Research On The Trade Of The Bow Horn Between China And Joseon Dynasty From The 15th To The 18th Century

Korea was adept at shooting since ancient times.Korea’s best skills are more like bows and arrows.The bow can be said to be Joseon Dynasty’s best weapon.The shape of the Joseon Dynasty’s bow was similar to Chinese bow,which was a composite bow made from the combination of wood,horns,tendons,glue and other materials.The horn is one of the main materials for bow making.The reserve of the horn is directly related to the number of military bows and the military defense force of the Joseon Dynasty.The buffalo horn is considered as the most suitable animal horn for bow making.The buffalo horn bow has the advantages of being difficult to break and having great elasticity.However,the natural environment of the Korean peninsula is not suitable for the survival of buffaloes.The buffalo horn is rare in Korean peninsula,which is not enough to supply military.In order to obtain sufficient military bow horns,since the 15 th century,the Joseon Dynasty and the Ming-Qing Dynasties continued more than three hundred years of the bow horn trade.The horn bow trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty was parallel in the form of official and private trade.From the Sejong period(1418-1450)to the Sejo period(1455-1468),the Joseon Dynasty obtained bow horns through private trade in Liaodong of the Ming dynasty.Since the Seonjong period(1469-1495),the Joseon Dynasty officially asked the permission to Ming dynasty to trade bow horns.The Ming Dynasty allowed the request.The Joseon Dynasty obtained the trade volume of two hundred pairs buffalo horns per year.At the same time,the private trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty was continued.The Joseon Dynasty obtain a certain amount of buffalo horns from the official trade and private trade,which basically met the needs of the Joseon Dynasty for bow making.At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty,the bow horn trade with the Joseon Dynasty was carried out in the form of tribute.The Qing Dynasty urgently needed buffalo horns to make bows and required Joseon Dynasty to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty every year.After the eleventh year of the emperor Shunzhi(1654)in the Qing Dynasty,the buffalo horn tribute was cancelled.The horn trade between the Qing Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty proceeded in the form of private trade.However,due to the strict ban on bow horn trade in the Qing Dynasty,the volume of private bow horn trade was unstable.In the sixtieth year of the emperor Kangxi(1721)and the third year of the emperor Yongzheng(1725),the Joseon Dynasty asked the permission to the Qing Dynasty to obtain a stable supply of bow horns through public trade,but the request was refused by the Qing Dynasty.Except for the buffalo horns tribute in the early Qing Dynasty,there was no official trade of bow horns between the Joseon Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.In order to strengthen national defense ability and prevent the outflow of military materials,the Ming and Qing dynasties prohibited the foreign trade of military supplies,military equipment,cattle and horses,and the Qing dynasty explicitly prohibited the export of bow horn trade.However,the bow horn was an essential munition for the military defense of the Joseon Dynasty.Relation to military capabilities,the Joseon Dynasty had to violate the prohibition of the Ming and Qing Dynasty and allowed the envoys to Beijing to trade military bow horns from the Ming and Qing dynasties through private trade.This is the choice made by the Joseon Dynasty in consideration of country’s actual interests.