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| Shooting for the sun: Four Korean traditional horseback archery athletes in the saddle, from left, Kim Woo0seong, Kim Byeol-nim, Oh Han-you and Ju Geon, draw back their bows aiming at the rising sun at a practice range of Youngrang Lake Hwarangdo Tourism Complex in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Saturday. / Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Yoon Sung-won
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| Kim Young-sup, 54, the president of Korean Traditional Equestrian Martial Arts and Gyeokgu Association. / Korea Times photo by Yoon Sung-won |
Kim Young-sup, 54, is one of the few willingly embarking on this endeavor by spearheading the restoration of Korea's traditional equestrian martial arts and athletic activities. As the president of Korean Traditional Equestrian Martial Arts and Gyeokgu Association and the chairman of World Horseback Archery Federation, he spent more than three decades on horseback, mulling over how to promote Korea's horseback culture to the world.
"After studying horseback riding cultures of Korea, China and Japan more than 20 years ago, I found out that most of the heritage in Korea is left only in documents or murals and I realized that this culture needs to be restored and preserved," Kim said. "That's why I established the association and started to work on spreading awareness about Korean traditional horseback riding at home and abroad."
One of the most significant achievements of Kim's study is restoring Korea's ancient horseback archery, or Kisa in Korean, training methods and developing them into global standards and rules for modern competitions. Apart from single shot, double shot and serial shot, which are the three major events for individual games, Kim made a conspicuous contribution in reviving traditional horseback sports games such as Mogu and Masahee.
Mogu is a game with one of the most dynamic plays where a rider pulls a ball with a horse and the other horseback archers in the opposite team chase the ball trying to shoot the Mogu ball with two or three arrows. Masahee originates from an ancient mural of Goguryeo around 350 A.D. In Masahee games, horseback archers attempt to consecutively shoot down targets shaped like a wild boar, bear and tiger, which were the most popular games in the ancient days.
All these events have been adopted for the World Horseback Archery Championships hosted by World Horseback Archery Federation and supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Kim also worked to restore Gyeokgu, Korea's traditional version of polo and horseback acrobatics. He was very optimistic that all these horseback activities can be developed for shows and sports games on the international stages.
"Each ethnic group around the world has it unique horse-riding culture and among them Korea has more than thousands of years of history," he said. "The association has worked to spread Korea's tradition of horse-riding to the world and participated in organizing events and competitions in overseas countries including Turkey and the United States. We'll continue the effort in 2014. I hope more public and private institutions join in our initiative in the future."
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| Aiming: A horseback archer rides his horse as he practices drawing the bow without holding the reins at a practice range, Saturday. |
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| Warming up: Kim Woo-seong, left, and Ju Geon warm up their horses, Thursday. |
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| Focus on balance: Park Chun-sik, director of Korean Traditional Equestrian Martial Arts and Gyeokgu Association, teaches one of his students, Kim Byeol-nim, 22, how to better stay balanced on horseback in an indoor practice facility, Thursday. |
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| Rebandaging: Kim Woo-seong, a 20-year-old Korean traditional horseback martial arts athlete, removes an old bandage from the right front hoof of an injured horse named "Kirin" to change it at the stable, Thursday. |
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| Shooting out: Kim Byeol-nim shoots an arrow during archery practice, Friday. |
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| Steady!: A trainer trims a hoof of a horse at the stable, Thursday. Hoof trimming is crucial for preserving infections. |
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| Shooting out: Kim Woo-seong shoots an arrow during archery practice, Friday. |
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| I'm counting on you: Oh Han-you, a veteran horseback archery athlete, rests his head on his 18-year-old horse named "Heukseol" before an early morning exercise, Saturday. |
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| Acrobatic move: Ju Geon, a 22-year-old Korean traditional horseback martial arts athlete, practices swinging a spear around him as he rides on a 14-year-old veteran male horse named "Gaya," Thursday. |
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| Good job, partner: Kim Byeol-nim strokes the neck of her horse which exhales a rough breath out of exhaustion after exercise, Thursday. |
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| Quenching thirst: Shipjaseong, a 12-year-old male horse, drinks water before going to practice, Thursday. |
