Sumo Wrestling

The first mention of sumo wrestling in Japan is in an ancient legend where the god, Take-mikazuchi engaged in a sumo bout with a rival tribe leader. The god, Take-mikazuchi triumphed and thus established the supremacy of the Japanese people on the islands of Japan.

Although one cannot view the legend as historical fact, the roots of sumo can be traced back some 1500 years. As with many of Japan's traditions, sumo wrestling grew out of religious traditions and ceremonies performed at local shrines. The matches were dedicated to the gods with prayers in the hopes of a plentiful harvest.

In the early days of sumo wrestling, there were not many regulations and a bout often included elements of wrestling, boxing and so on, few, if any, holds were barred. In the 8th century (the Nara Period), however, the sport was integrated into certain ceremonies of the Imperial Court, and gradually rules and regulations were adopted.

From the Nara Period up until the Tokugawa Shogunate, sumo was primarily practiced as a martial art, and for its value in increasing the fighting proficiency of the samurai. (Jujitsu was developed as an branch of sumo, in fact.) The period of peace and prosperity which was established during the Tokugawa Shogunate, however, decreased the need for sumo as a martial art, and the bouts began to be more entertainment, than actual combat.

Eventually, professional sumo groups were organized and sumo wrestling began to move into its position as Japan's national sport. The Japan Sumo Association of today was originally founded during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867).

When I was a child, all my younger brother and I knew of Sumo wrestling was from a short (probably fraction of a second) clip played during the ABC Wide World of Sports intro sequence. Actually, this clip, as short as it was, may have been an entire match. Sumo matches are usually over in a matter of seconds and the concept is fairly simple: be the last one standing inside the ring. The object is to either knock your opponent off balance, or push him out of the ring. Long matches will last a minute or two, and short matches are sometimes over practically before they begin. Dave Barry also pokes fun at the length of sumo matches in his book, "Dave Barry Does Japan." In fact, the time period from entering the ring to the actual start of the match is almost always longer than the match itself. According to the rules, the from the time they enter the ring, the wrestlers are allowed four minutes before they are required to engage. The lower ranks (usually not televised) are only given three minutes, and the lowest ranks must begin the bout at once.

Seeing how the length of individual matches is so brief, it is a good thing that many matches are held in one day, and a sumo tournament actually lasts 15 days. The tournament is not an elimination type of format, but rather each wrestler competes in one match each day of the tournament and the one who has the best record at the end of fifteen days is awarded the top prize, the Emperor's Cup for that tournament.

In addition to the Emperor's Cup, each tournament awards three other prizes. The Shukunsho prize is awarded to the wrestler who upset the most Grand Champion (Yokozuna) and Champion (Ozeki) wrestlers. The Kantosho prize is given to the sumo wrestler who demonstrated the strongest fighting spirit. Finally, the Ginosho prize is earned by demonstrating a high level of technical ability. In order to be eligible for any of these prizes, though, a sumo wrestler must have earned a winning record over the fifteen day period of the tournament.

Sumo wrestlers meet six times for the 15 day tournaments over the course of a year. The tournaments are held in January, March, May, July, September and November. The January, May and September tournaments are held in Tokyo at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena. The March tournament is held in Osaka, the July Tournament in Nagoya and the November tournament is in Fukuoka.

The cost to attend a single day of the sumo tournament ranges from 14,300 yen (around 130 USD)for ringside seats and 3600 yen (or around 33 USD) for the upper levels.

As of January 11, 2009, the Sumo Hatsu Basho (first tournament of the year) has begun. Hakuho, Asashoryu and Kotoshu all posted wins on the first day of the tournament. You can keep up with the tournament results at this sumo page.

(The image is of the Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena in Tokyo and is provided by Wikimedia Commons

Dohyo, Rikishi, Banzuke... Just like any sport, sumo is filled with vocabulary specific to sumo wrestling. Many of the sumo articles and websites about the sport do not bother to translate the terms for you. I do not intend to leave you in the dark, though. Here are some of the most common, most important Japanese terms you might come across in reading more about Sumo:

Banzuke - The banzuke is official list ranking sumo wrestlers. The Japan Sumo Association republishes this list following each tournament. Wrestlers are promoted or demoted depending on their performance at each tournament.

Basho - Basho is the term used for a sumo tournament. Tournaments are sometimes referred to by the season: Haru Basho - Spring Tournament; the place they are held: Nagoya Basho; or the month in which they are held: Kugatsu Basho - the September Tournament.

Dohyo - "Dohyo" is not what Homer Simpson utters in Japanese. Rather it is the name of the round, elevated floor made of packed clay on which the matches take place.

Dohyo Iri - Iri means to enter, thus, this term means "entering the ring" and is the name given to the ceremony performed by the top two divisions of sumo wrestlers each day of a tournament.

Gyoji - Referees (these are the colorfully dressed fellows) in sumo wrestling are called Gyoji. The referees are also ranked (more on that later).

Mawashi - Couldn't leave this one out. Yep, it's the "diaper" worn by sumo wrestlers during the matches. (Of course, the Sumo Association calls it a "loin cloth like garment")

Kesho Mawashi - This is the fancy, ceremonial apron worn by wrestlers in the top two divisions during the ring entering ceremonies, or "Dohyo Iri". These are of particular interest because their cost averages around 4,000 - 5,000 USD.

Rikishi - This is the term for a sumo wrestler and literally means "strong man".

Tate-gyoji - Gyoji, if you recall, are sumo refs. A Tate-gyoji is a ref of the highest ranking.

Toshiyori or Oyagata - These terms refer to retired sumo wrestlers who remain in the "sumo world" as coaches, trainers or other managerial positions. They are primarily responsible for the education and training of sumo wrestlers.

Yumitori Shiki - At the end of each day of competition during a tournament, a bow (as in bow and arrow) ceremony is performed. This ceremony is called "Yumitori Shiki".

(Note: I have left out terms referring to rankings as I will explain them in the next section.)

Image is of Dohyo-Iri with Sumo Wrestlers wearing the Kesho-Mawashi (from Wikimedia Commons

According to the Japan Sumo Association, there are currently around 800 active sumo wrestlers. All of them are ranked. Let me tell you how it works.

First you have several divisions, kind of like Major League, and Minor Leagues. The divisions, from highest to lowest, are: Maku-uchi, Juryou, Makushita, Sandanme, Jonidan and Jonokuchi. Usually, the TV broadcasts of the tournaments on NHK only show the matches in the Maku-uchi division.

The Maku-uchi division, is then divided into five ranks. These ranks are, from highest to lowest, are: Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi and Maegashira.

Although NHK usually only broadcasts the Maku-uchi bouts, matches from the lower levels begin in the morning with the lowest ranks and continue into the afternoon. The Maku-uchi matches begin at 4 PM and will end around 6 PM featuring bouts with the Yokozuna.

Wrestlers can be promoted or demoted to higher or lower ranks depending on their performance during the tournament. Only the Yokozuna cannot be demoted. Once a Yokozuna, always a Yokozuna. Should a Yokozuna begin to perform poorly, he is expected to retire.

Before a sumo wrestler can be considered for the ranking of Yokozuna, he must first win the Emperor's Cup for two consecutive tournaments. The ranking is not awarded on a winning record alone, however. Wrestlers up for a promotion to Yokozuna are also judged on their character. (Not a bad idea, since they are role models... of a sort.) At one time the Yokozuna were thought to be gods of a sort, and some still believe this.

(Photo: Yokozuna, Asashoryu - (*Ring-entering ceremony by Yokozuna Asashoryu. *Photographer: Philbert Ono. *Source: en.wikipedia.org [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SumoAsashoryu.jpg], uploaded by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Photojpn.org Photojpn.org] *License: Gnu Free Doum)

Within the past year or two, the sumo world has unfortunately had its share of controversies.

With the start of the 2008 fall tournament, there is no lack of controversy. In the weeks and days leading up to the opening of the aki basho, there were accusations of marijuana possession and sumo wrestlers who were found to have traces of marijuana in their urine. Sumo wrestlers Wakanoho, Hakurozan and Roho have all been banned from sumo wrestling for life because of either possession of marijuana (Wakanohana) or traces of it in their systems (Hakurozan and Roho). It was the first ever "firing" of sumo wrestlers in the long history of the sport. (It's a good thing professional US sports do not have the same standards, there would hardly be any one eligible to play.) The accused have adamantly denied use of the drug, even in spite of a second round of positive tests. Although it looks as though they will not be charged by the police, the controversy has resulted in the resignation of the Sumo Association Chairman, Kitanoumi.

Perhaps one of the most prominent, and continuous stories is that of the drama surrounding current Yokozuna, Asashoryu. He is branded as sumo's bad boy and there are many stories about his occasional bad temper, unsportsmanlike conduct and occasional deceitfulness. Last year (2007) he was suspended from competing in several tournaments as a disciplinary action and he subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown. He returned to his home in Mongolia for several months in order to recover. He did return in 2008. Although he was runner up for the New Year tournament, he took the Emporer's Cup in the Spring tournament. He was forced to drop out of the July tournament because of physiological issues.

The Takashi Saito incident was the most tragic of the controversies. Takashi Saito was a 17 year old sumo trainee. Training at one of Japan's more prestigious stables. (Yeah, they're not called dojos or gyms, in sumo, they're stables.) During a rather intense (and apparently abusive) practice in June of 2007, he collapsed. He was later taken to a hospital, where he died. As the story unfolded, it was brought to light that he had been bullied and physically abused fairly often at the stable. In the aftermath, Saito's stable master (coach) Tokitsukaze Oyakata was removed from his post and relieved of his duties at the Japan Sumo Association. Police investigations followed, sumo culture received a great deal of negative press and many have called for changes in the way sumo wrestlers are trained.

So far 2008 has been a more positive year for sumo wrestling. There was the little tiff between the two Mongolian Yokozuna back in May, but that blew over with nothing more than a scolding from the Sumo Association. One reason the Mongolians may have been a bit frustrated was because they both had poor showings for that tournament and were beaten out for the Emperor's Cup by Bulgarian Ozeki, Kotoshu. Kotoshu made history by becoming the first ever European sumo wrestler to claim the Emperor's Cup. Unfortunately in the following tournament, Kotoshu was not able to win the Cup for the two consecutive wins needed for consideration for promotion to Yokozuna. Although most people seemed to be pleased and happy about the Bulgarian's win, I am sure there are some who think Japan must be going down the toilet since there is a Western sumo champion. They probably should get used to it, though, there seem to be more and more Russians and Eastern Europeans in every tournament.

I hope you have enjoyed my page on sumo wrestling and found it interesting and informative. I would like to leave you with a few stories and trivia I've heard about sumo wrestling and wrestlers over the years. I cannot confirm most of these stories, so they might be true, they might not be. At any rate, read at your own risk.

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I'll start with the one I know is true. According to the rules of sumo, wrestlers in the upper division (Maku-uchi) are required to start wrestling within four minutes of entering the ring. The juryo division (next level beneath Maku-uchi) must start within three minutes, and the lowest levels must begin at once. There was not always a time limit though. In the early days of sumo wrestling there was no time limit and these pre-match antics could last quite a long time. In 1928 was the first time a time limit was introduced, but it was still 10 minutes. Since then, it has slowly been reduced to the current four minute rule.

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Someone once told me that sumo wrestlers often have beautiful wives because they make lots of money and they aren't expected to live very long (meaning the wrestlers, not the wives).

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Here's one that always grossed people out. One of the strong aspects of Japanese culture is the system of juniors and seniors, whether it's at school, work or on a sports team. The most unpleasant duties always get assigned to the junior members of the group. I was told once that one of the jobs of the junior sumo wrestlers was to assist the larger senior members in ...uh... "cleaning up" after pooping. You see, apparently, some of them are too large to reach around with the toilet paper, so they need someone to do it for them. Ewwww!

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Sumo wrestlers dine on a big pot of stew called chanko nabe. Noodles, and a large variety of foods, like shrimp, mochi (rice cakes), meat, vegetables, etc. are all mixed together and cooked in a large pot. The most senior wrestlers are allowed to eat first. If you are a lower rank, you cannot eat until all the higher ranks above you have finished. Thus, the lowest ranks are left with the least amount of food. I guess you need to improve your ranking fairly quickly, if you want to gain the weight needed to be a sumo wrestler.

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Still want more on sumo? Here are some of the articles I 've written over the past year or so on various events and controversies in the sport.

Japanese Sportsmanship - The Sumo Problem

Kotoshu - the European Sumo Champion

Mongolian Wrestlers, Hakuho and Asashoryuu Nearly Throw Down Following Their Match

If You've made it this far and read all the way to the bottom of the page, you ought to be able to pass this easy Sumo Quiz.

It's not a sport, I don't even consider it a real martial art, but some people do...ninjutsu
How to Spot a Fake Ninja

Is that all I've written? I guess it is time to write another one.