Arrow side and drawing grip
Jul 19, 2021 5:24:41 GMT
Post by durinnmcfurren on Jul 19, 2021 5:24:41 GMT
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but as someone with an interest in historical archery but virtually no experience, I am curious to know if anyone has any opinions on Shadiversity's claims about the ability to loose arrows from the drawing hand side of the bow with medieval bows. This is partly because when I first picked up a bow, I just assumed that with a right hand draw I should put the arrow on the right, as otherwise, you have to lift the arrow over the top of the bow and it seemed inconvenient to nock it
If you search his channel on youtube you can find he has made several videos on the subject, and to be honest, some of his arguments are rather persuasive. The one I thought was most interesting was that there are medieval artwork pieces depicting exactly this sort of thing being done, quite deliberately. However, I am of the 'monks were probably the Hollywood filmmakers of their day' opinion about medieval art: we cannot really trust it for technical details, any more than you can trust Rambo to show you how to operate a firearm: the general bit might be sort of ok but the details are going to be totally random as to whether they have any validity.
Then I noticed that Shad referenced and possibly even had Lars Anderersen on his channel to agree with him. This strikes me as a big mark against Shad's theory, because while Lars is a skilled trick shooter (and that's fine!), his historical claims strike me as about on par with flat earth theory, only more so. Also because Lars does not shoot warbows, and his trick shooting is almost 100% guaranteed to be impossible with a warbow (I say this because I am quite strong, but I cannot draw a real warbow effectively, and even the people who do use warbows can only draw them by using the right stance and movements to engage the whole body in drawing it, thus negating the possibility of most of Lars' trick shots).
So to summarize:
- What is the problem with putting the arrow on the drawing hand side of the bow? Why could Japanese archers do it with their military bows, but not Europeans (supposedly)?
- What about the art work showing medieval archers doing this? Just a mistake by the person who made the manuscript? Or evidence it was sometimes done?
- Yes, I know about the archer's paradox, but I don't see that this would be affected by which side of the bow you put the arrow (it would affect which direction the arrow goes in, of course, but it wouldn't make the paradox itself any different).
- Thoughts about Shad's other points?