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Repeating crossbow in Chinese and Korean armies Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   Killer Katanas

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Posted 16 September 2006 - 06:59 PM

I am curious about this weapon (I think it is caled a Chu-ko-nu?) and its use in Ming and Korean armies. In the orders of battle I have seen for the Imjin War, troops are said to be carrying bows, yet I know this repeating crossbow was used too.

Are bows just the typical bows, or do they also include these Chu-ko-nu? What percentage would be crossbow and regular bow?

Brian
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#2 User is offline   Mei Houwang

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Posted 16 September 2006 - 08:00 PM

Bows are called gong, while crossbows are called nu. But just b/c they are said to use "nu" does not mean they used the Cho-ko-nu, which is just one type of crossbow.
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#3 User is offline   Liang Jieming

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Posted 03 October 2006 - 10:50 PM

Hi Brian, what is your source that states the use of the zhugenu (chu-ko-nu) in the Imjin war?
Chinese Siege Warfare - Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity
ISBN 981-05-5380-3

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#4 User is offline   Mei Houwang

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Posted 03 October 2006 - 10:53 PM

Didn't Conan(or was it Wujiang?) post Ming pictures of troops using giant chokonus on warships?
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#5 User is offline   Liang Jieming

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Posted 03 October 2006 - 11:41 PM

Imjin war scroll
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#6 User is offline   Killer Katanas

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Posted 13 October 2006 - 12:26 AM

View PostLiang Jieming, on Oct 3 2006, 08:50 PM, said:

Hi Brian, what is your source that states the use of the zhugenu (chu-ko-nu) in the Imjin war?


All my information is coming from the book Imjin Chollansa. It mentions repeating crossbows and I assume they were called Chukonu.

I know now that I was wrong. I picked up a book on Chinese weapons at UCLA and it shows that a chukonu was a device that is quite different from what the soldier carried.

But what is the name of the repeating crossbow? The one I was referring to was carried by hand and it has a lever which, when pulled, would load another arrow from a bow fitted at the top of the bow.

Brian
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#7 User is offline   Liang Jieming

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Posted 13 October 2006 - 01:23 AM

View PostKiller Katanas, on Oct 13 2006, 01:26 PM, said:

All my information is coming from the book Imjin Chollansa. It mentions repeating crossbows and I assume they were called Chukonu.

I know now that I was wrong. I picked up a book on Chinese weapons at UCLA and it shows that a chukonu was a device that is quite different from what the soldier carried.

But what is the name of the repeating crossbow? The one I was referring to was carried by hand and it has a lever which, when pulled, would load another arrow from a bow fitted at the top of the bow.

Brian

Hi Brian,

The generic name for the multibolt crossbow is the Liannu. The Zhugenu (Pinyin) or Chukonu (Wade-Giles) is a handheld crossbow which was armed and fired with a vertical lever. There are zhugenu's depicted in a war scroll painting of the imjin war and was used by the Koreans against the Japanese.

I'm not sure what kind of repeating crossbow you are talking about from the lever you mentioned, it does sound like a zhugenu.

Here's how a zhugenu looks like.
http://www.chinahist...?showtopic=3777
Chinese Siege Warfare - Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity
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#8 User is offline   Wujiang

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Posted 13 October 2006 - 10:52 AM

The kind of liannu that fires more than one arrow at a time is more ancient that Zhuge Liang. There was a 2-bolt one that existed in the warring states era
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#9 User is offline   Killer Katanas

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Posted 20 April 2007 - 11:39 AM

View PostLiang Jieming, on Oct 12 2006, 11:23 PM, said:

There are zhugenu's depicted in a war scroll painting of the imjin war and was used by the Koreans against the Japanese.


Thanks for that.

You said that the Koreans used them, but did the Ming during this conflict?

Brian
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