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Berkeley: University of California Press.Wrestling and Grappling: Japan
The grappling arts are probably the oldest of all the martial arts. Grappling
as the term is used here includes hitting, kicking, throwing, joint locks, and
holding up or holding down one’s opponent in such a manner that ob-
servers declare a victory or, if grappling is used in combat, incapacitation
or death of the loser results. Pottery shards shaped like and with pictures
resembling wrestlers have been found in many ancient cultures. A 5,000-
year-old bronze sculpture from Mesopotamia immortalizes two men in
loincloths locking arms in a stance not too different from what we might
see in a modern catch-as-catch-can wrestling bout. Gilgamesh, the Middle
Eastern hero of mythology from 4,000 or more years ago, engages in sym-
bolic wrestling bouts to prove his superiority over animal nature. Egyptian
wall paintings dating back 2,500 years reveal that grappling was a skill
considered worthy of artistic depiction along the Nile of the ancient
Pharaohs.
The willingness of men, and occasionally women, to put down their
arms and participate in contests of strength with simple rules evolved in
similar fashions around the world. Asia, particularly Japan and China, has
many traditions of martial arts that involve grappling. Some have become
well known by evolving into sports, while others have not developed a fol-
lowing, as they have remained too combative and dangerous to appeal to
the general public.
Often people try to trace the diffusion of particular techniques histor-
ically and cross-culturally, as well as within the country of origin. However,
it is likely that the similarities in the martial arts have more to do with
physiology and physics than with historical roots. People become very
clever when they attack other people. Given that similarities exist across
cultures and wide geographical distances, it is still useful to examine mar-
tial arts in terms of their points of origin in an effort to develop arguments
concerning both the origins of the Japanese grappling arts and their influ-
ences on other wrestling traditions.
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