Robin Hood Was An Amateur by wysiwig
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Description
The goal of the government of Bhutan is "to contribute to the gross national happiness". They seem to have done a pretty good job of it. The people seem content and happy and we saw no hunger or obvious poverty during our visit. The Bhutanese love sports and while we were there football (soccer) was all the rage. Three years before our visit Khyentse Norbu wrote and directed the first Bhutanese film ever made. It was PHORPA (Four-Pa), or THE CUP. The story dealt with some Bhutanese monks who were enthralled with soccer. The film followed the efforts to which the monks went in order to get a television and an antenna at the monastery to watch the World Cup competition.
The number one sport in Bhutan, however, is archery. The Bhutanese are crazy for it. Jakar was no exception. We visited a range to watch some truly remarkable performances. Western influence has seeped into even this most Bhutanese of pastimes. Traditional bows are beginning to be replaced by our modern bows.
In the first image you see a gentleman getting ready to fire. The second image shows another bowman preparing to fire. Where is the target? If you look to the upper right of the image you will see a brown mass. This is a safety wall to catch errant arrows. That light colored figure in front of it is the target. The last image proves that these archers hit their target quite often. And so, at the risk of offending my English friends, I have to say that Robin Hood was an amateur.
Comments (11)
bmac62
Fascinating. As a guy who has run a lot of Army firing ranges (pistol, rifle, tank and artillery) my initial reaction is to shout, "CEASE FIRE! Get those people back behind the firing line." Now I realize these are probably expert marksmen but one sneeze at the wrong time and poof...one stuck downrange person. All that aside, one very interesting and well done collage Mark. Atta boy:)
netot
Great captures, and great narrative, Mark! I loved to shot with bow when I was a teen, (Still have my old bow, but no arrows at home since my boy was born).
Wolfenshire
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't stand that close to the target, no matter how good they are. Thanks for these photos. They are great!!
ZanderXL
Monks & Football? Ha ha! Reminds me of the film "Shaolin Soccer". Check it out if you want a laugh. Archery, huh? Now that is interesting. Given the obvious skill of the archers, I wonder if there are any similarities between their discipline and the Japanese art of Kyudo? Fascinating.
durleybeachbum
SO interesting! I love the way your postings expand my horizons.
Faemike55
Fascinating captures Mark
Faemike55
Now that you've refreshed my memory on this image, I'd love to study under these masters
bobrgallegos
Outstanding collage of photos Mark!! It's great to see the world through the lense of Your camera, Thanks!!
rockstrider
Heyyy!!! Robin Hood could beat these guys blindfolded!!! (I'm an Englishman lol). That's actually a gun target - the largest one is for handguns and the smaller one above it for rifles. Excellent collage Mark!
tennesseecowgirl
Great work my friend!!
sandra46
EXCELLENT TRIO
auntietk
On my best day I couldn't hit that target! Thanks for sharing this! It brought back fond memories of archery, and it's great to see people doing something they're really good at.