By I wonder if bullfighting in Korea is a tradition learned from the Japanese or the other way around?:
As two bulls crush their sweat-drenched bodies against each other with blood-shot eyes and foam dripping from their mouths, the referee shouts “draw” and the moment of truth comes for the Japanese “bull separators”.
While the bloody Spanish corrida comes under scrutiny from animal rights activists and politicians, bullfighting in northern Japan is gaining popularity as fans cheer on both the bulls and the brave men who break up the match before the bulls get hurt.
Each match in “tsuno-tsuki”, or bullfight, starts with 20 “seko” bull separators leading the animals on as they face off in a ring. But after just several minutes of muscle-straining and horn-goring, the referee ends the fight before any blood is shed.
The “seko” then showcase their skills as they catch the feisty beasts weighing over a tonne by their rear leg with a rope and separate them, often risking their lives.
“I can’t imagine bloodshed in our ring,” said Haruji Matsui, a bullfighting veteran from the tiny village of Yamakoshi in Niigata, northern Japan, as he sipped iced tea sitting among the bulls before the matches started.
“We grew up with them sharing the same earthen floor.”
Older farmers in Yamakoshi speak fondly of the bulls, remembering the times when the animals were necessary to move supplies in winter and for help in the fields. [Reuters]
You can read the rest at the link.
2:20 am on August 6th, 2010 1
Korean bullfighting dates back 1000 years. While Japan's bullfighting tradition is almost just as old, my money is on Korea being the first one to, out of those two countries. Back 1000 years ago, Korea was far more advanced than Japan was at that time, and any cultural flow was usually one way, from Korea to Japan.
9:29 am on August 6th, 2010 2
Maybe from Japan if sumo came first. Isn't this just sumo for bulls?
9:53 am on August 6th, 2010 3
#1,
1000 years? Sounds like an arbitrary number you've just come up with.
Nope, it was most probably adopted by the Japanese from the Portuguese in the 16th century (there's also red peppers and those Go-Stop cards). It was then eventually introduced to Korea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLxRe3MZYcM&fe…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6rbfahrSsE
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/portugal/inde…
12:12 pm on August 6th, 2010 4
How do you know sumo came first?
Sumo is a copy of Korea's Sheereum which dates back to Koguryo and then further back to Mongolia.
1:01 pm on August 6th, 2010 5
Tom,
It's ludicrous to suggest that anyone copied anyone else when it comes to wrestling. Wrestling is probably the oldest sport known, present in all cultures as far as I know.
6:47 pm on August 6th, 2010 6
#1
"Korea was far more advanced than Japan was at that time, and any cultural flow was usually one way, from Korea to Japan."
Did it require an advanced culture to come up with this "sport"?
8:03 pm on August 8th, 2010 7
From the Swiss of course
http://fr.academic.ru/pictures/frwiki/67/Cowfight…