Sambo Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Sambo (also called Sombo and sometimes written in all-caps) is a modern martial art, combat sport and self defense system developed in the Soviet Union during the Communist era.

The word Sambo is an abbrevation of "SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya" meaning "self defense without weapons".

Although Sambo has its roots in traditional folk wrestling and other foreign martial arts like Judo (the founder of Sambo studied under the founder of Judo and acquired a 2nd degree black belt in this sport), this martial art is new: on November 16, 1938, the sport was recognized by USSR National Committee of Physical Culture.

There are three versions of Sambo:

• Sport Sambo which is similar to Judo, Jiu jitsu or Wrestling. The competition is similar to Judo, but with some differences in rules (e.g. ankle, knee and leg locks are allowed. Chokes are not), protocol, and uniform. Points are also allocated much like in Judo.
• Self-defense Sambo which is similar to Aikijujutsu or Aikido, because it is entirely defensive against attacks by armed and unarmed attackers.
• Combat Sambo utilized and developed by the army. Also known as "The System", or Systema, and has only historical relation to Sambo.

In summary, one could say that Sambo is an art combining strikess and grappling, with a slight emphasis on the latter. Military sambo is more concerned with disabling an opponent quickly, not worrying about finesse or permanent harm, also, name notwithstanding, military sambo does include weapons practice and disarming techniques.

Dress: A Sambo practitioner normally wears a kurtka, a belt, and shoes.

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Sambo was also an offensive and derogatory term for "black person" in post-Civil War America, largely due to the stereotype created by the children's book The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman in 1898. It was the story of a boy who outwitted a group of hungry tigers; eventually, they spun around and around a tree so fast that they turned into melted butter. Although Bannerman set the story in India - as can be seen by the presence of tigers and the reference to ghee - the illustrations portray Sambo and his parents as stereotypical Africans.

The book was later renamed The Story of Little Babaji, to avoid negative connotations. The once-popular "Sambo's" restaurant chain also suffered from its association with the story.

Sambo is not to be confused with samba, the afro-Brazilian dancing/music style.

External links

e-texts of The Story of Little Black Sambo:

• HTML version with the illustrations
• Plain text version with no illustrations (Project Gutenberg edition)

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