Archery is one of the excellent combat art speciality the Korean people practised and developed through generations.
The sport, which had widely been encouraged since the period of Tangun’s Korea, underwent remarkable development during the Koguryo Kingdom. The Koguryo people liked to do archery from their childhood, making it part and parcel of their everyday life. In order to promote archery and horse riding in the kingdom, a national hunting game used to be organized on Rangnang Hill on March 3 every year. In the Koguryo tomb murals still remaining to date, there are pictures portraying men on horseback chasing tigers to shoot arrows and those aiming their bows at roe deer or deer.
Later, too, the Koreans practised archery as a mass-based combat art for a long historical period. In the period of the Koryo Dynasty, South Phyongan Provincial people centring on Pyongyang became famous by shooting arrows particularly well, irrespective of social status.
During the feudal Joson dynasty, archery failed to make significant progress as compared to the previous eras, but it was continuously practised by soldiers and working people, with the result that many crack shots were produced.
Today, archery is encouraged as a sport and pastime as it helps people build up their physical strength and enrich their cultural and emotional life.