Lars Andersen part 2: myths of archery

Lars Andersen performing a bow trick.

Almost immediately when Lars Andersen's speed shooting video went viral, there emerged one and another column of criticism on different newspapers and web sites, written usually by self-claimed, but still unnamed, "archery experts", who angrily (and quite enviously) bashed his techniques, claimed them being nothing more than circus tricks, useless in warfare, and even accused him of 'distortion of history', a pretty serious claim with only misunderstandings backing it.

I want to correct those now. If you still haven't seen Andersen's amazing skills on video, you can find it in my last post in this blog.

Back quiver, a Hollywood myth, persisting over nine decades!

Those envy "experts" misunderstood the point clearly stated in Andersen's video, that back quivers weren't really used much at all in history, since they are very impractical. They thought that Andersen meant that quivers weren't used at all, then making obvious statements, that "no one would carry twenty to forty arrows in their hands". Of course not. Of course quivers were used. The thing was: quivers weren't used on back. That's the Hollywood myth, which they think looks 'cool', and because of that, every modern archer wants to replicate that and keep their arrows on their back. They probably haven't even tried to use hip quivers, although they would be much more practical, easier and faster to use.

Medieval longbowman with a proper hip quiver.

Another point was made about 'distortion of history', which is a crappy statement. Andersen claimed that the techniques he have discovered and practised have been lost in time for quite some time. This is in fact true. The "experts" claimed that these techniques were only lost in Europe, but not in Asia, where they would still prevail even today. I would like to ask these "experts", how many cultures in Asia still wage war, or even hunt, with traditional bows? I give you the answer too: zero! Also Andersen's techniques are based on Saracen archery, and Saracen (a generic term for arabic muslims in late Midde Ages) culture exists no more (replaced by muslim culture and different national identities, certainly the art of fast archery has been lost until now).

The "experts" gave as an example some traditional Japanese archery (kyudo) practised today. But the thing is: kyudo is a martial art, a sport, not a way of fighting in a war! These are two completely different things. In kyudo the archers use a long time for aiming each shot, and accuracy is the main goal in it. They are not fighting against an enemy, who would try to kill them. Also, sport bows are only half as powerful as war bows would be. That means they require much less force, and they can be held longer in the full drawn aiming position. With a real war bow, an archer doesn't really "aim" with the arrow, he knows where it will go when he releases, he just draws quickly and releases immediately (because with a powerful war bow the full draw requires immense amount of strength and if someone tries to aim with a full draw, their hands will get shaky and the arrow will fly off the target).

A modern Japanese kyudo archer holds his arrows on his back, not in a full quiver, but in a very small quiver called yebira, which doesn't hold the arrow shafts as tightly as a western full quiver, and actually the arrows can be drawn from the side, not from behind a shoulder, like in movies.

A historical kyudo archer. Japanese archery is based on wholly different techniques than European or Saracen archery, which Lars Andersen represents.