The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's divisions and was named 'the Peaceful Sea" by Magellan. Extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic, bounded in the west by Asia/ Australasia and in the east by the Americas, at nearly 180,000 squared km it covers 32% of the Earths surface and about 46% of all the Earths water making it larger than all the land area combined. With more than 20,000 islands and over 50 nations having a coastline in its waters, innumerable cultures have developed in this region since human habitation first began over a million years ago. Divided into five cultural segments of Asia, Australasia (i.e. south of Asia), Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia, a large number wrestling styles have developed within the Pacific Islands. The Pacific Games have been running like a mini version of the Olympics since 1963 and a whole range of sports including wrestling and judo have been a part of this. It is hoped that the organisers of this event come to recognise the importance of Pacific Island Traditional Wrestling and one day include it within these Games.
Japan
The most famous Pacific Island style is sumo from the 'Land of the Rising Sun' Japan. With over 3,000 islands, the largest being Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the Japanese archipelago has been occupied by humans for over 40,000 years and the current population is about 128 million people. The Jomon Culture is the oldest identifiable civilisation extending from 14,000BC to 400BC and pottery from this era has depictions of what some call the sumo motif. Sumo has been a popular entertainment for the nobility for over 2,000 years but in 1684 a samurai by the name of Ikazuchi Gondaiyu started a tournament at the most important temple to the Shinto god of war, the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in Tokyo, that became very popular to the general public. Limiting the fighting boundary to a 4.5m diameter circle of the clay dohyo mound, defining about 48 acceptable techniques mostly around utilising the mawashi wrestling belt and incorporating many of the rituals of the Shinto Religion into the performance, this style of Ozumo soon developed a large following, with its own stables of professional rikishi (wrestlers) as it still does today.
The sport has been governed by the Nihon Sumo Kyokai since 1925 but in 1992 a world body was created to promote amasumo (i.e. amateur sumo), the International Sumo Federation. Sumo has been practiced outside of Japan, including Australia, since the 1880s and in the half century of the Japanese Empire, 1895 to 1945, it was spread across a wide domain but really only became popular in the Pacific region with the formation of the ISF; in many ways sumo has become the defacto style of traditional wrestling in many of the island nations. Of course sumo is not the only style of wrestling native to Japan and judo has likewise developed a global following but in the Okinawan Islands in the south another style of traditional wrestling is beginning its rebirth. Outside of the Japanese cultural sphere until occupied by samurai forces in 1609, Okinawa didn't become a prefecture until 1879 and was occupied by the Americans from 1945 until 1972. Therefore the Okinawan people often consider themselves very different to the rest of the Japanese population and their style of belt wrestling called Naha tegumi or muto is beginning to grow as an essential part of the training within the curriculum of the diverse karate schools in the islands.
Taiwan
The island of Taiwan is also known as Formosa which means beautiful in Portuguese and has a human occupation as old as Japan. The Aboriginal people of the island have a culture closely related to the Malayo-Polynesians and it is thought the Austronesian language family originated there; therefore Taiwan can be considered the ancestral homeland for people as diverse as Indonesians, Madagascans, Filipinos, Micronesians and Polynesians. The style of wrestling practiced by the Formosan Indigenous people, called mariworiwos in the Puyuma language, has many similarities to sumo but is probably more closely related to Naha tegumi. Wearing a wrestling belt and fighting within a large circular sandpit, Aboriginal wrestling has been an important component of the Aboriginal Games since their inception in 2003. Also with strong developments in judo and shuai chiao (Chinese traditional wrestling) many Taiwanese have also competed in international sumo tournaments with great success. The Republic of China has a strong presence in the Pacific and are effectively using their Aboriginal people to build cultural ties with Pacific Islanders.
The Philippines
The Philippine archipelago developed a diverse number of wrestling styles such as bultong in the Cordillera Mountains of Central Luzon, layug in Mindanao, buno in the vicinity of Manila, but probably the most highly refined was dumog from the Visayan Islands. Under the control of the maritime Sri Vijaya Empire of Sumatra from the 8th century in which aspects of the Hindu civilsation were introduced, Visayan dumog was a popular spectacle when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, with lavish tournaments organised by competing rajahs. Dumoguero wore colourful patterned bahag or wrestling loin cloths which defined which barangay or region they were from and victory was achieved when the opponent had to wipe sand off their back, being played only on beaches. Outlawed by the conquistadors for its obvious show of strength, dumog today is only practiced in remote parts of Panay Island at town saint festivals and by all accounts is on the verge of extinction. In 2014 the island of Borocay will host the Asian Beach Games with beach wrestling one of the sports on the agenda and it is hoped this could inspire the regrowth of dumog in the region. Since 2008 the Wrestling Association of the Philippines has taken an active role in the revival of traditional Filipino wrestling & has encouraged the Ifugao people of the Banaue Rice Terraces fame to display the sport of bultong at festive gatherings which tourists can attend, bringing an international awareness of this ancient belt wrestling custom.
Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was created in 1810 when King Kamehameha conquered the six other kingdoms of the islands unifying the archipelago, which have been occupied since at least 300BC, into one single polity. As a young man Kamehameha met Captain Cook during the HMS Resolution's fateful visit to islands in 1778 and crew members witnessed many sports being performed by the Kanaka Maoli as part of the Makahiki New Year Festival. The pa'ani kahiko or ancient games included hundreds of sports such as he'e nalu (surfing), he'e holua (sledding) and kukini (running races). The combat sports included mokomoko (bareknuckle boxing), kula kula'i (chest pushing), kula'i wawae (foot pushing), pa uma (standing arm wrestling) and huki huki (tug'o'war). The most popular style of wrestling however was hakoko, a stand up grappling system in which the malo (loin cloth) was used for throws making it very similar to sumo. The Kingdom was destroyed by American businessmen who declared the Republic of Hawaii in 1893, annexed by the USA in 1898 becoming a State in 1959. The indigenous Hawaiian customs suffered greatly in this period and it wasn't until the Hawaiian Renaissance in 1964 that many of the native sports were revived. The techniques of the combat sports were incorporated into the martial art of lua and since the visit of the great Yokozuna Hitachiyama in 1910, sumo has been practiced as a popular sport. Jessie Kuhaulua who wrestled under the name of Takamiyama was a Kanaka Maoli and the first foreigner to win a major tournament in Ozumo (professional sumo) in 1972. He inspired many other indigenous Hawaiians to try the sport and 1993 Chad Rowan became Yokozuna Akebono, the first foreign born grand champion.
French Polynesia, the Cook Islands & Nuie
The Kindom of Tahiti was created in 1788 by King Pomare when he conquered several other islands in the Society group but in 1889 the French protectorate was declared, incorporating the Kingdom of Tahiti with the Marquesas group and Papeete has been the regional capital since this time. Porinetia Farana as Polynesie Francaise is known in the Ma'ohi language, like Hawaii produced a number of indigenous games such as motor'a (bareknuckle boxing), teka (javelin throwing), te'a (archery), apai (a type of hockey), amoraa ofae (lifting heavy stones) and the style of wrestling called moana, again with many similarities to sumo. In 2006 the Hevea i Tahiti (Tahitian Sports Championships) was inaugurated by the Tahitian Traditional Sports Federation, bringing a revival in awareness for these ancient games. This has inspired a similar movement in Kuki Airani (Cook Islands) with the Te Maeva Nui Festival in which many traditional sports are again being played in the capital Raratonga. In Nuie a government department has been established, Taoga Nuie, just to develop the traditional sports of the country and being in free association with New Zealand like the Cook Islands, many of these sports are now being played in other parts of the Pacific.
The Kingdom of Tonga
Occupied for over 6,000 years, Tonga has been central to the dispersal of people throughout Polynesia. By the 12th century, the Tongan Kings or Tui Tonga, controlled a vast confederacy that stretched from Fiji, Wallis & Futuna and the Solomon Islands in the west to the Marquesas in the east to Kiribati in the north; this 'Tongan Empire' lasted for over 400 years. Captain Cook anchored the HMS Resolution in Tongatapu in 1773 and the ship's artist John Webber did sketches of the wrestling performances done for the entertainment of the visitors. The British found it remarkable that Tongan women also participated in this combat sport which also included striking the opponent with blows from the wrist. Pi'i'tauva'a wrestling has subsequently died out in the islands. Unified as a single polity since 1845 under King George Tupou I, Tonga was a British Protectorate with a constitutional monarchy from 1900 till 1970. The much beloved former King of Tonga, George Tupou IV was a big supporter of sumo and sent six Tongan men to Japan in 1974 to become professional rikishi, including Fukunoshima (Tonga Uli'uli Fafita) and Sachinoshima (Sione Havea Vailahi) who later became famous as the professional wrestlers 'King Tonga' and 'the Barbarian' in the World Wrestling Federation. Other professional rikishi from Tonga include Hisanoumi (Tebita Rato Taufa) and Minaminoshima (Isamu Falavei) who is now residing in Australia; Tonga was considered one of the strongest sumo nations from Oceania to compete in the ISF World Championships.
Independent Samoa and American Samoa
The 15 inhabited islands of the Samoan Archipelago are politically divided into the US Territory of American Samoa in the east (population 41,000, capital Pago Pago) and the independent nation of Western Samoa in the west (population 182,000, capital Apia) but are still united by language, culture and a unique code of conduct called Fa'a Samoa. Many more Samoans live in countries around the world than live in the Samoan Islands and the Samoan Way is still practiced in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. In 1899 before the political seperation of the islands, an American author named Llewella Pierce Churchill wrote a book titled 'Sports of the Samoans', describing wrestling as the most important sport of Fa'a Samoa. According to this account wrestlers would make their bodies slippery with generous applications of coconut oil and would strive to get a hold on the opponents malo loin cloth to throw him to the ground. Taupiga wrestlers only wrestled on behalf of their village, never for themselves, but the sport has died out with the introduction of rugby to the islands by Marist missionaries in the 1920s. Like in Tonga, sumo has become the traditional style of choice for the Samoans and notable rikishi include Konishiki Yasokichi (Saleva'a Fuauli Atisono'e) and Yokozuna Musashimaru Koyo (Fiamali Penitani) who became the second foreign born Grand Champion.
Aotearoa and Rekohu
Polynesian wrestling continued to be practiced by Australia's near neighbours in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. Known as mamau or ringa ringa, it was taught as a form of unarmed combat training for Maori warriors but performances were often done during the Matariki New Year Festival in June. Colonial accounts record that warriors often practiced their throwing techniques in shallow water to prevent injury to their training partner demonstrating that these throws were as forceful as those of modern judo. The Moriori people of Rekohu (Chatham Islands) used wrestling and stick fighting as peace keeping rituals since instigated by one of their founder chiefs Nunuku but without more developed martial arts were powerless against the Maori invaders who came to the islands in 1835, killing and enslaving most of the indigenous population. Maori wrestling was still being taught in the late 19th century and the national champion Herbert Slade used these methods against many visiting champions such as William Miller of Australia and John L. Sullivan of the USA in the 1890s. Unlike the Maori martial art of te mau taiaha that uses a fighting staff, the native wrestling style has not been fully revived. Instead like in other parts of Polynesia, sumo has become the style adopted by many Maori people and the Chief Martin Stirling, who teaches from Lower Hutt in Wellington, has produced many national and Oceanic champions.
PNG and Melanesia
The provinces of Papua and New Guinea were part of Australia until 1975, Australia still has a presence in Melanesia through the Torres Strait Islands. Unfortunately not much is known about wrestling in these regions because, like Australia's Indigenous sports, not much was recorded in first contact literature. Wrestling sports were essentially used as peace keeping rituals throughout PNG, West Papua, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It has been suggested that the revival of this custom could help to bring a cessation to many of the conflicts in the region. In the Fly River Delta of the Western Province of PNG some colonial accounts record a wrestling game called epoo korio played by the people on Kiwai Island. Apparently one wrestler had to defend a mound of sand that his opponent was trying to destroy but it is unknown if this sport still survives and whether it could be used as a template to rebuild Melanesian traditional wrestling.
Fiji
Fiji was united into a single polity in 1871 by Ratu Seru Epinisa Cakobau but under threat of an invasion by the USA he soon ceded his kingdom as a British Protectorate. Fijian warriors were famed throughout the Pacific for their martial prowess and this is primarily because of the development of Qito Vaka Viti or traditional combat games which included veitiqa or javelin throwing, veidre or tug'o'war and various styles of wrestling called veidia, veisovia, veividi and veibo, the latter being a stand up style that used the loin cloth to topple the opponent similar to the sports played across the Pacific. In the 1890s the British brought many Indians to Fiji to work as indentured labourers on the plantations and they introduced their own style of traditional wrestling, called kushti, to the island. Blended with the sport of veibo, this new sport that used the English name 'wrestling', developed a popular following until the 1960s. The most famous Fijian wrestler, Jimmy Superfly Snuka (James William Reiher) of WWF fame, was initially taught this style of wrestling before moving to the USA.
Micronesia
A vast area covering numerous countries including the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Tokelau, the French Territory of Wallis & Futuna, the Marianas Islands, the US Territory of Guam and Palau. Like Melanesia not much was recorded about the traditional wrestling styles of these culturally diverse islands but much of the region was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War and sumo was introduced to many of the islands in this period. Traditional wrestling is popular still in Nauru and Kiribati during their national day celebrations and many of the takedowns of boumwane wrestling are incorporated into the traditional martial arts training on Tarawa Island in Kiribati. The Chamorro people of Guam and the Marianas Islands are closely related to the Filipino populations and once had a sport similar to dumog, but it is now long gone. Palau on the other hand has a strong development program for wrestling and is one of the strongest nations for the sport in the Pacific, demonstrating what can be done with will power and committment.