Sheshu 射書 and other books on archery

In antiquity, the canonic books on rituals, Zhouli 周禮, Yili 儀 and Liji 禮記, included statements on archery. During the Zhou period 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE), not just soldiers were trained in "military archery" (wushe 武射), but the social elite as well conducted archery contests as ceremonies of social encountering (lishe 禮射), and thus trained not just their brains and social refinement, but also their physics (see the "six arts"). The Wei 曹魏 (220-265) and Jin 晉 (265-420) dynasties used the words "erudites' archery" (boshe 博射) and "soldiers' archery" (bingshe 兵射). However, practical writings on archery remained below the threshold of libraries, and are rarely recorded in old book catalogues. The oldest surviving catalogue, the chapter Yiwen zhi 藝文志 in the official dynastic history Hanshu 漢書, includes a section on military skills (Bing jiqiao 兵技巧) that lists eight books on archery and crossbow training.

Six centuries later, not a single one of these texts survived. The bibliographical chapter Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the history book Suishu 隋書 lists but a single book on archery, namely Mashepu 馬射譜 on shooting from horseback that was already lost in the 7th century. The bibliographical chapter of the Xintangshu 新唐書 lists no more than three books on archery.

From the Song period 宋 (960-1279) on, books on archery were shifted from the bibliographical category of military writings to that of "miscellaneous skills" (za yishu 雜藝術), and thus de-politicized. Lists can be found in the bibliographical chapters of the encyclopaedias Tongzhi 通志 (63-70 Yiwen lüe 藝文略) and Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考 (172-183 Jingji kao 經籍考, and that of the history book Songshi 宋史 (202-209 Yiwen zhi 藝文志). Unfortunately, nothing of these texts has survived, barring a few quotations.

Archery remained an important art of war during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644), in spite of the increasing importance of firearms on the battlefield. Archery was likewise highly esteemed by the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911), as one of the traditional cultural and military virtues of the Manchus.

The first research on ancient texts on archery was carried out by Tang Hao 唐豪 (1897-1959), who published his article "Zhongguo wuyi tuji kao" 中國武藝圖籍考 in the journal Shuowen yuekan 說文月刊 (1940) 2. His list of 80 writings discerned between practical military (she) and ritual writings (yijie 儀節). A first commentary on 19 archery books, the article Woguo tizu yiliao jieti 我國體育資料解題, was published in the series Zhongguo tizushi cankao ziliao 中國體育史參考資料. The series Qingdai shezi congshu 清代射藝叢書 was planned to include 16 Qing-period books on archery, but because of financial reasons, only the first collection of four books was realized. It consists of the books Sheshuo 射說 by Gu Gao 顧鎬, Xueshelu 學射錄 by Li Gong 李塨 (1659-1733), Zhengnan shefa 征南射法 by Huang Baijia 黃百家 (1643-1709), and Kechang shefa zhinan che 科場射法指南車 by Li Qi 劉奇.

Further research brought to light a total number of about 120 books on archery that had been written through Chinese history. Of these, about half has survived. The most comprehensive list on books on ancient archery can be found in Ma Mingda's 馬明達 Zhongguo gudai sheshu kao 中國古代射書考 from xxx /year/. More information on archery can also be found as chapters in various military treatises.

The most important surviving Sheshu 射書 "Book on archery" is a book on archery written during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Gu Yu 顧煜 (1602-1659), courtesy name Mingbai 銘柏, style Xishen Juepu 西神矍圃. He hailed from Wuxi 無錫, Jiangsu, but his dates of life are unknown. His book of 4 juan length is a collection of quotations on the art of shooting in ancient times. The text begins with a commentary on the rules of shooting from the military examinations (Wuke zhizhao shuyi 武科制詔疏議), followed by descriptions of the "standards of archery" (shefa 射法), the "modes of shooting" (sheshi 射式), mounted archery (mashe 馬射) and certain ceremonies surrounding the contest (sheli 射禮). Among the paragraphs quoted in the first two chapters, a lot of texts are marked as "secretly received" (mi shou 秘授), so that it remains unclear from which source the author obtained his information. The chapter of "rituals" quotes from the rules for archery from the military examination, but also from older texts like the Classics Zhouli 周禮, Yili 儀 and Liji 禮記, or the books Wu-Yue chunqiu 吳越春秋, Baihutong 白虎通, the encyclopaedia Chuxueji 初學記, or Yuan Huang's 袁黃 (1533-1606) Bingzhi kao 兵志考, Huang Daozhou's 黃道周 (1585-1646) Mazhengkao 馬政考 or Lao Kan's 勞堪 (1529-1616) Mashuo 馬說, and also from old poems.

A print from the Chongzhen reign-period 崇禎 (1627-1644) was once owned by the Beiping Library 北平圖書館, but it went lost during the Sino-Japanese War.

A chapter Guan Fuzhen's 官撫辰 collection Yunhong donggao 雲鴻洞稿 from the late Ming period was also called Sheshu. Because the collection was prohibited from circulation from the late Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1795) on, the Sheshu and the chapters Huojing 火經 "Book of fire (for treating the wooden arms of the bow?)" and Qishu 器書 "Book of tools" went lost.