Bultong
Encyclopedia
Bultong is what the Ifugaos call their sport of traditional wrestling
. It is often played during town and provincial fiestas and is always the most popular event in these occasions. Bultong falls under the international classification of "belt wrestling" forms.
Attire: Traditionally, each wrestler wears a loin cloth and nothing else. Nowadays, it is allowed to wear
a t-shirt and pants underneath the loin cloth.
Competition venue: Before it was played outdoors on a grassy field, and the participants wrestled on the soil. Now, for safety considerations a modern wrestling mat is preferred, placed atop an open or covered basketball court.
Competition format: Bultong is played by single elimination system, one on one per match. Winner of the final match is declared the champion.
Rules: There are no weight classes. Both wrestlers start holding the “belt” of the other's loin cloth. When the referee signals the start of the bout, each wrestler attempts to takedown the other. He who takes down and pins his opponent's shoulders/ upper back on the ground wins. In international wrestling terminology, it is winning by “one fall.”
Until the early part of the 20th century, bultong was used in the settlement of land disputes, especially in the rice terraces which were subjected to erosion and thus obfuscating prior accepted boundaries. When there were conflicts regarding ownership of land, particularly on the demarcation of the boundary of two adjacent lots, rice paddies or terraces between two different land owners, the contending parties resorted to finally settling their disagreement by the way of bultong. The contending parties may contest between themselves or field their chosen representatives, to approximately even up differences in weight and reputed strength, for the important match.
Bultong also played a religious role, as the wrestling match involved an elaborate and religious ceremony participated in by the relatives and family priests of the contesting parties. Ancestral spirits were invoked to ensure that the one who had the rightful claim would win the match. Indeed, both conflicting parties along with their kin believed that the eventual winner was really the just owner of the piece of land he claimed all along, as duly determined and favored by the spirits. This was the main reason why the protagonists and those in attendance were generally in a friendly mood, assured of a just outcome regardless of the winner.
With the selected person, who was usually a mutual relative of both parties, acting out as a kind of referee, the two disputing male land owners or their proxies engaged in the wrestling match. He who managed to throw his opponent down on the spot that he claimed was the rightful boundary of his lot - the farther the better for him - won the right to that spot as the demarcation of his land's boundary.
Afterward, the two parties and the referee cordially hung out for a betel chewing session.
1.Ronald Bingwaoel – former member of the Philippine sanshou team and one of Asia's best sanshou fighters in the 1990's. He also became an Universal Reality Combat Championship
mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, winning his match in URCC 2 on April 2003.
2.Jason Balabal – current Philippine wrestling team member and 2009 Southeast Asian Games
gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, 84 kilogram division.
The sport of sanshou in which Bingwaoel excelled in also gives points for wrestling take-downs, aside from kicks and punches, but does not allow ground fighting unlike MMA.
Jason Balabal's specialty of freestyle wrestling, on the other hand, is one of the two international and Olympic styles of wrestling, the other being the Greco-Roman.
2.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Erlinda Napiloy, Sports Director, Ifugao State University. Conducted on March 2007.
3.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Jason Balabal. Conducted on December 2007.
4.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Melvin Sia, Bultong Photographer, January 2008.
5.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Juan Alberto Balde, President, Wrestling Association of the Philippines. Conducted on September 1998.
6.Mallari, Perry Gil."FMA CORNER: Various forms of Filipino Indigenous Wrestling" FMApulse.com,November 23 2009.http://www.fmapulse.com/content/fma-corner-various-forms-filipino-indigenous-wrestling?page=1.
7."Pacific Island Traditional Wrestling." Coreeda Association of Australia. http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_pacific_island_traditional_wrestling.html (Accessed on December 13, 2010)
8."Belt wrestling." Olympic Council of Asia, 2009. http://www.ocasia.org/sports/SportsT.aspx?GSCode=125 (Accessed on January 15, 2011)
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
. It is often played during town and provincial fiestas and is always the most popular event in these occasions. Bultong falls under the international classification of "belt wrestling" forms.
History
Like most traditional wrestling forms all over the world, no one can tell exactly how ancient and when exactly the Ifugao ancestors started engaging in bultong. Arguably it is as old, or even older, than the Banaue Rice Terraces.How it is played
Participants: Able bodied male teenagers and adults.Attire: Traditionally, each wrestler wears a loin cloth and nothing else. Nowadays, it is allowed to wear
a t-shirt and pants underneath the loin cloth.
Competition venue: Before it was played outdoors on a grassy field, and the participants wrestled on the soil. Now, for safety considerations a modern wrestling mat is preferred, placed atop an open or covered basketball court.
Competition format: Bultong is played by single elimination system, one on one per match. Winner of the final match is declared the champion.
Rules: There are no weight classes. Both wrestlers start holding the “belt” of the other's loin cloth. When the referee signals the start of the bout, each wrestler attempts to takedown the other. He who takes down and pins his opponent's shoulders/ upper back on the ground wins. In international wrestling terminology, it is winning by “one fall.”
Role of bultong in Ifugao society
Aside from the widely recognized positive roles that sports play in society, e.g. fostering camaraderie, perpetuation of social values, fostering individual and group confidence, etc., bultong is unique in that it was also used in the dispensation of social justice - and was therefore also instrumental in peace–keeping - among the Ifugaos.Until the early part of the 20th century, bultong was used in the settlement of land disputes, especially in the rice terraces which were subjected to erosion and thus obfuscating prior accepted boundaries. When there were conflicts regarding ownership of land, particularly on the demarcation of the boundary of two adjacent lots, rice paddies or terraces between two different land owners, the contending parties resorted to finally settling their disagreement by the way of bultong. The contending parties may contest between themselves or field their chosen representatives, to approximately even up differences in weight and reputed strength, for the important match.
Bultong also played a religious role, as the wrestling match involved an elaborate and religious ceremony participated in by the relatives and family priests of the contesting parties. Ancestral spirits were invoked to ensure that the one who had the rightful claim would win the match. Indeed, both conflicting parties along with their kin believed that the eventual winner was really the just owner of the piece of land he claimed all along, as duly determined and favored by the spirits. This was the main reason why the protagonists and those in attendance were generally in a friendly mood, assured of a just outcome regardless of the winner.
With the selected person, who was usually a mutual relative of both parties, acting out as a kind of referee, the two disputing male land owners or their proxies engaged in the wrestling match. He who managed to throw his opponent down on the spot that he claimed was the rightful boundary of his lot - the farther the better for him - won the right to that spot as the demarcation of his land's boundary.
Afterward, the two parties and the referee cordially hung out for a betel chewing session.
Popular Ifugao bultong champions
Two Ifugao bultong champions who also excelled and became famous in other combat sports are:1.Ronald Bingwaoel – former member of the Philippine sanshou team and one of Asia's best sanshou fighters in the 1990's. He also became an Universal Reality Combat Championship
Universal Reality Combat Championship
Universal Reality Combat Championship is the first professional mixed martial arts event based in the Philippines. Its inaugural event was held at the Casino Filipino Amphitheater in Paranaque City, Philippines on November 23, 2002...
mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, winning his match in URCC 2 on April 2003.
2.Jason Balabal – current Philippine wrestling team member and 2009 Southeast Asian Games
Southeast Asian Games
The Southeast Asian Games , is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia...
gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, 84 kilogram division.
The sport of sanshou in which Bingwaoel excelled in also gives points for wrestling take-downs, aside from kicks and punches, but does not allow ground fighting unlike MMA.
Jason Balabal's specialty of freestyle wrestling, on the other hand, is one of the two international and Olympic styles of wrestling, the other being the Greco-Roman.
Reference
1.Barton, R. F. "Ifugao Law." University of California Publications on American Archeology and Ethnology. The Internet Archive.February 15, 1919. http://www.archive.org/stream/ifugaolaw00bartrich/ifugaolaw00bartrich_djvu.txt.2.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Erlinda Napiloy, Sports Director, Ifugao State University. Conducted on March 2007.
3.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Jason Balabal. Conducted on December 2007.
4.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Melvin Sia, Bultong Photographer, January 2008.
5.Sevilla III, Karlo Silverio. Interview with Juan Alberto Balde, President, Wrestling Association of the Philippines. Conducted on September 1998.
6.Mallari, Perry Gil."FMA CORNER: Various forms of Filipino Indigenous Wrestling" FMApulse.com,November 23 2009.http://www.fmapulse.com/content/fma-corner-various-forms-filipino-indigenous-wrestling?page=1.
7."Pacific Island Traditional Wrestling." Coreeda Association of Australia. http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_pacific_island_traditional_wrestling.html (Accessed on December 13, 2010)
8."Belt wrestling." Olympic Council of Asia, 2009. http://www.ocasia.org/sports/SportsT.aspx?GSCode=125 (Accessed on January 15, 2011)