Kavsnâmeler, genel anlamıyla ok ve yayı anlatan risalelere verilen addır. Kavsnâmelerin içeriğinde; ok atmanın sevabı, dini niteliğe sahip olduğunu ispatlamak amacıyla ok atmakla ilgili ayet ve hadisler, Adem peygamberden başlayarak ok ve yayın tarihi, ok atmanın yay tutmanın nasıl olacağı, yay ve okun ölçüleri, meşhur atıcılar, ok menzilleri, ok yarışmalarına katılan kişilerin isimleri, atış mesafeleri, atıcıların özellikleri vb. bulunmaktadır. Tanıtımını yaptığımız yazılış tarihi ve müellifi bilinmeyen "Kavsnâme" adlı okçuluk risâlesi, Edirne Selimiye Kütüphanesi Elyazmaları Bölümü'nde yer alan bir mecmua içindedir. Otuz üç bâb üzere oluşturulmuştır. Ok atmanın faziletleri, Hz. Muhammed'in ok atmakla ilgili hadisleri, Adem peygamberden itibaren ok ve yayın tarihi, ok atmanın adapları, ok ve yay nasıl tutulur, ok ve yayın ölçüleri, atıcıların vücut şekilleri ve yay talim şekilleri otuz üç bâb içinde verilen başlıklarla anlatılmıştır. Müellif, Kavsnâme'de Murhif ibn 'Abdü'l-kerîm'in "Kitâbü'r-remy" adlı kitabını kaynak olarak kullanmıştır. Hacimli bir eser olmamasına rağmen, Kavsname'de 23 râvinin adı ve 16 okçu ya da bu konuda kitap yazmış kişinin adı geçmektedir. Bu da eserin kaynak çeşitliliğini ve önemini göstermesi bakımından önemlidir. Çalışmada; kavsnâmeler hakkında genel bir bilgi verilmiş, önemli kaynak olma vasfına sahip ok ve okçuluk tarihiyle ilgili eserlerden bahsedildikten sonra, Edirne Selimiye Kütüphanesi Elyazmaları Bölümü'nde bulunan "Kavsnâme" tanıtılmış, içeriği hakkında bilgi verilmiş, bâb başlıkları altında o bâbda geçen konular özetlenerek anlatılmıştır. Devamında çeviri yazılı metin örneği verilmiştir

Works describing the rules of manners for shooting arrows, ranges, arrows and bows are called kavsnâme. Originating from the Arabian “kavs” and the Persian “nâme”, kavsnâmes usually narrates about the religious characteristics of arrow and bow, the way of using arrow and bow, the terms for archery, the sizes and dimensions of arrow and bow, shooting arrows and archers. Turks, have used arrow and bow, which belongs to their own culture of war, throughout the geography, stretching out from the Middle East to Anatolia and from Anatolia to Balkans, by adding the characteristics of arrow and bow from the cultures they encountered. As molded with Islamic culture, archery gained a religious and motivational characteristic by the hadiths of Prophet Muhammad. According to the Islamic resources, arrow and bow were first given to Prophet Adam. Nevertheless, it was Prophet Muhammad who specifically supported war sports as archery, wrestling, and equestrianism etc. It is known that there are approximately 40 hadiths describing the religious characteristics of arrow and bow and the virtues of shooting arrows. Sacred terms existing before Islam about arrow, bow and horse, attracted considerable attention as they were supported by the hadiths of Prophet Muhammad, and several works have been translated and copyrighted works were written about this issue. Cahiz, who lived during the 9th century and who was a writer about Islam, tells the mastership of Turks about shooting arrows and equestrianism as follows: “Turk carries his weapon, horse and everything related to harnessing together with him. Turk shoots arrows to the four winds on a fast running horse. More than half of the life of a Turk passes on horse; Turk is a shepherd, and a veterinarian, a cavalry and a warrior.” Chaters on arrows and archery were usually studied in sections of books related to horses and equestrianism. Works written in the Islamic world related to horses and equestrianism were concentrated on two different topics: works related to diseases of horses and their treatments were usually written under the title of baytarnâme; works related to equestrianism, archery, and swordsmanship were written under the titles as kitabu’l-hayl, kitâbul-fürûsiyye, hayl-nâme, feres-nâme, and esbnâme. Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad used in kavsnâmes and also in this article, as “Power means shooting arrows”, “Learn archery and equestrianism”, “Shooting arrows is a salutary game”, “Shoot! Sons of Ismail, your ancestor was an archer”, “right of a son on his father is to make him teach Kur’an, writing and shooting arrows”, show the importance given to archery by Islam. Word of ‘rema’ in Kur’an-ı Kerim, Enfâl 17 was commented as shooting arrows in kavsnâmes. Books of authors as Ebû Hâşim el-Bâverdî, Tâhir-i Belhî, İshâk erReffân, Abdurrahman et-Taberî, Ebû Câ‘fer el-Hîrevî, Ebû Mûsâ Harrâs, Behram b. Bâbek, Kadı Muhiddin were the primary works related to arrow and bow. Books as Hulasa (Kitâb fî İlmi’n-Nüşşâb; Kitâb fî-Riyâzâti’l-Hayl; Kitâb fi’-İlmi’l-Musâbaka), Kavsnâme of Kemânkeş Mustafa Efendi, Telhîs-i Resâilât-ı Rumât (Archery Book) of Mustafa Kânî Bey, Türk Okçuluğu (Turkish Archery), Ok Meydanı ve Okçuluk Tarihi (Arrow Field and History of Archery), Türk Okçuluğu ve Sultan Mahmud’un Ok Günlüğü (Turkish Archery and Arrow Diary of Sultan Mahmud) are among the main resources of modern - day Turkish archery. Especially in recent years, books about arrow and bow and arrow shows and contests draw interest. Foundations and associations are being established about archery; the archery clubs in universities are conducting researches. Archery books written in Turkish are prosaic works, in some archery works parts of poems as beyit and kıta can be found as well. These books are assessed in two groups: works in the first group mention about the importance and good deed of shooting arrows, verses of Kur’an and hadiths related to shooting arrows, prophets starting from Prophet Adam and famous archers, ways of holding arrows, types and styles of shooting arrows, tools used by the archers and ranges of arrows. Works in the second group contain information about the names of people joining to archery contestations, their shooting distances, ranges, milestones and their owners, abilities of the archers, the places for shooting arrows (as İstanbul, Edirne, Bursa, Gelibolu, and Üsküp). This article is about a Kavsnâme, which has thirty-three sections. It is one of the arrow epistles mentioning about the importance of shooting arrows and its deeds, verses of Kur’an and hadiths about shooting arrows, prophets starting from Prophet Adam and famous archers, ways of holding arrows, types and styles of shooting arrows, tools used by the archers and ranges or arrows. Kavsnâme is inside a mecmua. Its author and date is unknown. It is registered under the title of Mecmua-i Resâ’îl at Edirne Selimiye Library Manuscripts Section with the registration number 533/7. Its language is Turkish and writing style is nesih. Its dimensions are 142x197 and 93x150. Kavsnâme is in between the sheets of 105a-141b. There are 11 lines. There is an absent index in the sheet of 105b. Even though the index is absent, in the subsequent sheets it is indicated with red ink that there are 33 sections. It is understood that the author used “Kitâbü’r-remy” of Murhif ibn ‘Abdü’l-kerîm as a resource which is explicitly indicated in the eight and twelfth sections of the Kavsnâme. Names of 23 narrators/ravis were mentioned in Kavsnâme. Their names are as follows: “Ömer Ebû ‘Ali Hemedânî, ‘Âmir oğlu ‘Uyeyne, Sa‘îd, Sa‘d bin Ebî Vakkâs, Ebû Usâme, Ebû Hureyre, Ayâs bin Seleme binne’l-ekvâ, Hâtim bin İsmâ‘îl, Halîd bin Yezîd, Ebî ‘Abdullâh bin ‘Ubeyd, Câbir bin ‘Abdullâh, İbn ‘Abbâs, ‘Amr bin Şu‘ayb, Mücâhid, ‘Ukbe, ‘Atâ bin Rümâh, Ebî Necih, Leys ibnü’l-Hâris, Ya‘kûb, Abdurrahmân, Abdullâh bine’l-Ezrâk, ‘Avf ibni’l-Hasan, Kays ibni’l-Sehl”.16 archers and authors was also mentioned in Kavsnâme: “Murhif bin ‘Abdü’l-kerîm, Dâvûd İbn-i Hısîn, Ebu’l-Hasan, Ebû ‘Ubeyde, Muhammed ibni Hâlid, İshâkü’r-refâ, Ebû Hâşim, Edhem, Seyfü’lmücâhidîn Ebü’l-Eşbâl, Behrâm-ı Cûr, Sa‘îd ibni Hafîfü’l-Semerkandî, Ebî ‘Abdullâh, Erdeşir, Kadı Muhlis, Zâhir-i Belhî, Ebû Hâşim Bâverdî.” Kavsnâme was written with vowel points (hareke) to exactly give the tonal properties and it has the vocal and modal characteristics of the Old Anatolian Turkish language. As it is an introductory text, there isn’t any information about the vocal and modal characteristics. I continue to make text-research-index study on the work. In this article, general information is given about the kavsnâmes and after mentioning about the works on the history of arrows and archery, the “Kavsnâme” is introduced which is found in the Edirne Selimiye Library under the Manuscripts Section, its content is explained and the topics under the chapter sub-titles are summarized. Afterwards, a sample translation from the text is provided.