34 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
T’aejo was pursuing a deer together with Yi Turan when he suddenly
came upon a fallen tree that blocked his passage. The deer darted under the
tree, and Turan wheeled his horse around. T’aejo, however, jumped over the
tree while his horse ran under the tree, and in a split second he landed on
the back of his horse to pursue the deer. Then he managed to shoot the deer,
and Turan was deeply impressed. He said, “You are absolutely a genius,
having no match among men.”
King Kongmin had his high officials display their archery skills in his
presence. T’aejo was among them, and his shots never missed the target,
prompting the king to remark admiringly, “There is only one person shining
bright above everyone else in today’s archery contest, and that is Yi [T’aejo’s
su r na me].”
Hwang Sang, vice grand councilor, once served in the Yuan court and
gained a reputation for his archery skill. So it happened that Emperor Shun
of Yuan personally inspected his bow and was unable to draw its string.
T’aejo had a gathering with his colleagues at a place called Tŏkdam and
took part in an archery contest. Although the target was set up 150 paces
away, T’aejo never failed to hit the mark.
As it was already noon when Hwang Sang arrived, many high officials
urged T’aejo to compete with Hwang Sang alone to find out who was the
better archer. So the two shot hundreds of arrows. Hwang Sang hit the target
fifty times in a row, and after that, his shots began to be less accurate.
T’aejo’s, however, never missed the target. When the king heard of it, he
said, “Yi [T’aejo] is indeed an extraordinary man.”
Another incident also occurred sometime earlier. The king ordered that
ten silver mirrors be set up at the distance of 80 paces and ordered his high
officials to shoot arrows at them. He promised to give the mirrors to the one
who hit them [all?]. T’aejo hit each of the ten targets ten times, and the king
praised him.
T’aejo always conducted himself with humility and disliked lording it
over the people. So, when he had to compete, he displayed his skills while
carefully observing the performance of his opponents and made sure that
his skill in archery was just slightly better than that of the others. Even if the
people were eager to see his skill and pressured him to perform, he would
win the competition only narrowly.
In the ninth month of the first year (1374) of Sin U (the eighth year of the
reign of Hongwu), Japanese pirate ships were gathered in large numbers