The Cinnabar Bow: News Archive
June 5, 2015: Starting today, bows made by Mariner (水手) will be sold exclusively through regional distributors throughout the world. I'm really happy to work with these great folks. Please welcome our new partners!
- Europe, Middle East, Africa: Stefan "Fox" Cociodar
- Southeast Asia (Malaysia): Ronald Chong (Bamboo Archery)
- Southeast Asia (Thailand): Tanawat Muninnimit
May 23, 2015: The Cinnabar Bow is proud to be the exclusive reseller for the King of Rui's Thumb Ring (by Jinxian Archery). This brass ring is a replica of the gold ring that was excavated from the Mausoleum of the King of the State of Rui (from the Spring-Autumn Period, 771--476 BCE). Rings are now available for pre-order, so please have a look at the King of Rui's Ring page for details.
April 16, 2015: Vermil Victory rings are now available for pre-order! The Cinnabar Bow collaborated with Vermil Archery to bring you this new design, which we're happy to debut.
February 3, 2015: Vermil Classic Brass rings are now available for sale! We have a limited quantity of the common sizes, but we can always order more if your size is not in stock.
January 22, 2015: Vermil Classic rings made with Brass are now available for pre-order. Please see the Brass Vermil Classic page for more information.
January 13, 2015: The new Vermil Lotus is now available. This is a nice thumb for archers who prefer the simplicity of a ring without a string guard. Please see the Vermil Lotus page for more info.
November 23, 2014: We finally have a Facebook presence. Please like our The Cinnabar Bow Facebook page to receive updates on our activities.
November 18, 2014: We're very excited to announce Manchubows.com! This is a new collaboration with Peter Dekker for introducing Jia Zhiwei's Manchu Bows to international archers. Jia's goal is to make affordable reproductions of Qing bows that match the angles and proportions of antique horn bows. We also have a Facebook page.
Please also have a look at our updated Links page, including a pointer to Cathay Armory, a new venture by Caesar Zhang dedicated to bringing the most authentic, historically-sourced Chinese armor reproductions to the world market.
November 8, 2014: We're very excited to announce a new collaboration with Vermil Archery, makers of the Vermil Ring! These rings are made with a proprietary plastic to give you a resilient and comfortable thumb ring. Please have a look at the Rings page for more information on available sizes and colors. This is just the beginning, and we look forward to a great partnership.
May 3, 2014: The new Ming Moon 7 is now available for sale! The Ming-7 is optimized for a short draw and has a more aggressively reflexed design than previous generation Ming Moons. Could this be the right bow for you? Learn more.
April 5, 2014: We're in the process of establishing a new horseback archery club in the Bay Area called the Sonoma Coast Centaurs (in Petaluma, California), and this past weekend we held our first general interest meeting/clinic. The meeting was organized by Mike Loades and the Sonoma Coastal EquesTraining Center. Mike gave an overview lecture/demo, Tim Macmillan demonstrated Yabusame and provided hands-on instruction, and I provided a hands-on demo of thumb ring shooting. Great start! Photos of the gathering here.
February 15--17, 2014: We held another productive and successful Chinese Archery Training Program at Jaap & Kay Koppedrayer's Bamboo Farm in Odum, Georgia! Peter Dekker provided instruction and presented his latest research on Manchu/Qing archery, while I provided instruction in Ming dynasty archery. Photos and a review of the event are available below.
Hope you can make it to next year's Chinese Archery Training Program, which will be held February 27th--March 1st, 2015.January 31, 2014: Happy Near Year of the Horse! Thanks again everyone for your continued support of The Cinnabarbow Bow. We have some exciting developments in store for this year. One is wooden veneers, of which Mariner has been experimenting with Bocote (among other woods). The other is the new specialized Ming-7 for short draws up to 28"-from-the-belly. We've been evaluating prototypes and will be ready to debut it soon. Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements!
October 3, 2013: People often ask me how to use the thumb rings with guards. To that end, I have filmed a short video on how to use this style of ring, as you can see below and on the Rings page.
May 13, 2013: On April 20--21, 2013, I traveled to Somerset, England and gave a presentation about Ming Dynasty military archery at the SPTA St. George's Shoot. Had a great exchange with all the archers there, including Mark Stretton (who holds the world record for shooting with a 200# English longbow) and Joe Gibbs (who himself can shoot with 180# English longbows). There's a brief photo album of the event, and some video me working with Mark on some heavy bow pulling drills.
April 12, 2013: Here are some photos from the Chinese Archery Program and Lectures that were held in Odum, Georgia, USA this year on March 22nd--24th. Jie Tian and I gave a lecture on Ming Dynasty military archery, and provided instruction in Ming archery technique. We thank Jaap and Kay Koppedrayer (Yumi Bows), and Peter Dekker (Manchu Archery) for organizing, lecturing, and teaching. And most importantly, thanks to all the people who traveled from all over the participate!
It was a tremendous amount of fun, and we plan to do it again next year during President's Day Weekend 2014!
July 11, 2013: We have slightly changed the way that people can specify bow decoration, and have now included Calligraphy and Tiger Emblems among the options you can choose. Please see Decoration Options for more info.
June 27, 2013: We are delighted to introduce a new kids bow, the Dandelion. It's a small bow with a short draw suitable for youngsters available at a more affordable price, but built with the same quality and care as the rest of Mariner's bows. Please take a look!
May 18, 2013: We are proud to make a couple of major announcements. First, we are in the process of testing Fastflight strings on our bows. So far the results look good! Second, we are happy to introduce a revamp of our Han and Ming lineups, providing a more fine-grained spectrum of bows sizes and draw lengths for you to find the right bow to suit your style. For the Han series, we have the new Han Wind 2, which is a medium-sized bow capable of a 32" draw (from the belly). The Han Wind 1 still retain the same specs as before, except that we will rate it at a maximum draw length of 33". For the Ming series, we introduce the new Ming Moon 6, which is also a medium-sized bow capable of a 32" draw. Moreover, the Ming Moon 1 will be lengthened to 149 cm so that it can reach a 33--34" draw. Check out the newly revamped models. We hope you'll like them!
April 11, 2013: Just decided to do some spring cleaning on our site. :) Also, we will soon be introducing some new models to the Ming Moon and Han Wind lineups. To make room for the new introductions, we will be retiring the Ming-2 and Ming-3 models. Stay tuned for more details!
March 12, 2013: Effective March 27th, 2013, the new base price for 46#@31"-and-heavier Ming-4's will be $315, for 46#@32"-and-heavier Ming-2's the new base price will be $315, and for 46#@28"-and-heavier Dark Clouds the new base price will be $330. The reason is to help compensate for the extra labor and materials needed to make bows of those heavier poundages (for which there has been increasing demand). The price change will not affect lighter poundage models, and it will not apply to those who are already on our waiting list. Folks still have until March 27th, 2013 to place orders for heavier Ming-4's, Ming-2's, or Dark Clouds at the previous price before the price update takes effect. Thank you all again for your support!
February 26, 2013: We're very happy to announce that we have started a collaboration with Zack Djurica of Nomadic Arts Archery to sell his quivers! The craftsmanship of these quivers is absolutely top notch. Learn more on our new Quivers page. We're also happy to announce that we are selling plastic thumb rings, which are great for archers starting to learn the thumb release. Check them out on our Thumb Rings page.
January 18, 2013:
We are very proud to introduce the Ming Moon 5, which
for the very first time introduces a takedown design for traditional Chinese
bows! This design is convenient for traveling archers who are especially
mindful of luggage space.
January 11, 2013: Thanks to everyone who has been a customer of the Cinnabar Bow over the past year! Hope you're enjoying your Mariner bows! Due to the popularity of the bows, we have some important updates to the ordering policy. The new policy won't affect customers who already have their names on our waiting list.
June 23, 2012: Happy Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival everybody! Duanwu Festival is an important traditional Chinese holiday where people race dragon boats and eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). To learn more, visit this site, which provides a brief summary with links to pictures.
June 17, 2012: We have replaced the old snakeskin option with two new snakekin options with new pricing options: Single-Snakeskin (snakeskin on the back side), and Double-Snakeskin (snakeskin on the back and belly). Both options leave the bamboo core of the bow still showing. Please have a look at the Decoration Options for more info!
January 23, 2012: Happy Chinese New Year! 万矢如意！(Translation: "May your arrows go where you intend!") We wish all our friends from around the world good health and good fortune. For those who are curious, we've taken the opportunity to measure the force-draw curves of a couple of bows we have in stock. See the Performance Data section for more information.
December 26, 2011: Happy Holidays! We have some important updates to the site. Coinciding with the recent update of the Ming-1, Han, and Qing-1 models, we are showing the new maximum draw length for each model. See Bows for more details. Also, we have updated the FAQ with a new return/replacement policy, as well as a section about making yourself a leather thumb guard.
December 11, 2011: Mariner is constantly evolving his designs and recently has modified a few of them. In particular, the Ming Moon 1, Han Wind, and Qing Dragon 1 are now 57.5" (146 cm) long when strung.
November 27, 2011: We have reorgnized the Web site a little bit, placing some videos on the front page, and replacing the Tutorials section with a Frequently Asked Questions section that covers what materials the bows are made of, as well as our replacement and repair policy.
November 24, 2011: Happy Thanksgiving! We've updated the Bows page with a more detailed description of the materials that go into a Mariner bow. We've also updated the maximum advertised draw weights for the Han Wind and the Qing Dragon 2 to reflect the latest developments on Mariner's side.
November 23, 2011: Earlier this month, Mariner made a trip to Nanjing for a national traditional archery competition.
November 21, 2011: The Cinnabar Bow is open for business! More close-up photos and videos of Mariner bows will be coming soon. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Visit our community at the
Chinese Archery Facebook group.