Wrestling

The popularity of wrestling has survived in many Asiatic countries, particularly in Japan, where the first match recorded took place in 23 B.C., the victor being Sukune, who has ever since been regarded as the tutelary deity of wrestlers. In the 8th century the emperor ShOrnu made wrestling one of the features of the annual harvest "Festival of the Five Grains," the victor being appointed official referee and presented with a fan bearing the legend, "Prince of Lions." In 858 the throne of Japan was wrestled for by the two sons of the emperor Buntoku, and the victor, Koreshito, succeeded his father under the name of Seiwa. Imperial patronage of wrestling ceased in I 175, after the war which resulted in the establishment of the shogunate, but con tinued to be a part of the training of the samurai or military caste. About i600, professional wrestling again rose to impor tance, the best men being in the employ of the great daimios or feudal nobles. It was, nevertheless, still kept up by the samurai, and eventually developed into two separate systems, the national style called Sumo, and that peculiar and scientific combination of wrestling and self-defence known as ju jutsu (q.v.), the purpose of which is to disable an adversary. The national championships were re-established in 1624, when the celebrated Shiganosuke won the honour, and have continued to the present day. The Jap anese (Sumo) wrestlers place great reliance upon weight, some of the champions scaling 300 lb. and upwards; and as a result of highly specialised methods of physical training, they are generally of huge bulk and great strength, although surprisingly light on their feet. They form a guild which is divided into several ranks, the highest being composed of the joshiyori, or elders, in whose hands the superintendence of the wrestling schools and tourna ments lies. The badges of the three highest ranks are damask aprons richly embroidered. The wrestling takes place within a ring 12 ft. in diameter, the wrestlers being naked but for a loin cloth ; and each contest is preceded by certain preliminaries of a quasi-religious significance. At the command of the referee the wrestlers crouch with their hands on the ground and watch for an opening. The contests are usually of brief duration. The method is very similar to that of the modern catch-as-catch-can style, except that touching the ground with any part of the person, the feet excepted, after the first hold has been taken, loses the bout. To step or be forced outside the actual wrestling circle is equiva lent to losing a fall.

Indian wrestling resembles that of Japan in the great size of its champions and the number and subtlety of its attacks, called penches. It is of the "loose" order, the men facing each other nude, except for a loin-cloth, called chaddi, and manoeuvring warily for a hold. Both shoulders placed on the ground simul taneously constitute a fall, which is seldom gained without much ground wrestling. It is highly scientific, though including many tricks that Western rules exclude as "fouls." In Great Britain wrestling was cultivated at a very early age, both Saxons and Celts having always been addicted to it, with the men of Cornwall always holding a special eminence ; and English literature is full of references to the sport. On St. James's and St. Bartholomew's days special matches took place throughout England, those in London being held in St. Giles's field, whence they were afterwards transferred to Clerkenwell. The Lord Mayor and his sheriffs were often present on these occasions, but the frequent brawls amongst the spectators eventually brought these public matches into disrepute. English monarchs have not disdained to patronise the sport, and Henry VIII. is known to have been a powerful wrestler.

Cumberland Style.

This style prevails chiefly in the north of England (except south Lancashire) and in the south of Scotland. In this the wrestlers stand chest to chest, each grasping the other with locked hands round the body, his chin on the other's right shoulder. The right arm is below and the left above the adversary's. When the hold has been firmly taken the umpire gives the word and the bout proceeds until one man touches the ground with any part of his person except his feet, or he fails to retain his hold, in either of which cases he loses. If both fall together, the one who is underneath, or first touches the ground, loses. If both fall simultaneously side by side, it is a "dog-fall," and the bout begins anew. The different manoeuvres used to throw the adversary are called "chips," the most important being the "back-heel," in which a wrestler gets a heel behind his opponent's opposite heel, from the outside, and forces him over backwards; the "outside stroke," in which, after a sudden twist of his body to one side, the opponent is struck with the edge of the opposite foot on the outside of the ankle; the "hank," or locking a leg and lifting the opponent with a sudden turn to the right, so that both fall together, but with the opponent underneath; the "inside click," the locking of an opposite leg applied after jerking the opponent forward, the pressure then being straight back; the "outside click," a back-heel applied by the defender as he is on the point of being lifted from the ground—it prevents this and often results in oversetting the opponent; the "cross-buttock," executed by turning the left hip under the opponent's body, throwing the leg across both his and striking backwards, while partially lifting and throwing him forward; the "buttock," in which the hip is thrust still further under the opponent, who by the action of the arms is thrown right over one's back ; the "hipe" or "hype," executed by lifting the opponent off his feet, and while carrying him to the right or left, placing the opposite knee under one of his legs and raising it as high as possi ble before throwing him sideways to the ground; the "swinging hype," in which the opponent is lifted and swung nearly or quite round before the knee stroke is made; and the "breast stroke," which is a sudden powerful twist, first to one side, then the other, followed by a throw. There is but a single "foul"—direct kicking.

West Country Style.

In the Cornwall and Devon or "West Country" style the wrestlers wear stout, loose canvas jackets, the hold being anywhere above the waist or by any part of the jacket, though any manipulation of the jacket collar to strangle an oppo nent is forbidden. A fall is gained when both hips and a shoulder, or both shoulders and a hip (three points), touch the ground simultaneously. A throw that does not secure a fall is a "hitch." Ground wrestling is forbidden, and a man, when he feels himself falling, will try to turn and land on his side or chest. Many of the "chips" used by Cumberland and Westmorland wrestlers are possible in this style, with slight differences of execution required by the different method of taking hold and under other names "forehip" (cross-buttock) ; "inside lock" (hank), etc. More dis tinctive throws are the "heave," and the "flying mare," a chip of universal use in which the opponent's wrist is grasped with the opposite hand, the upper part of the same arm by the other hand, the back turned and the captured limb drawn across a shoulder, over which the opponent is vigorously shot forward. Until com paratively recently there was a difference between the styles of Cornwall and Devon, the wrestlers of the latter county having worn heavily soled shoes, with which it was legitimate to kick the adversary's shins.