Ssireum
씨름Traditional Korean wrestling defined by the satba belt around the waist and thigh. Wrestlers grip the opponent's belt, so there is no search for a hold at the start.
Quick Facts
South KoreaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Ssireum
Ssireum is a traditional Korean wrestling style built around a belt called satba. It runs around the waist and one thigh, and the wrestlers hold each other's belt, so a bout does not begin with a search for a grip but straight away with work on weight and balance. Bouts take place in a sand ring about seven metres across. The winner is whoever forces the opponent to touch the sand with any part of the body above the knee. The matches are short, often only a few seconds, and are decided by the timing of the trip, the pull on the belt and the ability to hold out while the opponent is applying force.
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Wrestling of this kind is attested far back in time: a mural in the Gakjeochong tomb from the Goguryeo kingdom, which lies in present-day Ji'an in China, shows two wrestlers. Ssireum belonged to folk festivals, above all the spring festival of Dano, and the winner received an ox. According to the South Korean Ministry of Culture, the first competition in its modern form was held in Seoul in 1912, and weight classes were added at the national championship in 1956. Today there is a professional league with weight classes named after mountains and with the title Cheonhajangsa for the winner of the open-weight tournament, the first of which was held in April 1983. South Korea listed ssireum as national intangible cultural heritage no. 131 in January 2017, and in 2018 UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as the very first item nominated jointly by North and South Korea.
History
The oldest evidence is a mural in the Gakjeochong tomb in Tonggu, present-day Ji'an in China's Jilin province, which shows two men wrestling on the east wall of the burial chamber. The Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology places the tomb in the middle phase of the Goguryeo kingdom, roughly the 5th to 6th century, while another study counts it among the early tomb paintings from the early 3rd to the early 5th century, so the dating differs. According to the South Korean Ministry of Culture, ssireum bouts were held mainly on the festival of Dano, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and since 2012 Dano has been designated Ssireum Day. Modern competitive history begins in Seoul in 1912, when, according to the Ministry of Culture, the first competition was held at the Yugakkwon club. Weight classes were introduced at the 12th national championship in 1956, and their names after Korean mountains came, according to the daily Kyunghyang, from a public competition in 1983. In the same year, on 14 April 1983, the first tournament for the Cheonhajangsa title was held, won by Lee Man-ki, who according to Korea JoongAng Daily has won the most titles, ten. A rule change by the Korea Ssireum Association in 1986 required a firmer grip and limited the throws that smaller wrestlers relied on.
How it differs
We compile the comparison of ssireum with sumo, the sport it is most often confused with, from the rules of both, as no source makes it explicitly. They share only the goal: in both, whoever touches the ground with anything but the soles loses. Sumo adds being pushed out of the dohyo, 4.55 m across, as a second way to lose, while ssireum is wrestled in a sand circle about seven meters across and only a touch of the ground from the knee up decides, pushing out does not. The fundamental difference is the grip. In ssireum both wrestlers wear a satba belt around the waist and one thigh and start already holding the opponent's belt, so there is no fight for the grip. In sumo they wear a mawashi and seek the grip only after the tachiai charge. The Japan Sumo Association recognizes 82 winning techniques, the kimarite, and yorikiri, the force-out in a grip, decides about a third of professional bouts. Professional sumo has no weight categories, professional ssireum has categories named after mountains, from sobaek (up to 72 kg) to baekdu (up to 140 kg).
Technique
According to UNESCO, the wrestlers wear a long cloth satba belt around the waist and one thigh, hold the opponent's belt and take him down with various techniques. The aim is to make the opponent touch the sand with any part of the body above the knee (Korean Journal of Sport Science). According to Korea JoongAng Daily, a bout takes place in a sand ring about seven metres wide and lasts three minutes, then after a one-minute break comes an extra period of up to three minutes. The figure is from 2011, and we have not been able to retrieve the current rules of the Korea Ssireum Association. According to the daily Kyunghyang (2024), the men's classes of the professional league are sobaek up to 72 kg, taebaek up to 80 kg, geumgang up to 90 kg, halla up to 105 kg and baekdu up to 140 kg, and the Korean Journal of Sport Science also lists four main classes with limits of 80, 90, 105 and 140 kg. The women's classes are named after plants: maehwa up to 60 kg, nancho up to 65 kg, gukhwa up to 70 kg, daenamu up to 75 kg and mugunghwa up to 80 kg.
Training
According to UNESCO, children learn ssireum in the family, local communities hold open tournaments every year and schools teach it too. We found no description of professional league training in the available sources, and we have not been able to load the Korea Ssireum Association website.
Ranks and progression
Ssireum has no ranks or belts, standing comes from titles. According to UNESCO, the adult final winner receives an ox and the title of jangsa and parades through the neighbourhood with it. The highest title of the professional league is Cheonhajangsa, for the open-weight tournament winner, first awarded on 14 April 1983. Lee Man-ki holds the most titles, ten, according to Korea JoongAng Daily (2011), and Kang Ho-dong won five according to the South Korean Ministry of Culture and at nineteen was the youngest holder.
Today
In 2018 UNESCO inscribed Traditional Korean wrestling (Ssirum/Ssireum) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (decision 13.COM 10.b.41, file 01533) as a joint nomination of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea, originally submitted separately as 01361 and 01280. The committee met in Port Louis, Mauritius, and UNESCO called the merger of the two nominations unprecedented. In South Korea ssireum has been national intangible cultural heritage no. 131 since 4 January 2017, without a recognised holder or holding organisation. The professional league is run by the Korea Ssireum Association. The World Ssireum Federation held the first world championship in September 2008 in Busan and the second in September 2009 in Šiauliai, Lithuania, with about 120 wrestlers, and we found no later activity by the federation.
Did you know
According to UNESCO, bouts take place at folk festivals, market days and celebrations, and the winner gets an ox, the inscription giving an ox for the Republic of Korea and a bull for the DPRK. Kang Ho-dong won the 44th national championship in 1989 and the Cheonhajangsa title five times. The Gakjeochong tomb, with the oldest wrestling image, is in present-day China, not Korea.
Frequently asked questions
How do you win at ssireum?
The opponent must touch the sand with any part of the body above the knee. Both wrestlers hold the satba belt, which runs around the waist and one thigh.
Is ssireum on the UNESCO list?
Yes, since 2018, as a joint inscription of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (file 01533). In South Korea it has also been national intangible heritage no. 131 since 2017.
What are the weight classes in ssireum called?
Men's classes are named after mountains: taebaek up to 80 kg, geumgang up to 90 kg, halla up to 105 kg and baekdu up to 140 kg, with sobaek the lightest at up to 72 kg. Women's classes are named after plants.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.