Buryat Bokh (Buryat Wrestling)
Buryat national wrestling from the Mongolian bökh family. Bouts are fought standing, in a belt, without strikes, until a fall, and the pre-bout ritual includes an eagle dance.
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About Buryat Bokh (Buryat Wrestling)
Buryat wrestling, in Buryat bühe barildaan, is the national wrestling of the Buryats and belongs to the family of Mongolian wrestling, whose parent form is the Mongolian nádam. It has no founder, being a folk tradition. Bouts are fought standing, with a bare torso and a cloth belt wrapped in a special way around the waist and hips. Strikes are forbidden, while throws, sweeps and pushes are allowed. Traditionally there is no time limit or scoring: a bout ends with a fall, and if nothing is decided within five minutes, the opponents must grab each other by the belts. What a fall means exactly differs by source, from touching the ground with any part of the body to a throw onto the back among the forest Buryats.
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The roots of the tradition are described by the Geser epic and the Secret History of the Mongols from the thirteenth century. It was part of the shamanic tailgan rituals and the Buddhist oboo rituals, monasteries employed their own wrestlers, and khans built a guard from the best fighters. Under Soviet rule it received a time limit, points and sports clothing, and was held as the state Surkharban. After 1991 it returned to the traditional rules, and since the mid-nineties most competitions in Buddhist areas are organised by the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, which again requires traditional belts and the eagle dance. Today it is held at the Eryn gurban naadan festival, every year since 2008 at the Egituy datsan, at the Yordynskie Games near Baikal, at the Alkhanay Grand Prix since 2005, and since 2010 also in Moscow and St Petersburg. The traditional prize used to be a live ram, today it can also be a car.
History
The anthropologist Stefan Krist sees the oldest traces of wrestling in Buryatia in Neolithic rock drawings near Baikal and on the Angara, where figures with animal features wrestle, but this is his interpretation, not direct evidence. The Chinese chronicle of the Liao dynasty from the years 907 to 1125 describes professional wrestlers at weddings and imperial ceremonies and at shamanic rain rituals. The Secret History of the Mongols from the thirteenth century tells how Genghis Khan proposed a wrestling match between Büri Bökh and Belgutei, and the Geser epic also has wrestling scenes.
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Among the Buryats wrestling was part of the tailgan rituals, led by a shaman with an animal sacrifice, and of the oboo rituals, led by Buddhist clergy without a sacrifice. Both ended with a feast and three men's games. Khans and clan leaders recruited the best wrestlers into their guards and held matches after victorious battles, and wealthy clan members fed a chosen fighter for months before a contest. In the Buddhist period lamas organised matches, especially at the Maidar Khural festival, and datsans employed their own wrestlers, whom the lamas supported so that they could train. Soviet authorities organised competitions such as the Surkharban at aimag level, the republican Surkharban was held every year in Verkhneudinsk, today's Ulan-Ude, and from the early thirties collective-farm games were added. Rules, clothing and equipment were adapted to international sports, a time limit and scoring were introduced, competitions were stripped entirely of their religious framework and the eagle dance disappeared from state competitions. After 1991 the republic's state sports administration began returning the sports to tradition and dropped the time limit and points in wrestling. From the mid-nineties the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia under Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev tied competitions to Buddhist rituals and took over organising most events in Buddhist areas.
How it differs
The Mongolian nádam is the parent form, and the Buryat one is called naadan. Türkmen and Okudan give differences in the rules: the Kuda Buryats used fists and did not count a touch of the body as a loss, the Khalkha Mongols also counted a touch of the knee, and the Oirats wrestled until the opponent touched the ground with his back. The Mongolian nádam has up to 1024 participants and the titles nachin, zaan, arslan and avarga, which Buryat wrestling does not use in the same way. Wrestlers in Buryatia, Mongolia, Tuva and Turkey imitate an eagle, those of Inner Mongolia in China a lion. According to Türkmen and Okudan the way of wrapping the belt is similar to the Korean ssireum, but Koreans wrap only one leg. Unlike other Mongols, the Buryats dance the circle dance yokhor and their rituals were shaped more by hunting.
Technique
Wrestling is standing, with no ground fighting. Opponents have a bare torso and a cloth belt wrapped in a special way around the waist and hips: Aga wrestlers used a dalemba belt 2.5 to 3 metres long, Selenga wrestlers a woollen belt wrapped around the waist and crotch. According to Türkmen and Okudan, today wrestlers wear knee-length trunks with a tied belt and sports footwear, and in their view the traditional high boots gutul and the hat were taken over from the Mongolian nádam.
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Strikes are forbidden, while throws, sweeps and pushes are allowed. The bout is decided by a fall, but sources differ on what a fall is. Krist states touching the ground with three parts of the body, Vokrug sveta any part of the body including a hand, shoulder or knee, even accidentally, and Türkmen and Okudan distinguish a steppe type, where touching with a hand, knee or body loses, and a forest type, where the opponent must be thrown onto his back. The Selenga and Aga styles follow the steppe rule. Traditionally there is no time limit or scoring: the main bout lasts five minutes, and if nothing is decided, it continues in a cross grip on the belt without limit until one of the three zones touches the ground. Whoever breaks free of the opponent's belt grip, even with one hand, has lost. Before the bout the fighters perform the eagle dance devekh, and the winners repeat it after the bout. Krist links it with the eagle as an animal of hunting cultures, Vokrug sveta with the flight of the mythical bird Garuda. According to Türkmen and Okudan the loser walks under the winner's arm after the bout, and the winner walks around the arena clockwise.
Training
Nomads trained boys from childhood in archery, horse riding and fighting with and without weapons, and wrestling was both training and spectacle. Each clan sent one wrestler to the Surkharban, and wealthy clan members had to look after him. Today the Buddhist clergy has created an annual season of games from April to September, whose peak is a festival in honour of the twelfth Khambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (1852 to 1927). According to Türkmen and Okudan, competitions from village level to international ones take place practically every month. We have not been able to find a description of today's training system in the sources.
Ranks and progression
Buryat wrestling has no grades or titles, and according to Türkmen and Okudan the Mongolian nádam titles (nachin, zaan, arslan, avarga) are not used among the Buryats in the same way. Weight categories differ in the sources: Vokrug sveta gives three (up to 63 kg, up to 75 kg and over 75 kg), Türkmen and Okudan five (60, 70, 80, 90 and over 90 kg). We have not been able to obtain written rules, we only know of a project of National Wrestling Rules that a seminar in Ulan-Ude discussed in September 2004.
Today
In eastern Buryatia the Eryn gurban naadan festival, the three men's games, was revived gradually: in 1996 at the fiftieth anniversary of the Ivolginsky datsan, in 1997 in honour of a visit by a Mongolian lama, from 2003 as part of the Maidar Khurals and every year since 2008 at the Egituy datsan. In western Buryatia, where shamanism prevails and datsans are few, the state-organised Surkharbans have kept an important role. The Yordynskie Games at Mount Yord on the western shore of Baikal were revived after more than a hundred years (Krist gives the year 2000, regional newspapers 2001), were repeated in 2005 and 2011 and are still held once every two years, and include two days of wrestling and the circle dance yokhor.
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The Alkhanay Grand Prix in Zabaykalsky Krai has been held since 2005, its first edition at the foot of Mount Alkhanay had 66 wrestlers, and according to Vokrug sveta it is one of the most prestigious competitions, attended even by Honoured Masters of Sport in freestyle wrestling and combat sambo. Since 2010 the Bühe barildaan has been held every year on Red Square in Moscow, as has the Datsan Cup in St Petersburg, with participants from the Caucasus, the Volga region, Yakutia and Tuva. After the Soviet period the competitions are commercial again, with sponsors, media coverage and modern prizes: the traditional prize used to be a live ram that the winner carried on his shoulders, and at the 2012 Altargana festival the winner of the national wrestling won a car. Barildaan is today also part of the preparation of MMA and combat sambo fighters, who compete at its events.
Did you know
In 1969 a lightweight wrestler beat an opponent weighing 120 kg, because earlier opponents could differ greatly in weight and heavy ones had the advantage. In 1814 wrestling was part of celebrating the fall of Paris in Kyakhta. In the nineteenth century Orthodox priests reported to the eparchy that pagan games with wrestling were popular and some wrestlers suffered serious injuries. In 1891 Buryat wrestlers were shown to Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich, later Tsar Nicholas II. The ethnographer Matvei Khangalov described the games at Mount Yord as early as the nineteenth century.
Frequently asked questions
How is a Buryat wrestling bout won?
By felling the opponent. Fighting is standing, strikes are forbidden, and traditionally there is no time limit or scoring. What counts as a fall differs by source, from any body part touching the ground to a throw onto the back among forest Buryats.
How does Buryat wrestling differ from Mongolian bökh?
The Mongolian nádam is the parent form and Buryat wrestling derives from it, differing in details of the rules and in what counts as a fall. Mongolian nádam titles are not used among the Buryats in the same way, and the Buryats also dance the circle dance yokhor.
Where is Buryat wrestling held today?
At the Eryn gurban naadan and Surkharban festivals in Buryatia, at the Yordynskie Games near Baikal, at the Alkhanay Grand Prix in Zabaykalsky Krai and, since 2010, also at tournaments in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.