Question about Middle-Eastern Martial Arts

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

Many thanks Andrew for your interest.

Kyle thanks. The Saracens facing the crusaders were of Turkish and Arab background. My field is Persian/Iranian. But surely there are similarities. I would say there are more similarity to northern styles of India by standing upright but with many traps and a very sophisticated system of fighting with a shamshir and a shield. In the next session we will photograph more than 140 wrestlings described in the manuscripts on wrestling or as it is called war wrestling. I find this part very interesting as I have had many years of free style wrestling and Greco Roman wrestling. Just for this project I started BJJ two and half years ago to gain more mat experience. The throws and locks are very interesting and often combined with daggers and knives.

I also started a journey acroos Iran and have been training with masters of grappling arts. These are traditional wrestling arts of Iran 22 known styles. But the techniques in manuscripts are different as they are meant for warfare of course,

Nathan, thanks there is a chapter on fighting with these two weapons.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

[nathan featherstone]

The grappling sounds very interesting when might the book be complete and available for purchase i know these times are open to chnge but it would be good to know so i may purchase it.

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

It is hard to say. I hope by the end of this year. I have annotated and translated 4 original manuscripts in it in addition to many bits and pieces from other ones. This will be a big book like the former ones I published and hence very cost and time intensive. But I really hope this will be possible. Many thanks

[Stacy Clifford]

Please be sure and let us know when the book is published. Although this forum is primarily about the martial arts of Europe, there has always been plenty of interest here in what our European ancestors faced across the battlefield. It looks like the Safavid Dynasty lasted from 1501-1736, which gives it a lot of overlap with the Renaissance period we study. Do you have more specific dates on the documents you've been studying?

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

Hi Stacy,

most manuscripts are from Safavid period, but lots of bits and pieces from earlier times as well. One can see a consistency of techniques similar to the Japanese swordsmanship. But Safavid makes up a major part of it. I hope this is Ok that I am posting this here . Many thanks you are right about the Safavid period.

Regards
Manouchehr

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

Last week end, we had our photo shooting session of throws and locks as described in Persian swordsmanship manuscripts. Many throws were new to me especially locks with the belt of the opponent and/in combination with one own's belt. Being experienced in wrestling and ground fighting, many of these techniques were still new and I am happy to present them. Fishhooking and attcks to vital organs are also part of these techniques:

http://dr.mmkhorasani.com/search/label/Mai%202011

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

We just concluded the last part of the pictures for my upcoming book:

http://dr.mmkhorasani.com/search/label/Juni%202011

Kind regards
Manouchehr

[Corey Roberts]

تشكر قداى خرسانى

Thanks for the information on Persian martial arts and the link to the book, very interesting and I will probably be looking around for a copy of it. It would be great some time to have a free-play exchange or some other comparative training between the two arts.

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

تشكر قداى خرسانى

Thanks for the information on Persian martial arts and the link to the book, very interesting and I will probably be looking around for a copy of it. It would be great some time to have a free-play exchange or some other comparative training between the two arts.

Many thanks Corey. I really appreciate that. We would definitely be interested in exchanging information and triaining together. A weekend seminar combined with a camp could create lasting friendships and exchanges of information. I am really glad that you speak Persian. Thanks again

Kind regards
Manouchehr

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

Dear friends,
I hope this OK that I am posting it here.
I just wanted to mention that my new book Persian Archery and Swordsmanship: Historical Martial Arts of Iran has been published.


http://www.moshtaghkhorasani.com/

Kind regards
Manouchhr

[Corey Roberts]

Very cool, thanks for the update on your research. I will have to give it a look one of these days.

[Manouchehr M. Khorasani]

Many thanks and Dear friends,
A review of the book "Persian Archery and Swordsmanship: Historical Martial Arts of Iran" by Mr. Antony Cummins from Historical Ninjutsu Research Centre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfuLp-FtdJc