The Development and Improvement of Archery (IV)

Mature Archery Games

The so-called "Archery Games" refers to the archery competitions that were held once a year in the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty in my country, in the form of etiquette and for the purpose of selecting talents. The content is archery competitions, and the Zhou emperor, princes and doctors widely participated in the archery competitions. "Archery Games" are different from "Archery Ceremony". The so-called archery ceremony, also known as ritual shooting, mainly refers to an archery activity that occurred in the pre-Qin period in my country and was mainly popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty. This activity uses archery as a carrier, etiquette as a norm, and the goal of achieving social governance and educational functions. It is a ritual system that has been circulated in the pre-Qin period.

According to the classification of sports knowledge, it has both competitive archery etiquette and non-competitive archery etiquette. There are four main types of archery etiquette with competitive nature, namely, the Great Archery Ceremony, the Guest Archery Ceremony, the Yan Archery Ceremony, and the Township Archery Ceremony. As non-competitive archery etiquette, it mainly includes the Archery Ceremony and the Fish Ceremony. The focus of "shooting ceremony" is on "ritual". It emphasizes more on instilling etiquette education through archery competition activities, forming etiquette norms, and achieving the purpose of ritual governance.

Researchers mostly study and consider this ritual system from the perspective of social politics. They focus on the form of "ritual" and ignore the content of "shooting". Archery activities are more understood as an external manifestation of social governance, a shell and form of the Zhou ritual system, and a means and attachment to maintain political rule. The focus of "shooting ceremony games" is on "sports games", emphasizing the main content of "archery competition". Rite is only understood as a form rather than content throughout the archery competition activities.

The research perspective is mainly to use modern sports science to examine and analyze the process of "selecting people" through archery in shooting ceremony. ① The result of "selecting people" is determined through the process of "archery competition", which leads to the generation of a series of sports elements, such as contestants, certain venues and facilities, referees and competition rules. The "big shooting ceremony" that took place in the Western Zhou Dynasty in my country can be identified as the "shooting ceremony games" in the Western Zhou Dynasty in my country. The Western Zhou Dynasty Archery Games are archery competitions with modern sports and competitive colors, hosted by the state. They are based on the national festivals in autumn every year and are archery trials for obtaining the qualifications to participate in the national festivals. The Western Zhou Dynasty Archery Games were held once a year, starting in 1035 BC and ending in 772 BC, with a total of 263 sessions. The duration of the event is usually one day, and the venue is the Archery Palace, also known as Biyong or Shelu. The Western Zhou Dynasty Archery Games have a complete set of procedures, including pre-match notice and preparation, organization and conduct during the game, post-match results statistics and penalty drinking, etc.; there are clear qualifications for participating athletes and various referee staff specifications; there are fixed venues and facility requirements.

Pre-match preparation Pre-match notice Before each Archery Games, the King of Zhou first issued an order, and then the chief of the three ministers announced it to the officials who were related to archery. Then the official in charge of archery, the archer, was responsible for informing the dukes, ministers, and officials, and the Sima, the official in charge of archery, was responsible for informing the scholars and the staff of the Games to make preparations before the competition. The venue and facilities were prepared three days before the competition. The prime minister once again warned Sima and others that the competition was approaching and the relevant people needed to make efforts to make various preparations before the competition. The archer was to supervise and check the cleaning of the archery palace and the washing of utensils one day before the competition. Sima ordered the relevant personnel to measure the length of the archery path, such as the Xionghou used by the dukes was 90 steps long, the Canhou used by the ministers was 70 steps long, and the Ganhou (Xinhou) used by the scholars was 50 steps long. The relevant personnel had to arrange the height of the target, such as the bull's eye of the duke's target should be higher than the doctor's target, the bull's eye of the doctor's target should be higher than the scholar's target, and the rope at the bottom of the target should be one foot and two inches above the ground. Leather covers for the target reporter to hide should also be prepared and placed at the intersection ten steps west and ten steps north of the target.

In addition, the preparations before the competition also include musicians, who should supervise and check the placement of various musical instruments. The palace guards should be responsible for arranging various wine utensils and distributing food prepared for officials in the early morning of the competition day. The entry and grouping of the monarch and ministers before the competition should first be reported to the King of Zhou by the archer, and everything is ready. At this time, the King of Zhou went up to the hall and sat down, facing west. At the same time, the little ministers (coaches) guided the dukes, ministers, and doctors to enter the shooting palace from the right side of the door, and stood in the northeast of Ganhou, facing north; the scholars stood in the west of the courtyard, facing east; the little ministers and others stood under the east hall, facing south. Later, the King of Zhou went down to the hall and welcomed all the guests and contestants. Then he went up to the hall and sat down.

After the monarch and ministers completed a series of tedious etiquette procedures, the archery guards asked the King of Zhou to start the competition and introduced the targets for the monarch and ministers. Then the Sishe entered the Cizhong (dressing area), took off the sleeve of his left arm, put a ring on his right thumb, put on his left arm (arm guard), picked up the bow, held four arrows between his right fingers and put them on the string, and hooked the bowstring with his right thumb, and then asked the emperor: "Request the archery competition to begin." When the King of Zhou agreed, the Sishe reported to the King of Zhou the situation of the archery grouping (pairing). "The doctors and doctors are paired. If there are more doctors than the number, the upper and lower scholars will be paired." Each pair consists of two people, divided into upper shooting and lower shooting.

At the same time, the Sishe ordered the staff to put the archery weapons one by one, among which the horse arrows of the King of Zhou were placed in the East Hall, and the bows and arrows used by others were placed in the West Hall. Then, the Sishe announced the rules of the competition: "The King of Zhou shoots the Dahou, the doctors shoot the Canhou, and the scholars shoot the Ganhou. If you don't shoot your own Hou in the competition, then it doesn't count. But if the inferior and the respected are paired, then they share the Hou with the respected, and no longer shoot different Hou separately." Finally, the shooting officer first selects three pairs (three groups), and after each pair confirms, they go to get their own bows and arrows for the competition.

Pre-match shooting demonstration Before the official competition begins, the shooting officer needs to demonstrate the shooting method to all the contestants before the competition. The shooting officer enters the dressing room, inserts three arrows on his waist, holds an arrow between his right fingers, and then goes out of the dressing room to demonstrate the shooting. During the demonstration, the shooting officer uses four arrows to shoot three Hous, that is, the first arrow is used to shoot Gan Hou, the second arrow is used to shoot Can Hou, and the remaining two arrows are used to shoot Da Hou. At the beginning of the competition (the first shooting), the upper (first group) of the three pairs will appear first. The upper shooting of the upper pair will first go up to the hall and stand on the left; the lower shooting will go up to the hall later and stand on the right. The two "both put their left feet on things", turned to face west, then turned south to look at the center of the target, straightened their steps, and waited for the arrow to be shot. At this time, the Sima ordered the target bearer (the person in charge of the target) to leave the target, and the winners (the target reporter) also bowed and waited. The Sishe explained the precautions to the upper shooter: do not shoot the winner, and do not shoot the wrong target. So the upper shooter shot the first arrow, then took out the second arrow and held it, waiting for the lower shooter to shoot the first arrow, and then the upper shooter could shoot the second arrow. This alternating process continued until the two shot their four arrows. During this time, the winner raised the flag and reported the results.

However, since the first round of shooting is an experience competition, the target reporter only reports whether it hits or not, and does not count how many hits it has. When the upper couple finishes shooting, the second couple (the second group) will go up to the stage, and then the third couple (the third group) will go up to the stage. Until all three couples have shot, the first round of shooting is completed. If the first round of shooting is just a trial competition, then the second and third rounds of shooting are official competitions for statistical results. The archery procedures are basically the same as the first round of shooting, except that music rhythm is added to the third round of shooting. In the official competition, the King of Zhou will also be paired to participate in the competition. The King of Zhou is usually paired with a "Guest". Although it is also archery, the King of Zhou has many privileges during the competition, which reflects the hierarchy in the archery ceremony. For example, when the King of Zhou competes, there is a senior coach standing behind him to help with corrections. When the King of Zhou shoots too low, he says "stay"; when the arrow is too high, he says "raise"; if the arrow is shot to the left or right, he will also tell the King to lean to the left or right. For example, when the King of Zhou shoots arrows, no matter which of the three marquises he hits, it is considered a hit, but others are not. In addition, when the third round of shooting needs music, it is stipulated that if the arrow does not correspond to the rhythm of the music, it is not considered a hit. But the King of Zhou can not follow the prescribed drum rhythm, as long as the target is hit, it will count. After the competition, the staff will first count the chips. Usually, one hit will get one level, which is one odd. The calculation is based on two levels as one pure, and ten pure as one code. First count the chips on the left (upper shot), then count the chips on the right (lower shot).

The staff will finally take out the extra chips of the winning side and report the results of the competition to the King of Zhou. If the upper shot on the left wins, it will be said that "the left shot is better than the right shot"; if the lower shot on the right wins, it will be said that "the right shot is better than the left shot". If the number of chips obtained by the left and right shots is equal, it will be said that "the number of chips on the left and right is equal". The rules of the shooting ceremony games stipulate that the losing side of the game must drink a penalty, including the King of Zhou. First, the winner takes off the sleeves of his left arm, puts a ring on his right thumb, puts a bow on his left arm, and holds a bow with a string. The loser puts on the sleeves of his left arm, takes off the ring and bow, raises his left palm, puts the untied bow on his left hand with his right hand, and holds the bow horizontally with both hands. When drinking the penalty wine, all the contestants go up to the hall together and gather on the west steps. The winner drinks the penalty wine to the loser. The order of drinking the penalty wine is the same as the order of the competition. The upper couple comes out first, then goes down the hall, and the winner drinks the penalty wine to the loser. Then the second couple comes out, and so on. However, in order to reflect the difference in rank, if the guest or the dukes and ministers are the losers, they do not have to go down the hall when drinking the penalty wine, that is, they can complete this procedure in the hall. If the emperor loses and is punished with drinking the penalty wine, the courtiers will complete the relevant links instead, and then the guest will pay homage to the king of Zhou, and then the emperor of Zhou will return the gift and drink the penalty wine. After the competition, the King of Zhou would arrange a grand banquet, and the king and his ministers would drink together to celebrate.

During the banquet, the King of Zhou even asked everyone to "get drunk". Until nightfall, "the common people held candles on the steps of the formation, the palace officials held candles on the west steps, the Dian people held large candles in the courtyard, and the cabinet people lit candles outside the door". This was a very grand scene. Then, under the music of "Xuan", the contestants, including guests and ministers, left the banquet one after another. Finally, the King of Zhou also left the shooting palace and returned to the capital. At this time, the royal band played the song called "Ao" to end the day's competition. The shooting ceremony had extremely complex and specific etiquette requirements, reflecting the strict hierarchical slave-owning class system. For example, in the competition, the Hou used by the king, princes, ministers, etc., and the music matched during archery, were all strictly distinguished and exquisite, reflecting that even if a sports meeting was held at that time, the highest purpose was to maintain the supreme authority and interests of the slave-owning class. Notes: ① What is meant by "selecting talents" is to use archery competitions to select outstanding talents to participate in sacrifices. This is the main purpose of the "Grand Archery Ceremony". At the same time, it also has typical sports competitiveness.