Which martial art is superior?
Background Information
In the late 1800’s, the Japanese disbanded the feudal system and the class system, leaving thousands of samurai (warriors) in search of employment, relegating many to teach their martial art known as jujitsu to the public, and this resulted in fierce competition to win over students (customers), so, the practice of “Chikara Kumite” or “tests of strength” between fighters from the different jujitsu schools was created.
One of these early fighters was Shiro Saigo representing the Kano Jujitsu System (Which is now known as Kodokan judo) and who was undefeated in his many contests against members of other jujitsu schools, and the Saigo Ha Chikara Kumit (named after Shiro Saigo) has been practiced ever since under various safety rules and regulations.
However these were not the first post 1900 Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite meets held ourside Japan ! A Judo player by the name of Yukio Tani travelled to England in the early part of the 1900’s and engaged in hundreds of such meets, as did a few others in the USA, Spain, Germany and Russia
The first recorded Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite competition held outside Japan after 1950 took place in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1966, the overall champion was John Williams, who had a strong judo, karate and boxing background, defeating fighters from various styles such as judo, kempo, kung fu and karate. (* in this meet, headgear and chest protectors were worn!)
The first Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite Canadian meet was held in the early 1980’s, at the YMCA in Moncton, New Brunswick, it was the first time that age and weight classes were used to determine winners. (Here boxing gloves and headgear were worn!)
The first Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite to use a boxing/ wrestling ring for this type of competition in Canada was in 1989, at Dieppe, New Brunswick, where various champions were crowned.(in this meet, strikes to the head were prohibited and no gloves were worn!)
Currently, the Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite is becoming standardized under the International Kiyoukiyoku Budo Federation , with concrete rules and regulations to make the sport safe and interesting. And a series of meets are being arranged to crown champions in different age and weight classes for various countries.
However! It must not be confused with the popular MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) or cross training, which is more a form of prize fighting or gym combat sport, whereas, The Saigo Ha Chikara Kumite is a venue for pure martial artists from established systems to test their techniques against other pure martial artists. (in effect, it is simply another amateur Martial arts sport based on the rules of a combination of existing government recognized amateur martial arts.)
International Kiyoukiyoku Budo Federation Inc
The International Kiyoukiyoku Budo Federation is headed by Gunshi John J. Williams, the 34th generation headmaster (inheritor) of the Saigo Ha Daito-Ryu Aiki Budo Federation(going back 1200 years through the Minamoto and Aizu clans) a holder of numerous awards and titles, who recently set a world record for the oldest professional MMA fighter to ever compete (*and win against a man 21 years younger) in a cage, at the age of 70 years old, along with this, he set hundreds of other records for weightlifting, boxing, judo, karate and other disciplines
