Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/59

Rh long remained in vogue at the court, and in 1024, Emperor Go-Ichijo threatened with his displeasure those courtiers who failed to bring wrestlers to his palace. For a century longer, these court matches flourished; but with the decline of the Imperial power, they fell into desuetude and were formally discontinued in 1175.

When the military classes rose into power, wrestling became an important military art. In the wars of the time when single combats were common, the contending knights would often throw away their weapons and wrestle with each other. In such fights, the more skilled wrestlers were always victorious. It was then necessary for the military classes to hold friendly matches to test their skill in the art. Upon the restoration of peace, however, by the Tokugawa dynasty, there was no longer need for their constant practice as their services were seldom required; but they retained their interest in wrestling which they themselves had ceased to practise, while the old military spirit remained apparently unimpaired.

In 1624, Akashi Shiganosuke, the father of modern wrestling in Japan, came to Yedo where for ten days he stood with his pupils at his booth, open to all comers, none of whom were able to defeat him. Wrestling then became the rage. As there was at the time another wrestler, named Nio Nidayu, who was carrying all before him at Kyoto, Shiganosuke repaired thither to try conclusions with him, and defeated him; but Nidayu’s disciples, furious at their champion’s defeat, lay in ambush to murder the Yedo wrestler, who only escaped under cover of night. Having thus distanced all competitors, Shiganosuke now took the title of Hinoshita Kaizan, signifying invincible, which has since been assumed by fifteen others. Many amateurs contested in Shiganosuke’s booth; and among the samurai who frequented it there often arose quarrels, one of which led to a murder in the shogun’s palace and resulted in the prohibition of all wrestling matches; but