Page 16 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

Chinese arrow vases and the

game of Touhu

Isabelle Lee

‘I played with the soldiers, throwing arrows in a bronze jar.’ 1

Touhu 投壺 or Pitch Pot is a game of skill originated in the place we now It can be deduced from the text that the game and its outcome mattered
call China sometime during the reign of the Zhou 周 state (1046-256 more to the players than was the case with other drinking games. The
BCE). speeches quoted in the passage, made both by a minister of Jin and
the prince of Qi are of a political nature and the sudden end put to the
There were usually two players, each holding a number of arrows, and game by a member of the prince of Qi’s entourage shows that a truly
each player had to project arrows into the mouth and loops, or ‘ears’ diplomatic incident had occurred.
in Chinese, of an arrow vase situated equidistant between two mats on
which the players kneeled. The winner was the one who could pitch Later, the game seems to have rapidly evolved into an exclusively
all his arrows without missing. If and when a player missed, they were ceremonial game of skill played at banquets by princes and high-
obliged to drink a cup of wine. ranking officials. A detailed account of the game and the complex ritual
attached to it are to be found in the Li Ji 禮記, The Book of Rites, one of
The rules of the game were extremely intricate, and the ceremonial rites the Five Classics of the Confucian canon, which also explains the rules
involved were elaborate. These complex ceremonial rites demonstrate of the game. The vase was filled with small beans in order to prevent
the high esteem in which the game was held in high society across the the arrows from bouncing out. But, later on the beans were removed
centuries. to obtain the opposite effect so that the players' arrows bounced back
time and again, the player judged the most skilful being the one who
Moreover, the varied and numerous texts in which the game is mentioned achieved this the greatest number of times without missing the target.
illustrate the immense social and political importance it represented. This pitching technique was called xiaohu驍壺 (staunch or valiant vase).
Furthermore, arrow vases are often depicted in paintings representing A number of players became famous for their skill at xiaohu, so much so
scholarly and courtly life. that poets mentioned them in their verses.

Although touhu is one of the oldest games in recorded history, there is In The Book of Rites, another attribute of the game was moralistic.
no evidence as to how exactly it may have begun or who could have We read that before the game started ‘... the young people were
invented it. admonished: 'Do not be rude; do not be haughty; do not stand awry;
do not talk about irrelevant matters; for those who stand awry, or speak
According to the Chinese historian Fan Sheng 范生 in his ‘Reference about irrelevant matters, there is the regular cup.’ 3
Materials Pertaining to the History of Chinese Sports’, the game was
at first a means by which princes could determine their place in the According to Fan Sheng, the touhu played during the Han漢 period (206
hierarchical vassal/lord relationship, decide on the annexation of BCE–220 CE) was not as constrained by the rites and had developed
territories, and select who was to be the dominant partner in any alliance into a kind of entertainment for its own sake. 4 During the reign of Han
between states. In order to prove his point, he quotes a passage from Wudi 漢武帝(140-87 BCE) the game was extremely popular, and a
the Zuozhuan 左傳 or The Commentary of Zuo, the main commentary on eunuch called Master Guo had developed xiaohu pitching technique
the Chunqiu 春秋 or Spring and Autumn Annals completed around 300 to such a point that he could pitch an arrow, make it bounce and
BCE, relating a clash during a game of touhu between the prince of Jin catch it up to a hundred times in succession. In the Xijing zaji 西京雜
晉, who had just ascended the throne in 530, and the prince of Qi 齊. 2 記 or ‘Notes on the Western Capital’ there is a passage on Master Guo

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