唐朝马球运动军事功用的历史探赜

Military Functions of Polo in Tang Dynasty

回溯马球运动在大唐王朝的兴盛繁荣历程,探究马球在训练提升军队骑兵战力方面的价值功用,有助于从一个侧面或者视角审视一项体育运动对唐王朝军事武备与尚武风气的深远影响。运用历史考证、文本分析等方法,从文物、文献与文化遗存等证据链互补的视角展开论证。研究认为,马球由我国古代蹴鞠演变而来,繁荣兴盛于唐朝并逐渐形成完备的训练与竞赛体系。唐朝时期国家富强、社会稳定和文化繁荣,为马球在朝野广泛开展奠定了物质与文化基础,而其间不断发生的战事与外敌威胁,也为马球成为军队训练将士的重要手段提供了条件。结论显示,作为一项竞技性很强的运动项目,马球不仅是王公贵族和民众娱乐之戏,还是军队骑兵的重要科目。唐朝军中经常举行马球比赛活动,因此在增强士兵体能素质与马上对敌作战技巧,提高骑兵之骑术和马上砍杀技术,锻炼马匹作战对抗与奔袭能力等方面具有鲜明的军事功能,同时在塑造整个社会尚武精神、增进唐朝军事外交、增进中西文化交流等方面亦发挥了重要作用。

Analysis of prosperity of polo in the Tang Dynasty could reveal the values and functions of polo in training and improving the combat power of military cavalry,which was helpful to examine the far-reaching impact of sports on the military readiness and martial ethos of the Tang Dynasty.Adopting historical review and text analysis,on the basis of complementary evidence chains of cultural relics,documents and cultural relics,research showed that polo evolved from the ancient Cuju in China,flourished in the Tang Dynasty and gradually formed a complete training and competition system.The prosperity,social stability and cultural prosperity of the Tang dynasty laid the material and cultural foundation for the extensive development of polo in the country.The continuous wars and threats of foreign enemies in the Tang Dynasty provided an excellent place for polo to become an important means for the army to train soldiers.It could be seen that as a highly competitive sport,polo was not only an entertainment for the palace aristocrats and the public,but also an important subject for the military cavalry.Polo matches were often held in the army of the Tang Dynasty,so they had distinct military functions in enhancing the physical quality of the soldiers and the combat skills of fighting the enemy on horseback,improving the riding skills of cavalry and the skills of cutting on horseback,and training the combat confrontation and rushing ability of horses.Meanwhile,they also played an important role in consolidating the military diplomacy of the Tang Dynasty,shaping the martial spirit of the whole society and enhancing the cultural exchanges between China and the West.