Sumai--dead art, or still practiced?
When outlining the battlefield grappling arts of the feudal bushi, two terms constantly come up--yoroi kumi-uchi and the more combative precursor of sumo, known as sumai. I know that kumi-uchi is still practiced today, but what about sumai? If it still exists as a living tradition, how does it specifically differ from sumo?
Thanks,
David Black Mastro
"The Japanese are the most warlike people in this part of the world. They have artillery and many arquebuses and lances. They use defensive armor for the body, made of iron, which they have owing to the subtlety of the Portuguese, who have displayed that trait to the injury of their own souls." --Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa, commenting on well-equipped wako in the Philippines, 1582.