Choukhe (Kurdish Jacket Wrestling)
Choukhe is a jacket wrestling style practised mainly by Kurds of northeastern Iran in Khorasan. Holds are only above the waist, and bouts are barefoot to drum and oboe.
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IranCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Choukhe (Kurdish Jacket Wrestling)
Choukhe, in Persian koshti-ye ba choukhe, is a traditional jacket wrestling style from Khorasan in northeastern Iran. According to Moshtagh Khorasani, it is practised mainly by Kurdish tribes of Khorasan, in the towns of Bojnurd, Esfarayen, Quchan, Fariman and Chenaran. The name means "with choukhe", that is, with a jacket, and according to Abbasi the word is of Persian origin. The same author places its roots in battle preparation, and it was wrestled at Nowruz, on holidays, at weddings and after the harvest. According to Moqqadam Ziyarat, Nader Qoli, later founder of the Afsharid dynasty, was also a capable wrestler. We have not been able to find a founder or a year of origin.
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Wrestlers hold each other's jackets and try to unbalance the opponent. Holds are only above the waist and the opponent's legs may not be touched. Allowed are trips, sweeps, hip throws and arm twists, and there is no ground fighting. A fall is a shoulder touching the ground. According to UWW, a bout lasts five minutes with a three-minute extension, is fought barefoot in a clay ring and is accompanied by the dohol drum and sorna oboe. Formerly there was no time or weight limit, and according to Mohammad Jahani three weight classes came in 1983 after a champion's death. According to the Mehr agency, the main competition is held every year on 14 Farvardin, the day after the New Year holidays end, in the arena in Esfarayen, where the winner gets money, sheep, camels or carpets. According to Mehr, the style was entered in Iran's national intangible heritage in 2008. On 20 April 2025, UWW and the Iranian Wrestling Federation signed a memorandum by which choukhe joined UWW's associated styles.
History
In 2014 Moshtagh Khorasani described ba choukhe wrestling as a style from the region of Greater Khorasan, whose roots he sees in battle preparation, with emphasis on holds and throws from a deep stance. He writes himself that no international literature on the subject exists and that he draws on Iranian books and a field interview. According to Abbasi, whom he cites, it is practised mainly by Kurdish tribes living in Khorasan and is held in Quchan, Bojnurd, Esfarayen, Fariman and Chenaran. It was wrestled at Nowruz, on national holidays, at weddings and after the harvest. According to Moqqadam Ziyarat, Nader Qoli (1688 to 1747), the later founder of the Afsharid dynasty, was also a capable wrestler, and the famous pahlavan Akbar Khorasani of the Qajar era reportedly trained for half a year with ba choukhe wrestlers in Cheshmeh Gilas after a defeat in Tehran and learned undercutting. The Turkmens of northern Khorasan had their own wedding wrestling, goresh, and ba choukhe wrestlers travelled to their villages to challenge them. In 2018 Bidaki linked the Kurmanji jacket and the ritual of putting it on with the Zoroastrian sedreh.
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Originally people wrestled in everyday clothes with rolled-up sleeves and a scarf around the waist, from 1950 in knee-length trousers and a sleeveless jacket of stiff sheep or camel wool called choukhe, and from 1962 the wool was replaced with linen. Without a time or weight limit there were serious injuries and deaths, and so, according to Mohammad Jahani, three weight classes of up to 70 kg, 70 to 80 kg and over 80 kg were introduced in 1983 after the death of the champion Alireza Dartumi. According to the Mehr agency, the style was entered in Iran's national intangible heritage in 2008. On 20 April 2025, UWW and the Iranian Wrestling Federation signed a four-year memorandum by which choukhe joined UWW's associated styles.
How it differs
According to Moshtagh Khorasani, ba choukhe resembles judo and jujutsu in stance and throws: wrestlers hold jackets and try to unbalance the opponent, and there are no ground techniques or chokes. It differs from freestyle in that both wrestlers wear a jacket and short trousers, so surprise attacks on the legs are hard and the opponent is kept at a distance by the jacket. According to Bolur, cited by Moshtagh Khorasani, most Iranian freestyle techniques were taken from ba choukhe. The Turkmens of northern Khorasan have their own wrestling, goresh. We have not been able to find a relationship with the belt wrestling of Central Asia in scholarly sources.
Technique
Wrestlers hold each other's jackets and try to unbalance the opponent, and according to Moshtagh Khorasani a bout always begins standing with a test of strength. Holds are only above the waist, and according to UWW the opponent's legs may not be touched. Allowed are all kinds of trips, sweeps, side hip throws and arm twists. Forbidden are grabbing a leg below the knee, suplexes, a cross grip of the jacket, pulling the jacket over the head and a leg lock, and on the ground wrestling may continue only a few seconds after the landing. Mohammad Jahani divides techniques into four groups by whether they work mainly with the legs, arms, neck and waist, or in a mixed way, and Moshtagh Khorasani recorded thirty techniques from the literature and from master Hashem Asadi of Bojnurd.
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A fall is, according to UWW, one shoulder touching the ground, and according to Moshtagh Khorasani also sitting with both shoulders on the ground or landing on the back at an angle under ninety degrees. UWW scores a takedown with one point, a throw completed outside the ring with two and inside it with one. According to UWW, bouts are in a clay ring and several can run at once, Moshtagh Khorasani gives a 12 by 12 metre area, usually on a meadow, and Mehr a clay ring about ten metres across. Sources differ on clothing: UWW describes a shirt with sleeves to the elbows, a jacket, shorts and a firm fabric belt tied at the back, Moshtagh Khorasani a sleeveless jacket, long black tonban trousers folded over the knees and a red and blue wool scarf as a belt. Wrestling is barefoot.
Training
We have not been able to find a description of training in the sources. According to the rules given by Moshtagh Khorasani, a wrestler qualifies in the city round, submits a medical certificate and is weighed on the first day, and minors prove their age with an ID card. The organiser pays wrestlers and coaches for lodging and meals in the camp the day before and after the bouts, and for bus travel. A bout is supervised by five referees, one in the middle and four in the corners, who decide by majority vote. Before a bout wrestlers perform ritual ablution and prayer. Each of the three Khorasan provinces has its own championship, followed by a grand championship between provinces.
Ranks and progression
Choukhe has no ranks or titles. According to the rules in Moshtagh Khorasani, wrestlers compete in two groups: minors up to sixteen years old with a minimum weight of 40 kg, and champions with no age limit and a minimum weight of 70 kg. Until 1983 there were no weight classes, and then three, up to 70, up to 80 and over 80 kg. Adult winners used to receive a mare, a milk cow and a ram, minors a gold medal, and according to Mehr today money, coins, sheep, camels, sugar and hand-woven carpets. We have not been able to find the current categories according to the 2025 UWW rules.
Today
According to the Mehr agency, the main competition is held every year on 14 Farvardin, the day after the Nowruz holidays end, in the Zeinolkhan arena in Esfarayen in North Khorasan province. The music of the dohol drum and the sorna oboe begins with the bout, people fill the streets leading to the arena and the shops close. The winner gets money and coins, sheep, camels, sugar and hand-woven carpets. According to Mehr, a bout today lasts ten minutes, it used to have no time limit and the winner was the one who put the opponent on his back three times. According to the UWW description from 2025, a bout lasts five minutes, and in a tie it is followed by a one-minute pause and a three-minute extension in which the first to score wins. In 2014 Moshtagh Khorasani gave ten minutes with a five-minute extension for adults and shorter bouts for minors.
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Khorasan is divided into the provinces of Razavi, North and South Khorasan, each has its own championship, and then a championship between the provinces is held. Moshtagh Khorasani describes the organisation of the competitions as local and traditional, not professional, with an effort to adapt the rules to international competition. On 20 April 2025, UWW and the Iranian Wrestling Federation signed a four-year memorandum by which choukhe joined UWW's associated styles. Iran has had only the Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals on the UNESCO list since 2010, and choukhe is not mentioned in them.
Did you know
According to Moshtagh Khorasani, some ba choukhe wrestlers compete successfully in judo. According to tradition, the pahlavan Akbar Khorasani had the nickname saqpa, dog's leg, for his toughness. According to Abbasi, wrestlers must not walk directly toward the stars before a bout, or reportedly they would lose. Socks and leather charoq shoes come off before a bout and wrestling is barefoot.
Frequently asked questions
Where is choukhe wrestled?
In Khorasan in northeastern Iran, mainly among the local Kurdish tribes in the towns of Bojnurd, Esfarayen, Quchan, Fariman and Chenaran. The main competition is held every year on 14 Farvardin in Esfarayen.
What are the rules of choukhe?
Wrestlers grip the choukhe jacket only above the waist and may not touch the opponent's legs. A fall is a shoulder touching the ground, and UWW gives points for takedowns and throws. According to UWW a bout lasts five minutes plus a three-minute extension.
Is choukhe internationally recognised?
Yes, since 20 April 2025: UWW and the Iranian Wrestling Federation signed a memorandum by which choukhe joined UWW's associated styles. It is not listed separately on the UNESCO list.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.