MA styles in the former USSR

[Quick Sand]

Hey everyone,

I thought this might be the most appropirate place to post this but I'm not 100% sure. I won't be offened if a mod or someone moves it.

Anyway, I'll probably be going to Kazakhstan this summer for about a month and I was wondering if anyone knew if or what martial arts styles might be there. It borders on Russia to the north and northern China on the east. It's also very close to Mongolia.

I thought maybe there might be some sword arts or something. I know there's a lot of horse riding and stuff in the traditional culture. Anyone know what arts might have developed in that area? Northern China even? I don't know if Systema extended that far east/south.

Thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Thanks for any info.

 

[Yakov]

There are ALOT of different martial arts in former USSR

for example
in Mongolia - Barilda
Armenia - Koh
Uzbekistan - Kurash
Kazakhstan - Kuresh
in Moldova - Trynte
Geogia - Chidaoba
etc.

And of course all of them know Sambo.

David Rudman wrote a book about Sambo
"Sambo from Victor Spiridonov to Vladimir Putin"
where he describes something like 50 different martial arts.
Sambo is basicaly combining type of self defence so it has best from all of these Martial Arts.
You can buy this book at

www.nysambo.com


Yakov,
www.nysambo.com

 

[NYCRonin]

nysambo - thanks for that mention, that sounds like it would be a very interesting book to own.

Quick Sand -
Although I do not know of any Systema schools in the area you mention, I do have some thoughts.
Do you speak any Russian? If not, whoever you know in the area will be invaluable in your search. Even if you do find a school of any martial art there, you might encounter a reluctance from the staff to teach you at all. Russians are a deservedly proud people and I find, at times; though they can be extremely friendly and accomodating to 'outsiders' -- they will be cautious about your motives. Be focused on making a very good first impression.
The language barrier will be the major hurdle though -- dont expect that the school will have someone to serve as an interpeter. Many Russians have a good command of english though, so you might be lucky there.
In any case, consider it an adventure...personally, I envy your opportunity and wish you the best of fortune. Please consider posting about your trip, as I am certain it will of interest to many here.

Rob Green

 

[Quick Sand]

Thanks guys,

Originally posted by Yakov

for example
in Mongolia - Barilda
Armenia - Koh
Uzbekistan - Kurash
Kazakhstan - Kuresh
in Moldova - Trynte
Geogia - Chidaoba
etc.

Yakov: That's great thanks. I've never heard of any of these even though I spent 2 months in Armenia, and I visited Moldova briefly once. It was about 7 or 8 years ago now though, and I was relatively young. It was before I started in the MA's. I'll totally look into these though.

NYCRonin: Thanks for the heads up but I've been to the former USSR before. The year before I was in Armenia, I spent 6 months living in Ukraine. I know a little Russion and I'm sure more will come back to me when I'm there. It also helps that, while I'm just visiting, my father will be living there for 2 years, working there. Not a missionary or military though. He'll be pretty settled by the time I get there. I'm hoping that through his work contacts I might be able to find a school of some kind but I thought I'd see if anyone on here knew of "local" styles. Also, it's amazing how well you can learn to communicate with people even when you don't speak a common language, especially with something where you can do it on each other and see and feel the techs. Thanks for the concern though.

 

[barnaby]

I'm always looking for info on Chidaoba. It's a very hard thing to come by. I have even sent an email to an Aikido teacher in Georgia who happens to have an email address for correspondence in English and he forwarded my request to an organization but to no response.

Anyway, Yakov, since you brought it up I thought I'd mention that it's an ongoing curiosity of mine to learn more about this wrestling style.

 

[Ken Pfrenger]

Speaking of Chidaoba...there is a very interesting group on yahoo:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Khevsur_fencing/
While the focus on this groups seems to be the form of Fencing native to the region there have been some questions and answers concerning Chidaoba and there is a great deal of info to be found in the file section as well. Very good resource.

 

[giorga]

if you want to know anything of chidaoba... just ask me
I am georgian