The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-11-14
The ATHLETES OF JAPAN.
WoNDERFULsMUso DEVELOP
MENT oFfHER wREsTLERs.

I
Their Heroic tode OF fTraininS-The
Bath isAItSmportant---He
Coal biinets.
sfife SJspspess sSeontortionists have an
International pu,ation. On every
country road Japan you will find
bands OF thres aks.boys, ranging in age
from six to fourteen, and these boys will
twist themselves into more shapes than
the indiarubber mau of the American
dime-mnseum. They will wrap their
toes about their heads as they lie on their
stomaChs, and will look out Of their
almond eyes as they frame their faces
with their ankles. They will turn their
heads around so that they seem to be set
on their shoulders wrong. side first, aud
| will bring themselves into So many
positions that you can hardly believe
that they have any bones in their bodies,
/ and YOU feel that they are hardly human.
Among The best developed men have
cver, seen are the laborcrs of the Takas-
hima coal mines, who work all day
, underground, and whose labors are
carried on in a network of passages of
! more than fifty miles in length, which
extends under the sea about one of the
islands of western Japan. These men
carry great loads. They work from dawn
until dark, and their daily hot bath and
their rico ~.eivo them muscles of
which any turner in America would be
proud.
The Japanese consider the bath and
gymnastics of such importance to health
that they have introduced them into the
training of the soldiers of their regular
! army. The soldiers of Japan are put
through full set of exercises every day.
They swing dumb-bcls, jump on the
parallel bars, and go through the severcst
of physical training. The bathrooms are
one of the institutions of every barrack,
and the soldiers arc required to hathe all
over once day, aud they have to take
! hot baths three times week. Their
diet is rice instead of hard-tack, aud
they have an allowance of six cents per
day for other food.
The professional athletes of Japan are
the great wrestlers who seem to be of a
different race from the ordinary japanese,
and who have system of training very
different from that of John l.. Sullivan
or Jake Kilraip- These men believe in
the accumulation rather than the reduc-
tion Of fat, and they are great, tall fel-
| lows Of six feet or more, and weigh from
! two hundred TO three hundred pounds.
! They train themselves largely by pound
ing aud by being pounded by their fel-
! lows. They have great strength of neck,
! and they increase this by butting against
one another with their heads and strik-
ing their opponents in the chest, so that
! the noise is that of batterinG-
ram. They butt at wooden posts
with their shoulders, pound their flesh,
and stamp the earth with their feet.
/ saw an exhibition ut which about hun
dred of these wrestlers contested, during
visit Ipaid to Japan year or so ago.
! The wrestlers came into the room entirely
naked, with the exception of a belt about
the lons. Before beginning, they made
the earth shake with their stamping, and
: they glared at each other like demons.
They made many false starts, and when
they grapplcd, their muscles stood out
like fopcs dp,...,-.ca-cir great arms, and II
was battle OF the giants. They have a
wonderful strength of wrist and fingers
and now and then one would grasp his
opponent by the belt, and, lifting his
three hundred pounds high in the air
would throw him over his shoulder, anG
he would fall on the earth with terrible
thud, while the umpire would raise m'
fan aid yell out the Japanese word 70
victory. The most noted .Japanes,
wrcstlers have as great regulations a
those of our prize fighters, and tn
profession nf wrestling dates back t.
the beginning of the japanese history
The rules of the ring are quite rs rigit
AS those of the Marquis of Queensbury
aud there are forty. eight falls which cal
be made. The very best class of tn
japanese people patronizes these wres
tiers, and q rich man often has IA party o
them come aud wrestlc at his reception
for the entertainment of his guests. Som
of the most noted statesmen are patron
u wrcstlers, and one Of the. Sa4iqGt mig
nicknamed the ''Wrestler." The wres
, Ting goe, on i'll both its public exhibition
! and at private entertainments without tn
aid OF betting. and so far the muscula
exhibitions of Japan have not been col
rupted by the vice of pool selling -Mei
I0yA Ltdgr.