It was nearly one month ago when the Japanese sport of Bo-Taoshi made a splash on the web. It was also then that I decided to delve into this project of blogging about obscure sports of the world. Bo-Taoshi – I deem it inspirational, you may call it lunacy. Either way, this is an exciting contest to behold.
What I know about this sport is merely from what I can decipher from the online videos or what I have gathered from other sites, and it is probably best described by watching the videos yourself. But if you’re one of those that prefer articles over illustrations, I’ll attempt to give a somewhat accurate description for you.
According to other sites, the game seems to have been first played in 1954-55. It is predominantly played by cadets at the National Defense Academy of Japan, but a simple search using a modern internet scanning device may yield results depicting other participants as well.
The main objective is to pull down your opponent’s pole while defending your own. Two teams are each comprised of 150 men; 75 attackers and 75 defenders. The attacking and defending sides of one team don’t appear to interact, it’s as if there are two separate matches commencing at once. Your defenders solely defend against the opposing team’s attackers and your attackers solely attack the opposing team’s defenders, yet this is all occurring at the same time. The result is quite chaotic. At least (American) Football has the decorum to alternate the rival stances instead of throwing everyone out there at the same time.
Once the match begins, the attackers have two (maybe three) minutes to pull down the opponent’s vertical pole to a minimum thirty-degree angle, which is different from the previous rule of forty-five degrees imposed until 1973.
There doesn’t seem to be any other rules beyond the main objective. Kicking and punching appear to be perfectly legal. Sprinting, climbing, then jumping from scaffolds created by human bodies is also legal, and probably highly encouraged.
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