fishing, hunting and attacking patterns in the Warring States Period (collected by the Palace Museum) However, with the development of pitching pot activities in later generations, some people believe that the evolution of archery ceremony to pitching pots is not only due to the change of archery ceremony values, but also due to the limitations of venue factors or personal factors. These factors made pitching pot a stopgap measure adopted due to the inability to hold archery ceremonies.

For example, Sima Guang believed in "New Rules of Touhu": Touhu, "It must have started during banquets and drinks, to entertain the guests, or because of the inability to shoot, the utensils on the table were used to represent the archery ceremony." "Touhu Ceremony" by Wang Ti of the Ming Dynasty recorded: "Touhu is a detail of the archery ceremony. Shooting during banquets is to entertain the guests. In the courtyard, some people may not be able to draw the bow and arrow, so it is replaced by touhu." It can be seen that the situation at that time was: one was that some guests were not good at archery; the other was that the banquet venue was not suitable for archery. Therefore, the game of touhu was set up to replace archery. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was an important historical period for the evolution of the archery ceremony of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the later generations of touhu. Generally speaking, the archery ceremony is grand and grand, and it is a major ceremonial activity: while touhu uses arrows instead of arrows and pots instead of Hou, which can be an impromptu alternative small archery ceremony activity. Therefore, touhu is very popular among the scholar class.

The scholars at that time tended to cultivate their inner self, and the etiquette-oriented activity of pitching pots just met their needs. The so-called "taking 'half' or less is the pitching pot ceremony, and using it to its full extent is the archery ceremony" should be this meaning. The scholars held a respectful and cautious attitude in the pitching pot activity, and were orderly and gentle in the etiquette activities of the host and the guest. This pitching pot activity not only completely became a "learning and speaking art" etiquette under new social conditions, but also became a way of fitness or an elegant entertainment game. Therefore, the pitching pot activity quickly penetrated into the whole society, making the phenomenon of folks playing pitching pots for fun more and more common during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. The earliest pot used for pitching pots should be an ordinary wine pot. Later, it became a pot with a wide belly, a long neck, a narrow and slightly open mouth, and two small ears on the outside of the neck.

As described in "Book of Rites·Tou Hu": "The neck of the pot is seven inches long, the belly is five inches long, the diameter is two and a half inches, and it can hold a bucket of five liters." The materials are copper, iron or porcelain. In 1977, the earliest copper pitching pot in my country was unearthed from the tomb of the King of Zhongshan in the Warring States Period in Pingshan, Hebei Province, which gave us a more intuitive understanding of the concept of pots at that time. The shape of the pot is a round tube with three rhinoceros feet. The pot body is decorated with vivid and smooth fine lines. The shape and decoration are very beautiful. According to research, this is a "pierced ear" pot specially used for pitching pots. The tool for pitching pots changed the original cylindrical pot into a "pierced ear" pot, and added throwing holes (i.e. 鹄) at both ends, making it more difficult to hit the pot, so it improved the skill. The thickness of the arrows used for pitching pots is "eight points of circumference" (less than 2 cm in circumference). It is divided into three specific specifications according to the different places of pitching pots, namely "five supports in the room, seven supports in the hall, and nine supports in the courtyard". This means: the arrows used for pitching pots indoors are two feet long; the arrows used for pitching pots in the hall are two feet and eight inches long; the arrows used for pitching pots outdoors are three feet and six inches long. Arrows are usually made of jujube or thornwood. The rhinoceros-footed copper tossing pot of the Warring States Period (excavated in Pingshan, Hebei) can be understood as a scoring stick, used to count the results of tossing pot. The length of each stick is one foot and two inches (about 28 cm).

The number of hairpins used is determined by the actual number of people tossing pot. Generally speaking, a tossing pot player has 4 arrows, and 1 arrow should be ranked 1. If there are 5 people on both sides of the guest and the host, then 40 hairpins should be used. Red beans Red beans are placed in the pot, and their function is to prevent the arrows from bouncing out of the pot. Therefore, "Book of Rites: Tossing Pot" says: "The pot has a capacity of five liters, and the red beans are filled in the pot to prevent the arrows from jumping out." The procedure of tossing pots is carried out according to a fixed procedure. Usually, there is a "Si Zheng" who is responsible for presiding over the etiquette procedures and controlling the etiquette between the host and the guest; there are several "Si She" who are responsible for refereeing; there are several "winners" who are responsible for reporting the target; there are several "releasers" who are responsible for the statistics of the results; there are several "drinkers" who are responsible for pouring wine for the loser. First, the host and the guest take their seats. The host and the guest sit at their respective seats and the ceremony of throwing pots begins. The second is three invitations and three concessions. The host presents the arrows to the guest and asks: "I have an arrow whistle pot, please entertain the guests." The guest replies: "You have delicious wine and delicious food. Since I have given you, and you have also given me entertainment, I dare not refuse." The host asks again, "The arrow whistle pot is not worth refusing, I dare to insist." The guest replies: "Since I have given you, and you have also given me entertainment, I dare to insist." The host asks again, "The arrow whistle pot is not worth refusing, I dare to insist." The guest replies: "I have refused but I cannot be ordered, I dare not disobey." The guest bows to the host and accepts the four arrows presented by the host. The host bows back. The host and the guest bow to each other, sit upright at the host and guest seats, face the direction of the seat where the pot is, and prepare for the pot throwing. The next step is to enter the pot. The shooter puts the two pots on the mat opposite the host and the guest (the distance between the pot and the host and guest seats is two and a half arrows), facing the host and the guest respectively. Then return to the shooter's seat. The shooter then announces the rules and requirements, and the game begins. The game ends with "three rounds" to determine the final winner. Usually, it is a two-win game of three rounds, and the shooter announces who is the winner, and the audience drinks a celebratory drink. Finally, the shooter announces the end of the game. The rules of pot throwing The host and the guest participating in the game form a group of two people. Each game is divided into three groups, and the shooter will lead 6 shooters, and those with similar shooting skills will cooperate in pairs, for a total of 3 "periods" called upper couple, second couple, and lower couple respectively. When throwing the pot, the tip of the arrow must be thrown into the pot to be considered a hit, and the throwing action should be in harmony with the rhythm of the music.

Because during the competition, the musicians will be ordered to play "Li Shou" or "Lu Ming". When the game of throwing pots begins, the host will hold the arrows and let the guests throw first. The host and the guest throw arrows in turn and take turns. The one who throws the arrows first will not be scored. Each person has 4 arrows, and a total of 8 arrows are considered a round. After each round, the judge will calculate the total score and announce the result and the penalty. When the penalty is poured, the drinker will pour the wine and let the winner give the loser wine. The loser must kneel down to receive the wine and accept the punishment. If both sides fail to hit the target, it is called "losing pot" and the game will be restarted; if the number of hits by both sides is equal, it is called "jun". Then the second and third rounds will start. In the official game, if the guest hits an arrow, a "deng" is drawn from the container and placed on the right; if the host hits an arrow, a "deng" is drawn from the cotton container and placed on the left. The "winner" who is responsible for reporting the target is called odd when reporting an odd number, and pure when reporting an even number. One is an odd number, two is a pure number, and so on. Finally, the winner is calculated by the number of equals each person gets. In the "Tou Hu Tu" on the Nanyang Han Dynasty stone relief, there is a person sitting on the left and right side of the pot, each holding an arrow as if he is about to throw the pot, and holding three arrows in the other hand. The person on the right without an arrow is the referee. This picture reflects the scene of the Tou Hu competition at that time.