1901.66.2

Collection type

Object

Description

Whistling arrow head, no shaft.

Geographical reference

China

Asia > Eastern Asia > China

Person

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Stevens Auction Rooms

PRM source Jane Rigaud

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1901

Date collected

By 1901

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1901

Materials and processes

Material Walrus Ivory Tooth Animal, Material Bird Feather, Material Pigment, Process Perforated, Process Painted

Dimensions

Length 52 mm head

Object numbers

Accession number: 1901.66.2

Research and responses

Information from Peter Dekker (De Foro Manchu Archery: http://www.mandarinmansion.com/manchuarchery) following his visit as a member of the Society for the Promotion of Traditional Archery (SPTA) on 28 April 2011: Errors in case text about ‘Whistling arrows’:

a) “The noise was intended to alarm the opponents".

Qing imperial texts, describing many whistlers and their purposes, only list the following purposes: 1. Hunting. The vast majority of whistles are for this purpose. Some animals will be startled by the sound or react in a predictable manner when shot with a whistling arrow. Those with blades are almost always hunting arrows. Some blunt whistles were also used to kill pelt animals with blunt force and to prevent breaking the skin. 2. To prompt one’s own men. For example, used by scouts and sentries as a distress signal. 3. Fun: Target archery games existed where whistles were shot at felt rings.4. Ceremony (mainly Japanese shintoism, and Tungusic shamanism).

b) "Those with crescent blades were used in Japanese marine warfare to sever the rigging on enemy ships."

This is commonly said but probably not true: Crescent blades originated in hunting of birds and small game as they were able to cut through bone. They were later used for ceremonial purposes in Japan as well. It is impossible to cut rigging with these because bot only would heavy rigging absorb the blow, neutralizing much of the arrow's kinetic energy, but the arrow also spins a lot during flight. This makes it nearly impossible for the archer to know at what angle the blade is hitting the rope. [HH 22/08/2011]

Search terms: Music, Archery Weapon, Musical Instrument, Arrow, Flute