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UW Friends,
I thought I would share an interesting exchange with you.
From: aranha
Date: 18-May-99 | 08:41 AM
What is the School of Russian Fisticuffs in ROSS?It's like a kickboxing,or a
NHB match?
Aranha,
[reprinted with permission from the "Russian-Style Hand-to-hand Combat"
Field Manual for the Russian Special Forces]
FISTICUFFS
Expose Karate fighters, who perform katas (formal exercises) or conduct
duels, to fighting on the frozen rivers. Those who are experts in these
Eastern fighting styles immediately pick up on what is different. Either a
barefooted, kimono dressed man whose feet start to cross each other
starts to slip and fall, or he is dressed with well-fitted boots (it's also
possible to have felt boots and a sheepskin coat) has to principally change
his technique, which, as a result of the ice, already has nothing in common
with Karate.
This happens for a simple reason - in this nutured-in-Japan style, first and
foremost, creeping along the ground movements are used, and they are
permitted, it's strictly said whenever there is a great coefficient of friction
between the soles of the feet and a foothold of a reliable interlock.
However, the Japanese combat system does not at all become absolete
from this. In Okinawa, where Karate comes from, it is not freezing cold and
it does not snow and worry of duels on the ice hardly disturb the local
residents. Fine people that they are, they constructed their own system
based upon their own physiques, upon their own particular climate. They
are twice as worthy of hte exercises that preserve and develop their
cultural traditions. Over a period of many centuries, the custom of wall
combat has lived in Rus (the old name of the region that is currently known
as Russia). At Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), most often on a frozen river,
men and lads of neighboring towns and villages met and walked in lines
forming walls. Fist fighting can show us senseless cruelty and barbarous
ceremony. But to judge it as such means not to know our native history
and the reasons that produced it. But why meet in the winter and on the
frozen river? Rivers were important routes of the wooded and swampy Rus.
In the summer, boating routes ran through them and in the winter, sled
paths. Even armies moved along the frozen-over rivers and swamps.
The likeliness of a battle on the ice was great. The outcome of fight was
won not only by the militia units (professional soldiers), but also many
militiamen who were simple people, Christians, and artisans. And since wars
went on continuously (it is rare that a year would pass peacefully), that
every man had to have combat skills. But for the militia units, the ability to
master weapons served as the basic method to obtain food. They could
daily develop their master. Then whoever was not in the militia unit, and
cultivated their own food, studied their own trade, did their own business,
were forced to prepare themselves for battle between their other affairs.
This life compelled them to find a method of how to prepare young men for
battle, how to support the fighter form in a mature man, and how to
achieve a willingness to fight shoulder to shoulder at the first call of the
militiamen. Thus arose the tradition of wall-fighting. The rules were almost
identical throughout all of Rus.
Everyone met in lines forming walls and each group could have two, three
and even more rows deep. Striking to the face and below the belt were
forbidden, and you could not hit a man when he was down. After all, he
was still a Russian (this is the difference from Eastern styles, where the
opponent, whether symbolic or real, was finished off; it is an absolute
condition). On the other hand, strikes to the chest and the stomach could
be landed with every part of the arm up to the shoulder, without
concession. The wall that breaks through another wall is the winner.
Wall fistfighting was a preparation for war, or so it was called, without a
break from it being conducted. Militiamen would always strive to
compensate for a shortage of weapons and a use of professionalism in an
unexpected situation. In the famous Battle on the Ice (battle fought on a
frozen lake in 1242), militiamen, who had been gathered together by
Aleksandr Nevskij, did not wear any armor but took along spears. They
knew that in April, the ice on Chudskij Lake was treacherous and therefore,
they could not take too many heavy items.
The use of spears made it easier to pull off the heavily armed knights from
horseback. The legs of animals on the ice would spread apart. They were
clumsy and therefore the militiamen who were accustomed to walking on
the ice (how many of them were successful wallfighters!), possessed the
initiative and forced their attackers into a position which is advantageous
for themselves. That is how they completely crushed the opposition, some
in hand to hand combat, and some they drove into an unfrozen patch of
water in the ice. Incidentally, on the Kulikov field (the historical event
where the native Russians stopped the advance of Ghenghis Khan and the
Golden Horde), the front line regiment completely consisted of militiamen
whose duty it was to withstand the first onslaught. Although they, the
Leading Cavalry, overran the opposition, the wall was not broken. In wall
fighting the sense of comradship became more polished in combined force,
which was mutually beneficial. Everyone yielded to a single goal which was
to let yourself be killed if it helped save your comrade. However, aside from
a mutual harmony every wall fighter had to possess a personal skill. For
these acquisitions, there were some methods..."
written by Gen. Alexander Retuinskih President of the All-Russian
Federation of Russian Martial Art (http://www.ROSS.ru) Vice-president of
the International Combat Sambo Commission for FIAS Deputy-chairman of
Russian Combat Sambo Committee for
All-Russian Sambo Federation
Subject: RE: INFO
From: nebula
Date: 22-May-99 | 01:13 AM
Thanks Scott. This explains the old ways but on your website under
Russian
Fisticuffs(sport Fighting) there are pictures of people fighting with gloves.
Are there face strikes allowed in modern Russian Fisticuffs? There also
seems to be some grappling. Is there limited grappling allowed as well. Just
curious.
Nebula,
Actually, the "old ways" are still the current ways. Fisticuffs is just another
training exercise in all-Russian Martial Art, just like Sambo sport-wrestling
and Sambo free-fighting. There are different ways of safely maintaining the
mature fighting form in the adult man. There have been historically records
of hand to hand duels such as the legendary duel between Charles XII of
Sweden and Tsar Peter the Great in 1700, but these are not the means of
preparation.
The Slavs believed that to hone the "elite" athlete would be at the
detriment of the collective. Their entire world view is a different paradigm.
They chose to have a battle preparatory methodic that would increase the
entire village, rather than indentify and enhance the most elite of the tribe.
Additionally, the concentration was on a lifetime ability to participate in
defense of homeland, kith and kin. As a result, although the training
exercises (such as fisticuffs and jacket wrestling) were designed not on
domination, but on the refinement and development of attributes
throughout the lifetime of the men, young to old.
For instance, in current day, sovereign countries of the dominant culture
have "professional fighting forces". These men tend to be of a certain age
bracket (say 18-30). A man fighting in this phase of his development is
capable of absorbing Herculean punishment (merely watch any NHB event
and marvel at what men of this age can absorb). In the current day,
countries have economic foundation to support a professional fighting
force. All of the battle preparedness is aligned with the cultivation of the
fighting form in this professional force (typically of the age bracket 18-30).
A tribal community however, cannot/could not support the "specialization"
of a professional fighting force. These martial traditions had to be
conducted after the day's harvest, trading of whares or hunting of game. If
a man had to spend a day, or more, in convalescence, he was incapable of
contributing his daily quota to the survival of the tribe. Children and old
alike participated in the traditions. All men. To jeopardize their safety for
the immediate development of a few individuals was not an evolutionarily
sound survival strategy. Injurous, or highly hazardous martial activities
were not conducted. Yes, there were MANY martial traditions, many means
of maintaining and cultivating the mature fighting form in the men. But they
were unlike the fighters of today. One to one the NHB fighter of today
would trample the ancient tribal warrior. No tribe (extant or extinct) could
survive against the onslaught of a modern professional fighting force.
But this was/is not the goal of a cultural martial tradition. A "culture" is a
world view, an integrated system of survival strategies - bound in lore,
dance, games, skills, legends, and song. Fisticuffs is a part of Russian
Martial Art - a particular means of maintaining the mature fighting form in
men (meaning, cultivating and preserving adroitness, dexterity, endurance,
tenacity, power, sensitivity, alertness, repose, etc...)
All men, young and old, could and did and do participate in Fisticuffs, just
like Sambo.
And the old men are the best at the games. In Sambo, for instance, the
older the Sambist, the better his Sambo. It's amazing to be tossed about
easily in Russia by a man 30 years your senior, while he breathes at ease,
moves with ease. It is equally amazing to watch a child learning the game
of fisticuffs, learning what we call "shock engineering" (bodily blows for
takedowns, not for vital targeting). Would the talented child or the skillful
senior have a remote chance of success in a NHB "competition"? Not likely.
But what is important to try to explain is that this is not the goal of
fisticuffs (nor of Sambo or any other aspect of Russian Martial Art for that
matter).
These martial traditions were meant as a lifestyle activity, something that
you continue to do for your entire lifetime, that you increase in ability your
entire lifetime, and that you improve your health your entire lifetime.
Yes, there is a wealth of training benefit from Fisticuffs, even for those
wishing to participate in NHB type events, but it is unwise to think that
Fisticuffs is a "variation" of a NHB event. It is just an excellent game - an
integral aspect of the physical culture of Russian Martial Art.
Perhaps it would make best sense to say that Fisticuffs like Sambo is not a
method of battle rehearsal not a specific method of combative conduct,
but a means of maintaining the mature fighting form throughout the course
of the entire lifetime of all men. If on the battlefield, you would not use
Fisticuffs, nor Sambo, nor Wall-fighting, nor Bayonet Fencing, nor any
other of the ritualized martial traditions. You would simply rely on your
attributes and the strength of the morale of your tribe.
It's not what you fight WITH, but what you fight FOR that makes a warrior
- Russian
Martial Art proverb.
Fraternal,
Scott Sonnen