Origin of Darts

Darts, one of the most common hidden weapons on the ancient Chinese battlefield, was said to have originated in the Western Regions. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the monk Xing Yuan from Sichuan fortunately got this technique and then passed to the Central Plains.

 In the Qing Dynasty, almost everyone in the martial arts world acquired this skill, and it was still popular in the Republic of China. As for the western countries, darts is a British bar game with a long history, and later evolved into a formal sporting event. Modern darts usually refers to Western darts.

The term darts first appeared in Ireland in the 16th century. Its predecessor was usually considered a javelin, bolt or archery. Among them, the most possible predecessor is archery. The earliest dart board with concentric circles is the model of the archery board. As for the true origin, there are different opinions and there is no way to confirm it. This article sorts out the four versions of darts origin that the public recognizes.

The first version of origin:

According to research by Dr. Dicker historian Patrick Chaplin, in 1314, the term darts officially appeared in the literature for the first time, but the dart at that time referred to the throwing weapon which is 18 inches long and used for close combat. In 1532, Queen Anne gave Henry VIII the dart as a New Year's gift. In the 1880s, the jugglers at the British market began to introduce wooden boards from France to make dartboards. It was designed to attract people to bet and it became popular gradually in bars across the country. The National Darts Association was established in London in 1925, and began to adopt the Triple in the London darts to establish formal rules of the game.

The second version of origin:

In the 15th century, after the ancient Roman army landed on the British Isles, the rainy weather in the British Isles lasted for a long time. It caused great difficulties for the army in marching and fighting. The army could not do long-term outdoor activities. It prompted the soldiers to use the tree piers in the tents as targets to throw a kind of javelin which was more than 50 centimeters long and had a certain weight. The darts became a way of training at that time. Later, this method was promoted and continuously developed into sports during the reform.

The third version of origin:

King Henry VII of the United Kingdom did not like outdoor sports for physical reasons. Instead, he made a short-handled javelin and throw to the cross-section of the eucalyptus. It was not only a kind of sports but also made his court life full of fun. The court followed the trend and quickly spread among the people.

The fourth version of origin:

The dart was originally called “boomerang”, a kind of throwing sport originating from Australia 1400 years ago. It means “wind” in the Australian Aboriginal language. The boomerang was originally a weapon used by Australian Aborigines to hunt and fight. It was usually made of stone or curved hardwood. It was later made of metal, plastic or ivory. The main shapes are U shape, cross shape and V shape. This statement is based on the fact that samples can be found in ancient Egyptian tombs, the American Arizona, the Polynesian, and in the Nordic. However, the recognition of this kind of statement is relatively low. Some people think that the boomerang can only be considered as a thrower and cannot be regarded as a dart.

Tracing back to Chinese history, as early as in the primitive society, ancestors have begun to use wooden spears or javelins with sharp stones or animal bones in order to capture the beasts. After some improvement, they made lighter stone arrows and bone arrows, feather arrows and so on, which are later appeared as darts, throwing arrows, flying thorns, etc. Therefore, the modern darts is originated from China, but the West has given it another form and made it popular.

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