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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Apparantly in early forms of cannon, there were varying types of projectiles along with, of course, many prototypes of devices to propel these using the then innovative use of gunpowder. According to descriptions of such early forms of 'artillery' in the 1932 work of J.L.Boots ("Korean Arms and Armour"), one such projectile fired from a 'fire tube' was a huge arrow, sometimes nearly 6 feet long. These had a heavy iron point or head of up to between 4 and 5 lbs. Although I'm not sure of the size of this example, it should be noted that in some cases there were numerous arrows fired simultaneously and of course commensurately smaller, which would correspond with Gav's observation as well of insertion into a bamboo shaft.
These appear to have been in use along with many variations in both the type of propulsive weapon detonating the gunpowder, and the type of projectile(s) from about latter 15th and into 16th century in Korea, which seems of course relatively late considering much earlier use in China and Europe of gunpowder in warfare.
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Here are a few short clips mentioned in the previous post--I fixed the last two, so they should work now:
http://www.koreanarchery.org/classic/bhwangja.mpg
http://www.koreanarchery.org/classic/heonja.mpg
http://www.koreanarchery.org/classic/jija.mpg
My doctoral dissertation is on firearms in Joseon dynasty Korea (1392-1910). The first recorded use of a firearm in Korea was in 1356 when an arrow cannon was fired for the king to see.