On this page we are compiling a list of Grappling, Throwing and Close-quarter non-strike martial art styles. This is the first draft and the styles are listed in Chronological Order. BCE means Before Current Era and CE means the last 2000 years!
Shui Chao/Chiao-ti - app 2700 BCE
Shui Chao, the oldest style of Chinese wrestling. It's earliest recorded use was by the Yellow Emperor of China around 2700 BCE (4700 years ago) against the rebel enemy Chih-yiu and his army. They used horned helmets and gored their opponents while using a primitive form of grappling. This early recorded period was first called Chiao-ti (butting with horns). Throughout the centuries, the hands and arms replaced the horns while the techniques increased and improved.
The original Chinese Martial Art, a combat wrestling system called Chiao-li (Contesting of strength), was systematized during the Chou Dynasty (1122-256 BC). During the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911), the Emperor of China sponsored many Shuai-chiao tournaments.
Pankration/Greco Roman - 648 BCE
The word Pankration is a Greek word which translated means "all powers" or "all powerful", both are acceptable translations by Greek scholars. Pankration was a sporting event in the ancient Greek Olympic games that was first introduced in the games of 648 BCE.
The rules of the sport were simple, no biting or eye gouging and victory was secured through knockout, submission or death. The historical records of the early Pankration are shrouded and mixed with Greek mythology and it is not known whether these accounts of championship bouts and feats of strength of the champions were myth or actual accounts. What is known is that just like the boxers and wrestlers of the Olympic games the Pankration competitors refined their skills for many generations through hundreds of years and became extremely proficient at all elements of their sport including ground fighting and submission holds to standing fighting with all types of strikes. Many of the holds, throws and striking techniques can be seen on the pottery, statues and drawings of those times.
The ancient Olympic games were intertwined with many ceremonies and connections to the worship of gods that were pagan to the rising Christian population. Because of this association and the rise of Christianity the games eventually came to a halt and along with it Pankration competition disappeared for many centuries.
The Olympic games were eventually adopted and reborn throughout the world alternating the competition in a new country every 4 years, however, Pankration competition was not included.
Kalari Payat - app 350 BCE
Kalari Payat is the grappling art of India. Each one of the Kalari Payat techniques is a complete finishing tactic, which enables the person to get into the enemy and put him under control. Although it has developed over the centuries, there are techniques that very much resemble Pankration, and it is thought that Pankration may be one of its root styles.
The art has it's origin with the training of soldiers, Buddhist monks as well as noblemen who had to learn the art, because there were frequent raids on the Kings and Princes' of Kerala (South India) by neighboring war lords. Kalari Payat was developed a few thousand years ago in the state of Kerala in India, which was introduced in Malaysia by the Mahaguru Ustaz Haji Hamzah Haji Abu, who is the founder of the International Dynamic Self Defense Kalari Payat (FIDSDK). Kalari Payat, had it's origin in Kerala State, South -West of India. This is why there is a suggestion that the soldiers of Alexander the Great may have brought Pankration to western India and influenced the local grappling arts.
Sumo - 20 BCE
Originally was known as "Sumai", meaning struggle it is believed that it found it;s roots in the Chinese art of Rams Head Fighting or Chiao-ti. Two combatants would wear a head protection, possibly the skull of a Ram and charge at each other. Who ever fell or was beaten out of the ring, lost.
Sumai began around 20 BCE and used most of the modern sumo techniques, plus a variety of strikes. Before the 16th century almost all wrestling was practiced for battle, even though there were strength contests performed in public by Sumo warriors. Rules, ranks, and a ring now make sumo into a sport. The water ceremony, the bowing, the costumes, and pageantry are all reminders of the ancient military traditions and are still recognized today in competition. Today, the victor is the one who forces his opponent out of the ring or forces his opponent to touch the floor with any body part above the knee. The techniques they employ range from slapping (Tsuppari), sweeps (Ketaguri), and a variety of sacrifice throws (Utchari).
Jiu Jitsu - 230 CE
The earliest mention of a sportive fight was a style called Chikura Kurabe. Most early combative forms resembled modern Sumo and wrestling. Some other ancient Japanese grappling styles were Tekoi and Kumi-Uchi. Kumi-Uchi was a battlefield type of Sumo. Another ancient form of Jujutsu was centered around the manipulation of joints and the immobilization of the limbs. It was called Yawara and though to be a derivative of the Chinese Chin Na. About 875-880 CE one of the sons of Emperor Siewa met a Chinese man who taught him a few fighting techniques. From these techniques and principles, Teijun Fujiwara developed a fighting art he called Aiki-Jutsu.
Teijun Fujiwara taught these techniques exclusively to the royal Minamoto family where it remained a secret style until the early 1100's. They both worked together to develop their families fighting techniques by dissecting cadavers and studying the working of the muscles and bones.
Many Jiu-Jitsu styles were developed by warrior groups over the centuries. Most were associated with weaponry, but all had grappling involved. The grappling ranged from manipulation of the joints, to wrestling on the ground, to stand-up grappling. Many Jiu-Jitsu styles used the strategy of yielding (Jiu) to an opponent's strength or speed in order to unbalance him and throw him to the ground. The secrets of Jiu-Jitsu involved understanding the dynamics of your opponents motion and force, as well and understanding the physiology of his body. Attacking him at his weakest point, whether of his motion, or his body, helped a weaker opponent defeat a stronger one.
Japanese Wrestling - app 500 CE
Japanese forms of grappling started around 500 CE according to the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, a book of legends from the year 712, which is the oldest extant example of Japanese writing), Takemikazuchi defeats Takeminakata in a grappling match on the shores of Izumo.
Shaolin 170 Moves - 640 CE
Around the 7th Century, after the rebuilding of Shaolin, Monks needed a way of protecting themselves. They developed a hard striking style called 72 Fists. As this was not compatible with Buddhist principles, they needed to redevelop this into a form of self defence that did not need to hurt or injure their assailants. Thus was born the 170 Move grappling.
It's core was still the 72 Fists as any conflict can start at foot or arms length. the 72 Fists remained the first line of defence and for multiple opponents but there were not 4 follow up choices not just one after the initial defence (Shaolin would not be the ones to attack first);
Striking and Kicking (72 Fists)
Evading and running (the 36th Strategy)
Size & Control (170 Moves)
Ground and Incapacitate (170 Moves, Dim Mak and Poison Hand).
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A Sample of Shaolin Academy 170 Moves Grappling
Thus, in the pure sense of today's grappling & Wrestling Styles, it could be seen as more of a Mixed Martial Art style than just a Size, Hold & Control style.
Boke/Bayrildax - app 1050 CE
For centuries the Mongolian's have been known for their legendary grappling skills. Their skills and techniques have been passed on to kung fu practitioners in China as well as to wrestlers and sambo practitioners in Russia. BOKE was born in the 11th century. There is an Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia style. The Naadam festival held during the second week of every July is a sportive festival that features Boke, among other sports.
Most often it takes place outdoors, though sometimes, during the winter, tournaments are held indoors. There are no weight classes or time limits in a match. The objective of the match is to get your opponent to touch his back, knee or elbow to the ground. In the Inner Mongolian version, any body part other than the feet touching the ground signals defeat. Both versions use a variety of throws, trips and lifts to throw the opponent. The Inner Mongolians may not touch their opponent's legs with their hands, whereas, in Mongolia, grabbing your opponent's legs is completely legal.
Glima - 1325 CE
The Vikings and other Norse practiced a grappling art called Glima. Often this grappling art was demonstrated in matches at festivals. Glima grapplers wore special belts in order to get a grip on each other. Glima used tripping, lifting, and throwing to bring the opponent to the ground. Eight basic tricks have survived to today. Glima techniques went with the Vikings to Iceland and the sport is the national sport of Iceland today. There are heroic stories of Glima matches that are almost 1000 years old, some even between men and women.
Kirkpinar - app 1372 CE
Almost annually since 1640, Turkey's finest grappling athletes have gathered in Erdine Turkey for the Kirkpinar, the championship of Turkish oil wrestling.
The grapplers oil their bodies, which make them very difficult to grasp. Sometimes in order to secure leverage for a throw, a wrestler is permitted to thrust his hand into his opponent's leather trousers. There are no draws and the match continues until one grappler wins. Competitions took place in a special yard, smoothed for wrestling. The fight is finished when opponent is thrown to the ground.
Catch Wrestling/ Catch-As-Catch-Can - app 1780 CE
Catch Wrestling, which really became famous in the US, was a conglomeration of many wrestling and grappling styles from Greco-Roman wrestling to Turkish wrestling. It traces it’s origins to in the United States bringing together influences from the various ethnic groups which began emigrating to America.
Yet the Irish collar-and-elbow wrestling was perhaps the earliest style to be introduced in the US, appearing in Vermont in the late 1700’s. The British would later bring three other styles of wrestling: Cornish-Devonshire, Cumberland-Westmoreland and Lancashire Catch-As-Catch-Can. These styles, combined with techniques bfrom other styles.
As knowledge of the various grappling holds spread, they were integrated into a competitive style, and this began the era of American catch-as-catch-can, later just called Catch Wrestling. In the mid to late 1800's, wrestlers like Martin "Farmer" Burns, emerged. He was sort of the father of American catch wrestling and although no one knows the names of those who taught him, Karl Gotch says that "Farmer Burns had many teachers from all over the world." The wrestlers who called themselves Professional Wrestlers were known as Hookers and Rippers.
Karl Gotch described it quite well when he said, "Think of fishing. When you have a fish on the end of a hook, he wiggles and squirms and can't get free. You've hooked him. That's where the term comes from. You hook a guy when you have a submission hold on him and he can't do anything to wiggle free. It has nothing to do with catch wrestling or shoot wrestling or whatever these guys are calling what they do. Any submission hold applied from any style of wrestling is a hook. And once you've hooked the guy, you've got to give him the sting"
Sambo - 1920 CE
Spiridonov, an officer of the old Russian Army, studied combat wrestling. After the Great War he began to study European versions of Japanese Jiu Jutsu. He eventually began teaching Jiu Jitsu in Russia. Since the 1920s, Spiridonov's system "SAM" became to spread among USSR policemen and military.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - app 1950 CE
Gracie Jujutsu was founded by Helio Gracie of Brazil. Carlos Gracie, his brother had met the leader of a Japanese resettlement colony named Maeda Esai (a.k.a. Count Koma). Maeda taught Helio Gracie the art of Jujutsu and eventually taught four of the Gracie brothers. In 1925 Carlos and his brothers opened the first Jujutsu dojo in Brazil.
Helio stood out the most of the brothers and developed the original techniques into what is now called Gracie Jujutsu. He went a step further than his teachers by introducing techniques that required less strength than the Japanese style. Led by him, the brothers were driven by a constant determination to find effective ways to deal with the very possible aspect of a real fight. Daring to break away from the traditional Japanese style, they began experimenting, modifying and perfecting simple techniques that would be effective regardless of stature. That is how the Gracie family developed this style of Jiu-Jitsu.
A judo practitioner, Vasilii Sergeevich Oshchepkov began working out at Spiridonov's school. On the base of judo he developed a new system of hand-to-hand combat for army. He called this system "free-style wrestling. This combines with several other grappling and striking arts became Sambo - "SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya" or "Self-defense without weapon".
Hapkido - 1956 CE
Yong-Sool Choi was adopted and changed his name to Tatujutu Yoshida. In his youth he was enrolled in a Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jutsu (pronounced Dae-Dong-Ryu Hap-Ki-Sool in Korean) dojo with Sokaku Takeda where he trained for 20+ years. During WWII Yoshida returned home to Korea and changed his name back to Yong-Sool Choi.
Choi established himself as a well respected martial arts instructor. He called his art Yoo Sool (Korean pronunciation of Ju-Jutsu). Choi changed the art name from Yoo Sool to Yoo Kwon Sool, to represent the fact that besides joint locks and throwing techniques, he was also practicing strikes and kicks. After the end of the Korean war, Choi opened his own private school at his house and began to teach a few students. Some of those private students went on to found their own martial art styles. These include; Hwang-Kee (Tang-Soo-Do), In-Hyuk Suh (Kuk Sool Won), Dr. Joo-Bang Lee (Hwa Rang Do), and Han-Jae Ji (Hapkido).
One of them, Han-Jae Ji began his martial arts training in Yoo Sool with Choi in 1949 at the age of 13. He trained with Choi until 1956. Han mixed in methods of meditation, the Taek-Kyun kicking techniques, and the weapons techniques learned from Taoist monks to formulate his own style of martial art, for which he chose the name "Hapkido."
Shootfighting 1984 CE
Shootfighting is a mixed martial art, which contains many grappling techniques. It's stand up fighting is from Muay Thai, it's clinches and takedown's are from Judo, Wrestling, Sambo and Ju-Jutsu. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, among other styles, have during the recent years shown the importance of good working skills in grappling. Shootfighting was created when a wrestler, Karl Gotch, was teaching the wrestling style of "shooting" to a group of Japanese elite fighters. Two of the fighters, Masami Soronaka and Yoshiaki Fujiwara created what was called UWF or "hard style" wrestling in Japan.
