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in the other, we see 'fecundity' punned with 'select' and 'manifest.' Confucian idealists were using such word-play to put expression to their view of the purpose of archery in ritual and selection.
The Zhou addition to the cultural baggage of archery should therefore be regarded as a ritual/religious layer and a badge of office for certain ranks, probably at the shi level.
The Eastern Zhou transition
In the Han (or Jin?) historical novel, 'Romance of Wu and Yue' by Zhao Ye, Chen Yin sets out the history of the bow and arrow. (Zhao Ye: Wu Yue Chunqiu, Selby: 8A.) The Han perception was that in the Eastern Zhou, mastery of the bow and arrow passed from the aristocracy to the common people (in his state of Chu, the 'spiritual homeland' of the Liu Royal household). He also makes explicit the role of the crossbow in this progression. Zhao Ye's exposition is a highly-plausible description of the true evolution of the art.
However, for the early part of the Eastern Zhou period, the ritual performance of archery flourished among the aristocracy. There is abundant archaeological evidence of Eastern Zhou performance of archery:
* in ritual,
* in warfare,
* in hunting, and
* as a sport.
Literary evidence further exists of archery in the selection of candidates offered by the zhuhou to the royal household under the feudal system. Archery magic also appears in Warring States literature, together with a growing link with funerary practices, such as the 'protective' filigree thumb-ring.
How did archery come to retain its link with the aristocratic classes?
The development of mounted archery tactics among the Han