Traditional Asian sports are a diverse group. Some
sports are—or were—linked to local royal cults, some
are explicitly connected with forms of religious worship,
and some seem clearly to be linked to traditional ways of
getting food. Some seem less purely competitive than
sports tend to be in a contemporary Western sense.
Martial Arts
Every region of Asia has produced some form of martial arts. Even India, not commonly thought to be a center for martial arts, boasts an ancient tradition of
wrestling. However, most Asian forms of martial arts
are found in China, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Mongol-Buh, for instance, is a Mongolian form of
wrestling that attracts up to 30,000 participants at
some events, in a country with barely more than two
million inhabitants. Mongol-Buh resembles, to some
extent, Japanese sumo, but competitors do not wrestle
within a bounded ring, and the palms of the hands, unlike in sumo, may touch the ground. Aside from its formal sporting characteristics, the sport appeals to Mongolian patriarchal tradition, being considered one of
the three “manly” sports—the other two are archery
and horseback riding. In Inner Mongolia, in July and
August, the three sports are demonstrated during the
course of Nadams: tribal meetings, of ancient origin,
that were traditionally designed to promote negotiations over the disposition of pasturelands.
Nu-shooting, a form of archery, is popular in the
southwestern provinces of China. Modern competition
in the sport is organized by the Chinese authorities at
officially sanctioned “minority peoples” events. Both
bow and arrow are wooden, and the arrowhead is bamboo: at least as currently practiced, “modernization”
would violate the spirit of Nu-shooting.
Krabi-Krabong is a Thai martial art, less well
known than Thai boxing, that involves the skillful
wielding of swords, spears, and axes. Competitors may
use a combination of weapons, and it takes much practice to master the variety of requisite techniques. Here
is a “sport” that, as now presented, may more accurately be characterized as a ritual performance: a traditional music (De-Ligua) is played at “matches,” and
the action builds up to a climax according to a prearranged composition.
Silat, an Indonesian activity, is also highly ritualized
and often performed at explicitly religious events. Accompanied by gong music, Silat performers, either
empty-handed or swinging a long axlike weapon,
dance out a choreographed sequence of movements. A
related form, Penac Silat, is performed in neighboring
Malaya, usually with two swords, not an ax.
Animal Sports
Animal racing—with horse, camel, buffalo, yak, and
dog—is well known in Asia, particularly among the
formerly nomadic inner-Asian peoples. Polo is often
claimed to be Asian in origin, and forms of it are still played in Afghanistan and northeastern Pakistan.
Many traditional Central Asian animal races involve either shooting from horseback (with bow or gun) or directly competing for possession of an animal. These
obviously derive from formerly subsistence-oriented
activities of nomadic, pastoral peoples.
Nonracing animal sports—pitting animals against
humans as in bullfighting, or one animal against another as in cockfighting, have been popular in many
parts of Asia. Manifestly cruel to animals and usually
associated with betting, animal sports receive little
support from the sports authorities. Nevertheless, such
pastimes continue to thrive throughout Asia.
Thailand, in particular, offers a great variety of animal sports featuring not just cocks or bulls but also
crickets, beetles, and fish.
The most famous of the fish-fighting games involves the species Betta splendens, which, following the
guppy and the goldfish, has become the world’s most
popular aquarium fish. The luxurious fins of the male
betta, which make it attractive to aquarists, also make
it provocative to other males, which constitutes the basis for the contest. Two males are placed in the same
small bowl, bets are placed, and the fish rush and bite
at one another until one is exhausted—or dead. The
winner, usually injured during the fight, is carefully
nursed back to health to fight another day, and proven
champions are sold, for large sums, for breeding.
A less physical form of animal competition is the
“dove-cooing contest” in which specially bred doves are
judged on the quality, pitch, and duration of their calls.
This sport, which has become most popular in Thailand—one fancier is said to have recently paid more
than $40,000 for a prize cooer—is also popular in
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, and elsewhere.
Doves were greatly prized by the Indian Mughal kings
prior to the 16th century, and it seems that doves have
long been admired, for their physical form, their calling, and their flight.
Aerial Activities
Asia is home to several pastimes that might be called
“aerial sports.”In Korea,during festivities celebrating the
arrival of spring,women,in a standing position,compete
to see how high they can swing. They manage, in some
cases, to fly almost 20 meters (22 yards) off the ground.
However, of all the various Asian “aerial” activities,
it is no doubt Thai kite-fighting, forms of which are
also seen in Korea and China, that is the best known
and most popular. The Thai form involves the use of
two types of kite, one a five-pointed star, the male
chula, the other a diamond-shaped female pakpao.
Male kites can be as long as 2.3 meters (71/2 feet) and,
when aloft, require the attentions of a team of from 8 to
10 young boys, commanded by a captain, who sits in a
sort of “fighting-chair” equipped with a pulley and
levers. The male kite, which is fitted with bamboo claws
and other weapons, is deliberately flown into a female
kite’s territory, in an attempt to capture “her.” The female kite, on the other hand, is not allowed to cross into
“male” territory, but, in true “double-standard” fashion,
relies on smaller size and maneuverability to flit and
dodge out of range, so that the male kite eventually
loses control and falls to the ground.
Though “male” and “female” kites are the most popular, not all Thai kite-flying involves a “courtship” battle.A northern Thai kite, called the sanu, is as tall as 1.8
meters (6 feet) and emits a singing vibration when in
the air; it is judged according to both the height it attains and the quality of the melody it produces. Other
Thai kites are shaped like famous figures in Thai puppetry, and are flown in events that take on the quality of
scripted theater.
Water Sports
Throughout China and Southeast Asia, boat races are
popular, and have been for hundreds of years. In most
cases, the boat is carved to resemble a ceremonial
dragon, and the races originally formed essential parts
of royal and religious rituals designed to display the
naval power of kings. Today, in some regions, such
races are still given religious significance, but elsewhere they are purely competitive.
In southern China, boat races are intimately connected to rituals that focus on the importance of the
rains, essential to good rice yields. Chinese “dragonboat”races are thought to be very old, perhaps from the
5th century B.C.E. They are still popular today, primarily in southwestern parts of China.
The Future
Most of these sports are not highly organized, at least
beyond the local level, and most are also noncommercial. Some—Nu-shooting, for instance—survive as an
approved showcase activity for an ethnic minority,
while others, like fish-fighting, hardly seem to be
sports in any contemporary sense. Nevertheless, it
should be borne in mind that takraw, for instance,
while once a simple village pastime played according to
many local sets of rules throughout Southeast Asia, has
become a professional and internationally followed
team sport. That is to say, not only are “traditional”
sports interesting in their own right, they also constitute a reservoir of activities out of which the next panregional or even “global” pursuit may develop.
—ALAN TREVITHICK