Tibet Archery Blog

Our traditional bows are commonly known by the nickname “Yak horn Bows” since wild yak horns goes into building the limbs of a standard bow. The concept of creating bows out of wild yak horns is very old. The wild yak horns were very big in size and are hence used a lot in the creation of bow limbs. Earliest known bows used in practicing archery were traditional bows. When the times changed, our own society also adapted to the changes and began to incorporate and adjust the new bows from outside.  At that time, the earliest bows available in the Qinghai plateau were recurve bows which sported an apple logo on its limbs.  Hence the popular term “apple bow” came into being given the unfamiliar pronunciation of the HOYT [...]

The origination of Tibetan Archery is actually dated back more than 2000 years old. And it was around 1100 years ago, when the Tibetan Buddhist practitioner (Lha-Lung Paldor) assassinated the last king of Tibet, Wo-Dhum Tsenpo (Popularly known as Lang-Darma) to stop this idiosyncratic king from wiping out the entire Buddhist relics and monasteries, with an arrow by disguising himself (Lha-Lung Paldor) as one of the dancers in a mass show called Cham (a Traditional Tibetan Mask Dance). Henceforth, people celebrates the “Archery” for this bravery of Lhalung Paldor for stopping the aforementioned king and, they also built a pagoda in Jianca (pronounce as Jianza) for the remembrance of the Lha-Lung Paldor in rejoice!  Therefore, archery is deeply engrossed in Tibetan tradition and the very essence of the ancient traditions [...]