Wrestling has been used by many countries. But perhaps the most famous country for wrestling is Greece. The Greeks were famous for their wrestlers and at the Olmpyics people would travel from around the ancient world to see them. The Greeks taught in a specific gymnasium called a xystos. Athletes were frequently taught by former champions.
Karate began in China by the Pechin class of the Ryukuans. After China-Japan relations had been established some of this class moved to Japan and began teaching Karate. Karate and most Asian martial arts were taught by professionals who formed there own schools. That is how martial arts basically are taught to the rising generation. Professionals compete and fight until they retire and then they form their own schools and teach students who are interested in them.
This post made me think of an experience I had last year. My room mate was taking a self defense class, and one day we decided to have a wrestling match to practice the things that she was learning. I have never had any formal training in any sort of martial arts, so I was surprised when I was able to beat her fairly easily (at least until she elbowed me in the nose and gave me a nose bleed, but that is a different story). When I thought about it, I realized that my skill came through a much more folk-knowledge-y way. When I was a young child, my uncle, who coaches wrestling at the local high school, would wrestle with me as a way to entertain me. My brothers and I would also wrestle simply for fun. This obviously stopped once I got a little older, but I seem to have gained a lot of skills from this informal teaching that that I still retain now, even though it was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good example Diane, there are so many things that we pick up on or learn when we are growing up and we never realize these things till much later on in life. I liked hearing about the two types of martial arts, i never considered boxing much of a martial art. I wonder if the chinese martial arts would be considered something more of like a Institutionalized knowledge because they would learn a lot of that stuff in a school from an instructor?
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