Vasili Oshchepkov
Василий Сергеевич Ощепков
Russian judoka (1893–1937), one of the three founders of sambo, the first Russian with a 2nd dan in judo and founder of the first judo circle in Russia (Vladivostok, 1914).
Quick Facts
RussiaBiography
Vasili Oshchepkov was a Russian judoka and one of the three founders of sambo, whom the All-Russian Sambo Federation and the international federation FIAS list together with Viktor Spiridonov and Anatoly Kharlampiev. He was born on 6 January 1893 according to the new calendar (25 December 1892 old style) on Sakhalin and died on 10 October 1937 in Moscow.
As an orphan he studied from September 1907 at the Orthodox seminary in Tokyo, where judo was taught. On 29 October 1911 he was admitted to the Kodokan, on 15 June 1913 he received the 1st dan and in October 1917 the 2nd dan. According to the All-Russian Sambo Federation he was the first Russian and the third European with the 2nd dan, when judo had only five dans.
In 1914 he founded the first judo circle in Russia in Vladivostok, and in 1915 and 1917 he organized matches with Japanese students. He worked as a translator and for military intelligence, in 1921 he went to Sakhalin, occupied by the Japanese, from 1924 he worked in Tokyo and in 1926 he returned to the USSR. From 1929 he taught in Moscow at the Central House of the Red Army and at the State Central Institute of Physical Culture. From judo and national wrestling he created applied wrestling there, introduced Russian terminology, a handshake instead of a bow, and weight categories. He took part in Red Army manuals from 1930 and 1931 and compiled self-defense exercises for the GTO badge.
In 1935 he handed his section over to his student Anatoly Kharlampiev. In the night of 2 October 1937 he was arrested and accused of espionage for Japan, and on 10 October he died in Butyrka prison, officially of a heart attack. In 1957 he was rehabilitated.
Early life
Vasili Oshchepkov was born on 6 January 1893 according to the new calendar on Sakhalin, and Russian Wikipedia gives the settlement Aleksandrovsky Post. According to the All-Russian Sambo Federation his mother Maria Semyonovna Oshchepkova was sentenced in 1890 to Sakhalin penal servitude for escaping from forced labor, and his father was probably the exile Sergey Plisak, a carpenter, who died in 1902. His mother died in 1904 and Vasili was left an orphan.
After the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905 southern Sakhalin passed to Japan, and according to the federation Russian intelligence, which lacked experts in Japanese, began to take an interest in the orphan. From September 1907 he studied at the Orthodox seminary in Tokyo at the mission of Archbishop Nikolai of Japan, where judo was also taught. English Wikipedia first gives a seminary in Kyoto, Russian Wikipedia considers this a common mistake.
Training and teachers
On the recommendation of the seminary trainer, as the best judoka, he was admitted on 29 October 1911 after entrance examinations to the Kodokan in Tokyo, which was headed by the founder of judo, Kano Jigoro. On 15 June 1913 he received the 1st dan. He received the 2nd dan in October 1917 during a business trip to Japan. The All-Russian Sambo Federation states that he was the first Russian and the third European with the 2nd dan and that judo then had only five dan grades. The encyclopedia Krugosvet gives him as the first Russian and the fourth foreigner.
After returning in 1913 he worked as a translator in counterintelligence in Harbin and in Vladivostok. In 1921 he went to Sakhalin, occupied by the Japanese, as a cinema operator, from October 1924 he worked in Tokyo, and in 1926 he was recalled to the USSR. On 27 January 1927 he was enlisted in the Red Army as a translator of the staff of the Siberian Military District in Novosibirsk.
Contribution and innovations
In 1914 he founded in Vladivostok the first judo circle in Russia, which operated until 1920, and in 1915 and 1917 he organized matches with Japanese students, in 1917 with a commercial school from Otaru. In 1927 he began to teach judo in Novosibirsk and from September 1929 in Moscow at the Central House of the Red Army, where he also opened the first group for women in the country, and at the State Central Institute of Physical Culture.
According to the All-Russian Sambo Federation he compared judo there with national wrestling, bayonet fighting and Chinese wushu and created applied wrestling, from which sambo emerged. He changed the cut of the jacket, introduced Russian terminology, a handshake instead of a bow, and weight categories. He took part in Red Army manuals from 1930 and 1931 and compiled self-defense exercises for the GTO badge, 2nd level, of 1932. In 1934 his program at the Central Higher School of the Militia was abolished at the request of Viktor Spiridonov.
Legends and documented facts
For a long time Anatoly Kharlampiev was considered the sole creator of sambo. Russian Wikipedia states that his classification of techniques from 1938 was based on materials of Oshchepkov, and the president of the All-Russian Sambo Federation Sergey Eliseev said in 2018 that all three founders are revered equally. The birth of sambo is often given as order no. 633 of 16 November 1938, but it was an official recognition of an already existing system.
English Wikipedia gives as the first study of Oshchepkov a seminary in Kyoto, while the All-Russian Sambo Federation and Russian Wikipedia speak only of the seminary in Tokyo. The primacy with the 2nd dan differs: the federation gives him as the third European, Krugosvet as the fourth foreigner.
Legacy
In 1934 he opened a section in the Aviakhim Sports Palace and in 1935 handed it over to his student Anatoly Kharlampiev. According to the encyclopedia Krugosvet his students also included Kuzovlev, Sidorov, Galkovsky and Vasilyev. In the night of 2 October 1937 he was arrested, accused of espionage for Japan, and on 10 October he died in Butyrka prison, officially of a heart attack. In 1957 he was rehabilitated thanks to the efforts of his widow Anna Ivanovna.
In September 2012 a monument to him was unveiled in Vladivostok. On 18 December 2020 a memorial to the founders of sambo, Spiridonov, Oshchepkov and Kharlampiev, was unveiled in Luzhniki in Moscow. The international sambo federation FIAS lists him in its hall of fame among the three founders.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
Ranks and titles
- 2nd danJudo · 1917