Prior to the introduction of matchlock rifles, the bow was the quintessential Korean weapon – especially the pyeonjeon. The pyeonjeon was, for the most part, an ordinary bow except it utilised a long grooved stick or firing tube called a tonga. This secret Korean innovation increased the range of the arrows and, because a tonga was needed, made it difficult for the enemy to pick up and reuse the Korean arrows. According to a Korean officer from the early 20th century, the tonga tended to sow deadly confusion amongst the enemy:
“The grooved stick can be seen by the enemy, who thinks that the arrow has not yet been released so that he continues to watch the bowman when suddenly the arrow coming unseen from the sky pierces him.”
During war, women helped construct bows and arrows and, in dire situations, “sometimes helped to ‘man’ the city walls” with small bows that fired 15-inch-long “iron arrows, like a needle, with great force.” In the early 17th century, matchlock rifles were introduced to the Korean peninsula and the bow’s importance on the battlefield waned. Archery, however, remained an integral part of Korean society it was, according to Shin Myung-ho, the, “a fundamental aspect of refinement.”
