TED Talk a Day - Day 17: The Art of Bow-Making by Dong Woo Jang

Here are my notes from Dong Woo Jang's The Art of Bow-Making.

  • “Our children spend over a month less in school than children in S. Korea every year” - Barack Obama
  • The bow has helped drive human survival since prehistoric times
  • Recurve tips can maximize the springiness when you draw and shoot the arrow
  • Belly, withdrawn inward, (?) for higher draw weights which means more power
  • Sinew used in the outer layer of the limb for maximum tension storage
  • Horn used to store energy and compression
  • I searched far and wide but never bothered to look close and near
  • The grass is often greener on my [our] side of the fence, although we don’t realize it
  • In order to make a good bow, a great amount of sensitivity is required. You need to console (?) and communicate with the wood material. Each fiber in the wood has it’s own reason and function for being.  And only through cooperation and harmony among them comes a great bow.
  • My ideal world is a place where no one is left behind, where everyone is needed exactly where they are, like the fibers and the tendons in a bow.

Not sure why this one caught my eye. Upon reading the title i figured it was going to be taught from the perspective of an old sage, much like Jiro in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. However, it was cool to see such a young man able to spit some knowledge. Here's the talk.