A comparison between Aba Wrestling and Judo within technical aspect

Abstract

In times when survival and wars depended upon physical strength and superiority, sport has almost constituted a period of preparation for wars. As a matter of fact, it is seen through an analysis of documents and records that societies of those times were constantly involved in practices for developing and maintaining the physical strength. As being one of the wrestling kinds that is performed by wearing clothes, Asirtmali Aba Wrestling expresses itself as an outward reflection of spiritual and physical needs of people as a whole both in previous times and today. It also faces us as a cultural accumulation of Turkish people in their daily lives and values within social dimensions. In other words, practicing wrestling in times when Turks have lived in Central Asia has grown out of the need for the unity of spiritual sentiments and thoughts with body by remaining bound to their living standards and cultural norms of those times. The fundamental aim of this study is to determine and to present the rules, basic games/techniques of aba wresting played in Gaziantep and Judo. These issues, which have been lacking in previous studies, will be filled in this study and therefore, it will constitute importance for the research. In aba wrestling, games are performed standing. Many of these games hold precise similarities with Judo. Judo, which has been a popular sport and gradually becoming widespread in Anatolia in recent years, is considered to be a sport unique to Japanese and Far East Asians. In this research, historical and descriptive methods have been used; literature scan and method of interviewing experts in collecting data about aba wrestling have been employed