Khuresh
Tuvan national wrestling from Siberia, main contest of the Naadym festival. No weight classes, touching the ground loses, and wrestlers dance the eagle flight devig before and after a bout.
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Training
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Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Khuresh
Khuresh is Tuvan wrestling, the national sport of the Republic of Tyva in southern Siberia. We have not been able to confirm when it arose. The oldest written descriptions come from travellers of the late 19th and early 20th century: Raikov described in 1897 at a monastery in Todzha wrestlers who attacked like roosters, the loser being whoever touched the ground with a hand or fell, and Kon recorded, from 1903 to 1904, a ceremony before and after the wrestling. According to the ethnographer Sanchai, khuresh is part of the Tuvan heroic epic.
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It is wrestled standing, and the essence is staying on one's feet. The exact losing rule differs between sources: Sanchai writes of a touch on three points of support, a paper from Tomsk Polytechnic University of a touch of the ground with any part of the body except the soles. There is no wrestling for shoulder pins or holds, the opponent only has to be brought to the ground. Ground wrestling, painful holds and chokes are forbidden, and traditionally weight and age are disregarded, so men of very different sizes meet in a single tournament. The tournament is wrestled outdoors as a knockout and the winner of the last pair is the absolute champion. Khuresh is as much a ceremony as a sport. According to Sanchai, the eagle dance devig, with outstretched arms and turns of the body, is performed three times: by all wrestlers at the start, before the bout and after it by the winner. The loser unties the laces and runs under the raised arms of the winner, who symbolically brushes the dust from his shoulders, and the winner then throws treats from the table to the crowd. The traditional costume is soft high boots, leather shorts with an ornament and a short jacket with long sleeves and laces. A second accompanies the wrestler, praising him, dancing the devig and encouraging him. The main event is the summer festival Naadym, held at state level since 1922 and based on khuresh, horse riding and archery. The winners receive honorary titles: the highest is Chaan (elephant), then Arzylan (lion) and Nachyn (falcon).
History
We have not been able to confirm the origin of khuresh. The historiographic overview by Artamonova (2019) places the oldest written descriptions in the late 19th and early 20th century: Raikov in 1897 described at a monastery in Todzha, at the maidyr festival, wrestlers who attacked like roosters, the loser being whoever touched the ground with a hand or fell, and the first prize going to the winner among the winners, while Kon, from 1903 to 1904, recorded a ceremony before and after the wrestling and a costume of short briefs and a purely ceremonial shirt. Ethnographer Sanchai (Novye issledovaniya Tuvy, 2014) gives the notes of the travellers Katanov and Kon as the first mentions and adds that the wrestling is part of the Tuvan heroic epic. A 1207 mention in Rashid al-Din is given only by the English Wikipedia and we have not verified it. According to the Cultural Heritage of Tuva portal, the first Naadym was held on 28 July 1922 in the Tuvan People's Republic, and according to Tinikova and Novoselcev (2026) the festival gained national status in 1922, based on khuresh, horse riding and archery.
How it differs
According to the conference paper by Zhukov and Mongush (Tomsk Polytechnic University), the standing techniques and throws of khuresh are practically identical to those of sambo, classical and freestyle wrestling, and the main difference lies in the rules: ground wrestling, painful holds and chokes are forbidden, there are no weight categories, and the bout ends with a touch of the ground. We have not found in the sources a comparison with Mongolian bökh, which khuresh is most often linked to, and the university manual only poses it as a review question.
Technique
We have not found the federation's official rules, the description draws on ethnographic and university sources. It is wrestled standing, only the soles may touch the ground, and the winner stays standing and forces the opponent to touch it, according to the Tomsk Polytechnic University paper with any part of the body, while Sanchai counts a touch on three points of support as a loss. Zhukov and Mongush state that ground wrestling, painful holds and chokes are forbidden, and weight and age categories traditionally do not exist. The tournament is wrestled outdoors as a knockout, the last pair's winner being the absolute champion. According to Sanchai, the traditional costume is soft high boots, leather shorts with embossed ornament and a short jacket with long sleeves and laces, and the TPU conference paper gives the names shodak and shuudak unassigned. The eagle dance devig, with outstretched arms and body turns, is performed three times: at the start by all wrestlers, before the bout and after it by the winner. After the bout the loser unties the laces and runs under the winner's raised arms, and the winner symbolically brushes the dust from his shoulders. The seconds, moge salykchylary, praise the wrestler, dance the devig, instruct and encourage him during the bout.
Training
The Tuvan State University manual Borba Khuresh (Oorzhak, Oorzhak, Khomushku, 2019) divides a wrestler's training into physical, technical, tactical, moral-volitional and ethical, and has a chapter on falls, self-protection and injury prevention. According to Khomushku (Vestnik KGPU), a project bringing khuresh into kindergartens has applied in Tuva since 2016 and an education ministry departmental project since 2022. The republican children's festival of khuresh has been held since 2014 and international since 2020, with children aged 4 to 16 from Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan and, according to the author, with at least a thousand wrestlers.
Ranks and progression
A wrestler's standing is given by honorary titles. According to Biche-ool (Tuvinskaya Pravda, reprinted by Tuva-Online 2012), the title Chaan (elephant) was awarded for winning all rounds of the tournament, the second highest was Arzylan (lion) and the third Nachyn (falcon), and the title Khartyga (hawk) was abolished after the revolution, but in 2026 Tuva-Online uses Khartyga moge again. The winner of the Naadym tournament on 19 July 2024 in Kyzyl received the title Arzylan moge of the Republic of Tyva. At Naadym 2020, Eres Kara-Sal received the title Chaan moge by beating Sayin-Belek Tyulyush, also a Chaan moge, in the final. We have not found in the sources who awards the titles and by what rules.
Today
The register of legal entities lists two Tuvan federations: the Federation of Tuvan National Wrestling Khuresh of the Republic of Tyva, registered on 18 June 2010, and the Federation of National Wrestling Tyva Khuresh of the Republic of Tyva, registered on 18 October 2021 with president Ayas Mongush. We have not verified their mutual relationship, and neither has a website. The main competition is the tournament of the Naadym festival: on 19 July 2024 it was held at Khuresh stadium in Kyzyl with wrestlers from Tuva and Mongolia, in 2020 and 2021 the 128 strongest wrestlers took part, and the winner received 100 head of small livestock from the government and Tyva's sports ministry, the runner-up 50. According to Mendot and Türkmen, khuresh is also wrestled at the New Year festival Shagaa. Khuresh is not contested at the World Nomad Games, where Aidyn Mongush won in 2018 in belt wrestling. The UNESCO list has no Tuvan element.
Did you know
According to Sanchai, the winner runs after the bout to the refreshment table and throws them into the crowd, symbolically giving the spectators his strength, while for Katanov the gift was a piece of cheese from the noyon and chief lama. Slapping palms on thighs at the end of the devig is read as a reminder of leg strength, but researchers disagree. In 1897 Raikov compared the wrestlers' attack to roosters.
Frequently asked questions
What is devig?
A ritual eagle dance with outstretched arms. According to the ethnographer Sanchai, wrestlers perform it three times: all at the start, each before his bout and the winner afterwards.
Are there weight categories in khuresh?
No. Traditionally neither weight nor age is taken into account, the tournament is wrestled as a knockout and the winner of the last pair is the absolute champion.
What titles can a khuresh wrestler win?
Chaan (elephant) is the highest, then Arzylan (lion) and Nachyn (falcon). According to Biche-ool, the title Khartyga (hawk) was abolished after the revolution, but the press uses it again in 2026.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.