Hapsagay

There are several versions of the origin of the name of the struggle. According to N. S. Grigoriev, the author of the “Phraseological Dictionary of the Yakut Language”, the word is formed from the base of the haps (catch, grab, grab) and the old Mongolian prefix ҕҕ , meaning any action, that is, a possible translation can be “grab and act " . The Yakut Language Dictionary also defines hapsakai as a combination of two words: hap (agility, quickness, strength, endurance) and sa иai (throw, throw). T. I. Petrova in the “Brief Yakut-Russian Dictionary” translates the word as agile, agile, quick, and defines the word as indivisible. E. K. Pekarsky in the "Yakut Language Dictionary" puts forward a version of the origin of the word Hapsakai (Khabys + Akan) from the Turkic "Kapchakai", "Kapshakai" (fast, agile), comparable to the Buryat "Habshagai" - clever, clever, pick up, dodge . According to N. S. Popov, a candidate of cultural studies, Khapsakai is an originally Yakut word, indivisible, a subspecies of the word hapsyky, hapsyar (collision, collide). ^[2]

Hapsagai has an ancient history, and it is hardly possible to establish when the rules of struggle are established. Already in the well-known heroic epic olonkho , the description of the victory of the hero of the "middle world" over representatives of the "dark power" with the help of hapsagai fighting techniques is given. ^[3]

According to legend, even in antiquity, the Yakuts had a system of education and training of soldiers who constituted a separate caste. One of the components of such training was the ability to fight without weapons. A child selected as a warrior caste (called to become a bootur ) was trained in various military skills and developed relevant physical skills, including the wisdom of the national struggle. Each family kept secrets of craftsmanship and ways to prepare for the competitions secret.

The first mention of the hapsaga in Russian is in the writings of the ethnographer G.F. Miller , who gave a detailed descriptionYsyakha , held on May 31, 1737, 14 versts from Yakutsk , and during which there were competitions in the struggle of hapsagai. Then, references to competitions in this struggle were met in the Works of the Second Kamchatka Expedition , IG Gmelin , in the works of Academician A.D. Midlendorf, by the writer-Decembrist A.A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky .

In the old days, hapsagay competitions were held during holidays, the main of which was Ysyakh , at weddings ( Uruu ) of noble families, during autumn ice fishing ( Munch ), during horse races. ^[4] Wrestlers ( daadars ), traditionally covered with bull skin (so that the rivals did not see each other) left the birch bark plague in a clearing, in the circle of spectators sitting. The arbiter, selected from the guests of honor, led the fighters to the middle of the circle, dropped the veil from them, and the fight began.

One eyewitness who observed the hapsagai in the second half of the 18th century wrote:

"Having undressed naked, just leaving only his pants on him, connecting with each other and hitting one another on the sides, and then clutching at his pants and tangling his legs, they are thrown on the ground"

- http://www.knyazev-dojo.ru/xapsagaj/

There was no time limit for the fight: it could last for several hours, and sometimes “when the dispute was especially principled — it happened, lasted for a whole day” ^[5] , and even continued the next day ^[4] .

Muse , a boiled thighbone of a stallion with meat in the upper part, traditionally served as a prize to the winner of the competition. However, there were other variants of the awards, as I. A. Khudyakov , who served the link in Verkhoyansk from 1867 to 1876, described that the defeated was shown an offensive fig , stained with earth, and the winner was poured a cup of koumiss or vodka , performed a song in his honor. ^[6]

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there was an increase in the hapsagai hobby throughout the territory of present-day Yakutia, and famous masters of the Hapsagai appeared. In 1932, the first official hapsagay competitions were held, which were timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the formation of the autonomous republic, and after that the competitions were systematically held both at holidays and during the All-Yakut Spartakiads. Women were also allowed to participate in the competitions, so in 1944 the competition of women was included in the program of the Summer Republican Games of the Yakut ASSR.

During Soviet times, the Hapsagai wrestling competition for men was regularly held by the rural URV “Harvest” in four age groups: 18–35 years old, 35–40 years old, 40–45 years old, and over 45 years old. ^[7]

In 1992, the Sakhaada-Sport Association was formed, uniting eight federations in national sports, including hapsagai, and competitions in this fight are held under the auspices of the Hapsagai Wrestling Federation of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). On October 25, 2010, Hapsagay was recognized by the International Federation of Combined Styles (FILA), as a result of which an agreement was signed between FILA and the Association of National Sports and Games of the Peoples of Yakutia "Sakhada-Sport", according to which the struggle of Hapsagai entered FILA as a officially recognized form of struggle and can spread throughout the world ^[8] . In 2011, hapsagay aroused great interest in the Benin Wrestling Federation, and in a letter from the president of this federation, Hapsagai recognized and expressed readiness to become the basic center for the cultivation of the struggle in Africa . From 22 to 25 December 2011, the first African Hapsagai Championship was to be held. ^{[9] [10]}

After 2000, about twenty national-level competitions with masterful standards are held annually.

Wrestlers are naked to the waist, below the waist they are dressed in pants or tights , usually shod in wrestling. Previously, regardless of the season, the wrestlers fought loose and dressed only in shorts made of rovdug (soft leather without hair). Fights can also be held on a grassy meadow, but at the present time official fights are held on a wrestling mat with a diameter of 10 meters.

Any contact by the wrestler of the earth (carpet) with any part of the body, except for the feet, will result in defeat. The exception in modern rules is touching the ground (carpet) with one hand, for which a penalty of 1 point is counted; touching with two hands already entails defeat. ^[7] When conducting an attack, the attacking wrestler must remain on his feet. The fight in the stalls in Hapsagai is not available.

In the fight, any grips are allowed for any part of the body, excluding the fingers and toes. The grapples of wrestlers, as a rule, are shallow, during the bout, active footwork is of great importance. In the arsenal of fighters there are sweeps , steps , strands, hooks, snags, taps, hooks and other various throws. Thus, the common methods are the stalling of an opponent, the seizure of the head and legs ( turgen ), and the front hooking ( halbaryan tebii ). Many techniques are combined in multi-stage combinations. In the technique of hapsagay, one should single out the original performance of passes in the legs and throws through the chest (halbaryyyy) . Passages to the legs are performed exclusively with an inclination and dives: the execution of the passage in flight or in the fall entails a loss in the fight, because the attacker somehow touches the surface. The same is due to the performance of throws through the chest, which in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling ( deflection throws ), judo and sambo are performed in the fall, with a large amplitude, and in Khapsagai this is impossible. Therefore, developed the original technique of such shots, allowing the attacker to stay on his feet.

The length of the fight is limited to 10 minutes ^[7] , for adults it is usually 5 minutes + 2 minutes if the winner is not revealed at regular time, for older boys 5 minutes, for younger boys - 4 minutes. ^[3] . The outcome of the fight is the victory of one of the fighters or the announcement of both fighters as losers due to the passive struggle.

Until 1955 there was no division into weight categories in Khapsagay . Since 1955, adults have been fighting in categories up to 53, 58, 64, 72, 80 kilograms and over 80 kilograms. For young men and veterans, the division into categories is different.

In addition to the described hapsagay, as wrestling, there are other options hapsagay.

Thus, a group struggle direction known from antiquity, or homuur hapsagay , has recently been developing. The team must have at least five wrestlers in various weight categories (for example, two to 70 kilograms and three - over 70 kilograms). The competition begins one wrestler from each team (by lot). Then 2 wrestlers from each weight category fight, 3 wrestlers from each team fight the next stage, and finally, in the final bout, all wrestlers of the opposing teams come out - “wall to wall”.

Another type of hapsagay is the newly developed habyr hapsagay . The rules here are no different from Wushu Sanda . ^[2]

Many famous Yakut freestyle wrestlers were engaged in hapsagay since childhood, which left an imprint on their wrestling style. So, Roman Dmitriev , the champion and medalist of the Olympic Games and Pavel Pinigin , the champion of the Olympic Games, were trained in hapsagay. Roman Dmitriev based his attacking style on purely national methods and he was obliged to his first victory over Iranian wrestler Javadi at the prestigious international tournament in Tbilisi . ^[eleven]

• Mandzyak A.S., Artemenko O.L., Encyclopedia of Traditional Wrestling Types of Nations. Minsk, 2010