American Badasses' Day

Today, the people of the United States celebrate Presidents' Day, a holiday combining commemorations of the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (though there are some dead-enders who don't celebrate Lincoln's birth). Inspired by a comment mikey left on a previous post, I have to note that both Washington and Lincoln were total badasses, and not just in fictional depictions.

George Washington, besides being a large man (probably 6'3" in height), was a proficient collar-and-elbow wrestler (the collar-and-elbow fighting stance is very similar to the preferred judo grip, and it's very probable that Washington would have been very much at home in the dojo). The flying mare technique that he demonstrated on seven Massachusetts volunteers is identical to our ippon seonage.

Abraham Lincoln, at 6'4" and 185 lbs, was a rangy specimen, and he was also an accomplished wrestler. As a teenager, he was reputed to have thwarted a riverboat hijacking by throwing the perpetrators overboard, and he went on to have a celebrated run as a champion in the rough-and-tumble wrestling styles popular on the U.S. frontier before moving on to bigger and better things.

Every society has a tendency to make its leaders into larger-than-life heroes, but in the case of the two presidents whose birthdays we celebrate today, these guys really were outsized badasses. Who needs Paul Bunyan when you've got Asskicking Abe?