Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
Martial Arts Of The World - Webs Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
6 Africa and African America the object was to pin the opponent. This meant forcing the opponent’s shoulders to touch the ground, thus placing the antagonist in a “danger” position. Once this was accomplished, the match was completed. This way of ending the match was not always the case, however. A wide variety of cultural and regional styles existed. In southeast Africa, a tradition of wrestling from a kneeling (in the case of adult men) or seated (in the case of boys) position employing a single arm developed. As an adjunct to grappling skills, the Nilotic cultures just south of the Sahara (the Bambara of Mali among others) wore bagussa (mentioned above) during their ritual wrestling matches. In these sanguinary contests, one attempted to attack the opponent’s head and in the process shed as much of his blood as possible. The blood that was shed in this fashion was believed not only to make the crops grow, but also to heal the sick. The Khoikhoi of southwest Africa, although fighting unarmed, engaged in a type of no-holds-barred wrestling, which came closer to the Greek pankration than to the catch-as-catch-can amateur style. Nor was wrestling a uniformly male pursuit. There are traditions of women wrestling in various groups scattered throughout the continent: Nigeria (Ibo), Sudan (Nuba), Senegal, Cameroon, Benin (Fon), Gabon, Gambia. The reasons for doing so vary, of course. In some cases, as with the men, the grappling is connected with the annual round of agricultural ceremonies; in others, it is an aspect of the courtship process. As with stickfighting, intervillage and even interstate competitions existed. The Bachama, for example, staged tournaments in conjunction with their agricultural festivals, which included their Nigerian neighbors. On these ceremonial occasions the Bata, Bwaza, Jen, and Mbula were invited to field teams of their best wrestlers. This martial tradition continues into the contemporary period, as evidenced by the 1990 Nigerian national wrestling championship of Julius Donald Ngbarato, a man of Bachama heritage. Similarly, the Luo of Kenya held competitions in which villages or districts were pitted against each other. Although the tournaments were organized, the actual matches seemed less so, for wrestling—like Luo stickfighting—is reported as “having no rules at all” (Godia 1989, 68). Given the fact that African wrestling champions have been regarded not only as superior athletes but also as superior warriors, it can be assumed that combat wrestling systems also existed. The matches reported among the Khoikhoi certainly sound combat effective. Therefore it is likely that, beyond the sporting repertoire reported in the literature, wrestlers learned the techniques of choking and joint locking (in which a joint is forced beyond its maximum range of mobility) appropriate to the battlefield. These systems were probably auxiliary training for warriors, to assist them if they lost their weapons in combat. Much of this must be left to speculation, however, given the paucity of written descriptions of these arts.
Beginning in 1415, after the Portuguese established their foothold in North Africa, Europeans introduced firearms in West Africa in exchange for slaves. Therefore, with the beginning of the slave trade, the nature of war in West Africa became Europeanized, although wrestling and stickfighting persisted in local festivals. European influence was not, however, the only threat to the traditional martial arts in Africa. Prior to the European incursions, most of sub-Saharan Africa had been infiltrated by Islam, which spread along trade routes both inland and on the coast. In exchange for gold, ivory, and slaves, the African kingdoms received goods from North Africa, many of whose rulers accepted Islam in order to improve trade relations with Muslim merchants. At first Islam’s influence on sub-Saharan Africa was limited. The nineteenth century, however, brought a wave of Islamic revitalization to non-Arab Africa. Calling for reform, the establishment of Islamic states, and the crushing of pagan practices through the agency of jihad (holy war against heretics and unbelievers), these revitalization movements sought to crush traditional martial arts such as wrestling and stickfighting, which were elements of the ceremonies of those religions the jihadists so vigorously opposed. These arts survived the movements that sought to crush them. Ironically, the European colonialist policies that proved destructive to many African peoples provided an agency for preserving and spreading at least modified elements of African culture. During much of the sixteenth century (1530–1600) the Portuguese, who were the major European slave power at that time, transported over a thousand slaves from West Africa to the Americas monthly. Captured Africans brought many of their native traditions with them as they were forcibly relocated to the New World. Some of these traditions included martial arts, which were sometimes transported in a disguised or hidden version. Because of this dispersion, some of the martial traditions of Africa (particularly of sub-Saharan Africa, from which many of the slaves were drawn) still survive and live in altered form. Given the Portuguese role in the transport of Africans to the New World, it should not be surprising that the Portuguese colony of Brazil became a focal point of African fighting arts (as well as for many other Africanisms, such as the religion of Candomblé) in the Americas. Brazilian capoeira is undoubtedly the most well known and widely disseminated of a complex of New World martial arts that rely primarily on kicks and head-butts as weapons and that are usually practiced to musical accompaniment. The origins of capoeira are recorded only in the traditional legends of the art, which invariably focus on African influence. Considerable debate exists among practitioners and historians as to whether capoeira is the New World development of an African martial art or a system originating in the New World with African influences ranging Africa and African America 7
- Page 1: Martial Arts of the World
- Page 4 and 5: Copyright © 2001 by Thomas A. Gree
- Page 6 and 7: vi Contents Japanese Martial Arts,
- Page 9 and 10: Editorial Board D’Arcy Jonathan D
- Page 11 and 12: Bill Adams Director, Bill Adams Fit
- Page 13: Kimberley Taylor University of Guel
- Page 16 and 17: xvi Introduction the sword” in Eu
- Page 18 and 19: xviii Introduction References Frida
- Page 21 and 22: Africa and African America Although
- Page 23 and 24: a range of up to 80 meters. The wou
- Page 25: the competitors. In this respect, t
- Page 29 and 30: Many African combat systems relied
- Page 31 and 32: as a result of similar circumstance
- Page 33 and 34: eturn strike; rather, the practitio
- Page 35 and 36: Ranking in most aikidô dôjô is b
- Page 37 and 38: The magic monkey Songoku from a Chi
- Page 39 and 40: A young woman aims at a barrel of s
- Page 41: See also Kendô; Religion and Spiri
- Page 44 and 45: Baguazhang is closely associated wi
- Page 46 and 47: 26 Bandô ———. 1984. The Mast
- Page 48 and 49: Chinese children in a martial arts
- Page 50 and 51: A modern picture of a Buddhist mona
- Page 52 and 53: 32 Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles L
- Page 54 and 55: A 74-year-old Buddhist monk practic
- Page 56 and 57: Grand Master Rich Mooney demonstrat
- Page 58 and 59: 38 Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles h
- Page 60 and 61: 40 Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles m
- Page 62 and 63: 42 Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles (
- Page 64 and 65: 44 Boxing, European See also Animal
- Page 66 and 67: 46 Boxing, European marked the end
- Page 68 and 69: 48 Boxing, European If there is one
- Page 70 and 71: 50 Boxing, European practicality an
- Page 72 and 73: 52 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gilbey, John
- Page 74 and 75: 54 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu papers his w
6 Africa and African America<br />
the object was to pin the opponent. This meant forcing the opponent’s<br />
shoulders to touch the ground, thus placing the antagonist in a “danger”<br />
position. Once this was accomplished, the match was completed.<br />
This way of ending the match was not always the case, however. A wide<br />
variety of cultural and regional styles existed. In southeast Africa, a tradition<br />
of wrestling from a kneeling (in the case of adult men) or seated (in the case<br />
of boys) position employing a single arm developed. As an adjunct to grappling<br />
skills, the Nilotic cultures just south of the Sahara (the Bambara of<br />
Mali among others) wore bagussa (mentioned above) during their ritual<br />
wrestling matches. In these sanguinary contests, one attempted to attack the<br />
opponent’s head and in the process shed as much of his blood as possible.<br />
<strong>The</strong> blood that was shed in this fashion was believed not only to make the<br />
crops grow, but also to heal the sick. <strong>The</strong> Khoikhoi of southwest Africa, although<br />
fighting unarmed, engaged in a type of no-holds-barred wrestling,<br />
which came closer to the Greek pankration than to the catch-as-catch-can<br />
amateur style. Nor was wrestling a uniformly male pursuit. <strong>The</strong>re are traditions<br />
of women wrestling in various groups scattered throughout the continent:<br />
Nigeria (Ibo), Sudan (Nuba), Senegal, Cameroon, Benin (Fon), Gabon,<br />
Gambia. <strong>The</strong> reasons for doing so vary, of course. In some cases, as with the<br />
men, the grappling is connected with the annual round of agricultural ceremonies;<br />
in others, it is an aspect of the courtship process.<br />
As with stickfighting, intervillage and even interstate competitions existed.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bachama, for example, staged tournaments in conjunction with<br />
their agricultural festivals, which included their Nigerian neighbors. On<br />
these ceremonial occasions the Bata, Bwaza, Jen, and Mbula were invited<br />
to field teams of their best wrestlers. This martial tradition continues into<br />
the contemporary period, as evidenced by the 1990 Nigerian national<br />
wrestling championship of Julius Donald Ngbarato, a man of Bachama<br />
heritage. Similarly, the Luo of Kenya held competitions in which villages or<br />
districts were pitted against each other. Although the tournaments were organized,<br />
the actual matches seemed less so, for wrestling—like Luo stickfighting—is<br />
reported as “having no rules at all” (Godia 1989, 68).<br />
Given the fact that African wrestling champions have been regarded<br />
not only as superior athletes but also as superior warriors, it can be assumed<br />
that combat wrestling systems also existed. <strong>The</strong> matches reported<br />
among the Khoikhoi certainly sound combat effective. <strong>The</strong>refore it is likely<br />
that, beyond the sporting repertoire reported in the literature, wrestlers<br />
learned the techniques of choking and joint locking (in which a joint is<br />
forced beyond its maximum range of mobility) appropriate to the battlefield.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se systems were probably auxiliary training for warriors, to assist<br />
them if they lost their weapons in combat. Much of this must be left to speculation,<br />
however, given the paucity of written descriptions of these arts.