If you believe the legend, Thai boxing or muay thai appeared two thousand years ago. However, it is worth noting that until now no documents have been found confirming the two thousand-year history of Thai boxing. According to historical information, many sources that somehow fixed the totality of the phases of development and spread of Muay Thai art were destroyed in the fire in 1767, when Burmese troops stormed and took down the ancient Sami capital Ayutthaya by storm.

Origin of Muay Thai

A Little Literature , dedicated to the history of Muay Thai art, the official date of the birth of Thai boxing is sometimes called the year 1350, when the founder of the U Thong dynasty, King Prachao U Thong Rama Thibodi in the village of Tambon, Veng Leck, built the Buddha temple th Savior, which became the first educational institution for the education of children, youth and adults . The monks of the Buddha Shawan temple in addition to the education and upbringing of parishioners and novices engaged in medical practice; The Thai martial arts school was here for several hundred years .

The combat skills taught in Buddha Saban, based on the possession of swords and spears, eventually supplemented with combat techniques using all the impact surfaces of the body so that Siamese warriors could continue to fight even in case of loss of weapons. This type of combat against one or more opponents was called May syok (the art of fighting with arms and legs), much later he had another name - the muai are smelling.

Muai Pahuyut

Muai Pahuyut was widely used not only as a an effective means of developing physical and mental qualities, but also as a means of professional training of soldiers of the royal guard, he was compulsorily trained by young princes of blood and representatives of the Siamese aristocracy . Since then, The combatants of the battle were lost, although the art of muay is plowed, conditionally included in the martial arts category with the common name of muay boran (ancient boxing), and now it is still possible to learn in some sports sections of Thailand .

There is another point of view . Some researchers believe , that it is Mu'ay who smell , or a multilateral fight , using hand-to-hand fighting techniques in combination with a sword with fists , feet , elbows and the knees , were in fact the original original fighting technique , from which the Thai fencing school (the technique of possessing two swords at the same time or the sword and spear , the above-mentioned art of krabi krabong) was then evolved , then evolved into the system hand-to-hand combat , combined posture Also under some name, the muai are smelling Some surviving chronicles say that a few centuries before the opening of the martial arts school in the Buddha Shawan temple, in the Siamese city of U Thong, which later became the capital of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, smell ! These competitions were the forerunner of modern Muay Thai fights and were extremely traumatic and sometimes deadly: the soldiers wrapped their fists with leather straps or a hemp rope and, for strengthening the windings, they were first immersed in resin or silt and in rice glue, and then sprinkled with sand ! Nevertheless, specialists in the history of Thai boxing note that the tradition of bandaging hands became one of the factors of the transformation of ancient fights in hand-to-hand combat into contemporary art muay thai !

History of Thai boxing

Speaking about the history of Thai boxing, to blaspheme about one famous Siamese husband who made famous Muay Thai art in centuries - Nai Khan Thome . Nai Khan Tom, who is considered the father of Thai boxing, was captured by Burmese troops in 1767 at the fall of the capital of the U Thong dynasty, the beautiful and indestructible Ayutthaya .After spending several years in captivity, in 1774 this offspring of an ancient Siamese aristocratic family was chosen by the Burmese King Mangro to participate in a duel organized by the Burmese in Rangoon City in honor of the seven-day religious festival . During a fight that took place just before the throne of the King of Burma, Nye Khan Tom had to fight with ten of the best Burmese fighters, and all fights went on without interruption, one by one . Using his art of fighting, Nai Khan Tom scored ten victories one after another . Impressed by force and the dexterity of Nai Khan Thom, King Mangra granted him freedom and offered as a reward to choose gold or two beautiful Burmese girls to marry . Nai Khan Tom chose his wives, motivating his choice by the fact that wealth can be obtained and military valor, and a good girl in the afternoon you will not find fire . Night of liberation Nai Khanom of Thailand is celebrated in Thailand by adherents of Muay Thai art on March 17: as a rule, on this day throughout the country there are held Thai boxing competitions devoted to this great boxer .

Since the twenties of the past century First, under King Rama VI, and then under Rama VII, the Muay Thai began to develop as a sport . In 1929 the first rules were adopted, humanizing fights: the soldiers were allowed to bandage the shin and lifting the foot, and hemp ropes replaced boxing gloves . Partially the rules for holding Thai boxing competitions were fixed by a decree of the Thai Ministry of Sports in 1939 (at the same time, the term "muay thai" was introduced), and in 1955 in Thailand adopted the unified rules for holding muay thai competitions for professionals who since pores have not changed at all .

Muay Thai Today

In the seventies of the twentieth century, sports schools where people who were interested in learning the art of Muay Thai began to open in Europe . In 1983, Banyuyen Suwanathadha with a group of Thai teachers known in Thailand boxing, which included boxers Prasert Soso, Sod Sonruthai and Wit Jitsofa, created the Thai Association of Amateur Muay Thai Association (A . M . T . A . T .) , designed to serve the idea of ​​promoting Thai boxing in Thailand and beyond . In January 1984 in Amsterdam was the The World Association of Muay Thai was born, and in 1986, based on the already existing Thai Association of Amateur Muay Thai, the International Federation of Amateur Muay Thai (International Federation of Muay Thai Amateur or IFMA) was formed .

There are more than forty thousand receptions in modern Thai boxing, but a regular soldier has enough to have the skills of thirty basic techniques. Fifteen basic, united by the name "mae May", and fifteen additional ones, known as "onions May". All techniques in Muay Thai are aimed at inflicting the maximum blow and not allowing the enemy to evade.

"Bowing to the Teacher"

The essential difference between Thai boxing and other martial arts is the obligatory ceremony of Vai Khru and the Muai dance, anticipating almost any duel Muay Thai . Vai Khru literally means "bowing to the teacher" and is a demonstration of the pupil's respect for the teacher, and in the Muir dance the fighter asks the defense spirits in the upcoming duel and warns the enemy about the approaching I threaten . According to the individual characteristics of the boxer's performance of the Muai dance, specialists can accurately determine his belonging to a Thai boxing school, and the dance itself, like a boxing match, goes to the accompaniment of music performed by a small musical ensemble consisting of a Javanese flute , cymbals and drums . In Europe and Russia, where it is often difficult to find musicians who are able to "live" accompanying boxers performing the muayi dance, and dance and duel go to the music sounded in the recording .