Sumo – Japan: Originally known as "sumai", meaning struggle, sumo began around 20 B.C. as military combat. Sumai used most of the modern sumo techniques, plus a variety of strikes. It resembled other wrestling based arts such as mongolian wrestling and Indian wrestling. Before the 16th century almost all wrestling was practiced for battle. Evolving after the 16th century, it eventually became known as sumo. Rules, ranks, and a ring now make sumo into a sport of giants. The water ceremony, the bowing, the costumes, and pageantry are all reminders of the ancient military traditions are still recognized today in competition. To follow a competition is quite easy. The winner is the one who forces his opponent out of the ring or forcing his opponent to touch the floor with any body part above the knee, first. The techniques they employ range from slapping (tsuppari), sweeps (ketaguri), and a wide variety of sacrafice throws (utchari).

 

Please refer to our references as we have used a few different sources for the basic explanation of each martial art discipline. Many of our direct links, images and text will be from the site Wikipedia which is not known for the most accurate information when it comes to doing a thesis or studying for ones P.H.D. but does have a large collection of data that is well organized. Much of the text regarding martial arts styles on Wikipedia seems to generally sum up each discipline as good as many other sources. We do not intend to re-invent the wheel, but we do want to roll you in a good direction in order to get a glimps of each style.

References:	http://www.usgyms.net
	http://en.wikipedia.org