Jacket wrestling

Jacket wrestling is a form of combat that has been practiced in both Europe and Asia going back many centuries. The style of combat is typified by a lack of groundfighting, due to the rules often causing an opponent to lose if they touch the ground with something other than their feet. It has been recorded as a method of combat as early as the Middle Ages.[1] Jacket wrestling became especially popular in England, where different regions developed their own forms of jacket wrestling rules and combat.[2] The method of combat has also been referred to as "belt-and-jacket wrestling", for its common use of a belt or sash in addition to or instead of a jacket.

A Shuai jiao match in China

Za-vorotok folk wrestling, a single-handed variant of the sport, practised by the Slavic peoples

Encyclopædia Britannica has stated that, "The three basic types of wrestling contest are the belt-and-jacket, catch-hold, and loose styles, all of which appear to have originated in antiquity. Belt-and-jacket styles of wrestling are those in which the clothing of the wrestlers provides the principal means of taking a grip on the opponent."[3]

Present day

Most widespread and internationally contested styles of jacket wrestling today are Judo (an Olympic sport,) Sambo and Gi Grappling (non-Olympic sports, associated by the UWW.)

See also

• Belt wrestling
• Collar-and-elbow
• Cornish wrestling
• Folk wrestling
• Gouren
• Khuresh
• Mongolian wrestling
• Shuai jiao

References

1. Thomas A. Green and Joseph R. Svinth (2010). Martial Arts of the World: Regions and individual arts. ABC-CLIO. p. 224. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
2. Scott Beekman (2006). Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 5. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
3. "belt-and-jacket wrestling". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 16, 2013.