Sumo


	Home \| The Good Life \| Tokyo by Suburb \| Food \| Articles \| The Team \| Contact us Sumo Why go to the Sumo? It’s not just about big people. Sumo is inherently　part of Japan's culture and its sense of ethnic identity. Deeply ingrained concepts like order, harmony and respect are emphasized by the sport. Sumo as we know it today can be traced back　to the beginning of Japanese culture. Shinto mythology credits sumo with ensuring the continued existence of the Japanese race. The Japanese god Take- mikazuchi won a sumo contest with a rival god Take-minakata. The two Gods struggled on the shores of Izumo along the Japan Sea coast until the latter finally lost. Control of the archipelago was ceded to the Japanese people led by Takemikazuchi, who is said to have established the imperial family from which the present emperor traces his ancestry. Thus Sumo from the start was exceptional compared to most other sporting matches; each sumo match a historical recreation: basically no sumo, no Japan. As a spectator sport sumo is fascinating for its ritual and exciting as the day of bouts builds to a climax. The crowd looses its Japanese refrain and gets genuinely involved. The inclusion of foreigners in sumo stables, starting with Konishiki, gives the sport a very unsubtle subtext for the whole Japanese trauma with the outside world. Although not as popular as it once was, the most important bouts can still bring the nation to a standstill． Where and when to go. The center of the sumo world is Ryogoku, an area of Tokyo where the sumo stadium, many sumo stables, chanko restaurants and big people can be found. There are six basho (tournaments) a year, held on the uneven months in Tokyo (Jan, May and Sept), Osaka (Mar) Nagoya (Jul) and Kyushu (Nov). In the last decade, Sumo's popularity has markedly declined amongst Japanese so that tickets are not sold out years in advance. Same-day tickets can often be bought for the first ten days or so of the 15-day basho and advance tickets are even easier to get, but you'll have to go to Ryogoku and buy them from the ticket office in person. Towards the end of the tournament, the tension escalates as rikishi (wrestlers) try for their kachikoshi (winning record) or vie for the yusho (championship). What is sumo? As peoples crossed from the Korean peninsular to displace the native tribes they brought many of the skills and materials to build an agrarian culture. On a diet of rice some people got really big and powerful and the first sumo matches were rituals dedicated by the ‘big’ people to the gods, praying for another good harvest. Latter in the Nara period, between 710 and 1185, no-holds-barred sumo was a popular spectator sport in the Imperial Court. During this time the rules that direct sumo to this day were developed, turning the contest from a brutal submission spectacle that could result in death or severe injury into a highly ritualized toppling match in which the victor either forced his opponent to the ground or out of the ring. Under the Shoguns public contests were banned and instead the military used sumo as a training ground for its soldiers. Indeed Ju Jitsu was developed as an off-shoot of sumo. In the 16th century sumo was revived as a public sport. Today sumo is still profoundly connected to religious ceremony in Japan. The opening or entrance ceremony is performed to appease the Gods and a similar ceremony is performed at Japan’s main Shinto shrine connected to the imperial family, the Grand Shrine Ise. The tossing of salt before individual bouts (a purification rite), and the opening and closing Sumo ceremonies, all reflect Sumo's Shinto origin. Salt is scattered in quantity by sumo wrestlers before each bout to purify themselves and the sumo ring (*dohyo). The dohyo is considered a sacred place, and regrettably women are not allowed to enter it because they are considered impure, ironic since Shinto reveers the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. One young female wrestler who won a regional sumo competition for primary school children was not allowed to enter the professional ring to collect her prize from a famous pro wrestler. Approximately 45 kilos of salt are scattered every day at national sumo tournaments. Most sumo wrestlers are highly trained athletes aged between 20 to 35 years old. Besides rigorous weight training，and mucking about in the Dhojo the wrestlers eat large amounts of hearty chanko-nabe stew and go to bed right after eating in order to gain mass. The wrestlers live in special sumo stables where the rules are very strict, especially for lower ranked wrestlers. At the top of the sumo wrestlers' hierarchy (banzuke) stands the yokozuna (grand champion). After reaching the rank of yokozuna, a wrestler cannot lose it anymore. However, he is expected to graciously retire as soon as his results start to worsen. The hairstyles adorning active rikishi are the most noticeable connection the sport still carries to Japan's feudal past. Two forms of 'mage' are seen today; the more common and simple 'chonmage' and the more formal 'oichomage'. All rikishi have their hair set in the chonmage style for day-to-day life by professionals connected to their stables, and only salaried rikishi are permitted to have their hair set in the oicho style for honbasho. On retirement from active wrestling and also as part of his move 'upstairs' a wrestler may have his top knot cut off which is an emotional moment for the rikishi shedding his 'mage,' The event is sometimes performed before a full house at the Kokugikan and can take a long time as a great many guests are invited to take a snip. As is the case with many things in Japan success is often dictated by not what you know but who you know. Wrestlers belong to a stable, or beya, which can determine how far they will rise in sumo. If a wrestler is in a powerful beya he will avoid some very difficult matches as stable mates are forbidden to fight each other unless there is a play-off at the end of the tournament. For Example, Fujishima-beya was the leading stable for the latter half of the 1990s, with five rikishi ranked in the top ten. This meant that Wakanohana followed his brother to the rank of Yokozuna even though being one of the most limited rikishi in the top echelon. He would have 11 easy matches and four real contests, as would the other high-ranking wrestlers from this stable. By contrast, he leading opponents outside of his stable, Akebono and Musashimaru would have a straight week of really rough contests to settle, because of their relatively weak beya. Foreigners.* The quandary in recent times for many Japanese sumo fans is that Yokozuna have been foreigners, or gaijin, and this has led to a lot of soul-searching. The first gaijin to make a real impact on the sport was Konishiki, a Hawaiian behemoth who tipped the scales at 557 pounds, equipped with a full range of attacking techniques and proved to be a very skillful fighter. He was the first foreigner to win a yusho and he was kept at ozeki, the rank below yokozuna, by a bad tournament. It has been argued that this let the Sumo association of the hook regarding whether it would have promoted him to the rank of Yokozuna, since there was a general feeling that Gaijin could not be allowed to be the guarantor of the Japanese race. In the mid-90s two yokozuna were promoted in quick succession. One was Takanohana, belonging to one of sumo's most powerful families. The other was Akebono, another Hawaiian and the first foreigner to achieve sumo's highest rank. These two yokozuna held a deep animosity toward each other. Takanohana was wrestler with great skill and an undisguised disdain for foreign rikishi. Being Xenophobic didn't’t seem so bad when you are as large as Takanohana was. He gave an outlet to national feelings of inadequacy and concerns over foreign invasion. Akebono was a tough scrapper with a chip on his shoulder and an urge to prove himself against the standard bearer of Japanese insularity. The result caught the nations imagination and was one of the most stimulating rivalries in living memory. The Takanohana-Akebono clashes were gargantuan and the racial undertones were always evident whoever won. Overall, Takanohana was more successful, but it was Akebono who opened the door for Gaijin and altered Sumo forever. Lured by financial gain more and more wrestlers have come to Japan from overseas to become rikishi, especially from Russia and Mongolia. These fighters posses a physical strength and mental determination lacking in many native wrestlers. Yet they have proved to be genuinely popular wrestlers who have broken down many barriers in recent years. The Japanese that have remained loyal to sumo don’t publicly display disdain when a gaijin wins although there is a suspicion they are simply waiting for the next Takanohana to arrive. A day out at Ryogoku will give you time to reflect of the Japanese character and the finale is always worth the wait. Afterwards there is only one thing to do and that’s find a Chanko-nabe restaurant. Home \| The Good Life \| Tokyo by Suburb \| Food \| Articles \| The Team \| Contact us BACK TO TOP

Sumo

Sumo Wrestlers Tokyonodoko.com Why go to the Sumo?

It’s not just about big people. Sumo is inherently　part of Japan's culture and its sense of ethnic identity. Deeply ingrained concepts like order, harmony and respect are emphasized by the sport. Sumo as we know it today can be traced back　to the beginning of Japanese culture. Shinto mythology credits sumo with ensuring the continued existence of the Japanese race. The Japanese god Take- mikazuchi won a sumo contest with a rival god Take-minakata. The two Gods struggled on the shores of Izumo along the Japan Sea coast until the latter finally lost. Control of the archipelago was ceded to the Japanese people led by Takemikazuchi, who is said to have established the imperial family from which the present emperor traces his ancestry. Thus Sumo from the start was exceptional compared to most other sporting matches; each sumo match a historical recreation: basically no sumo, no Japan. As a spectator sport sumo is fascinating for its ritual and exciting as the day of bouts builds to a climax. The crowd looses its Japanese refrain and gets genuinely involved. The inclusion of foreigners in sumo stables, starting with Konishiki, gives the sport a very unsubtle subtext for the whole Japanese trauma with the outside world. Although not as popular as it once was, the most important bouts can still bring the nation to a standstill．

Where and when to go.
The center of the sumo world is Ryogoku, an area of Tokyo where the sumo stadium, many sumo stables, chanko restaurants and big people can be found. There are six basho (tournaments) a year, held on the uneven months in Tokyo (Jan, May and Sept), Osaka (Mar) Nagoya (Jul) and Kyushu (Nov). In the last decade, Sumo's popularity has markedly declined amongst Japanese so that tickets are not sold out years in advance. Same-day tickets can often be bought for the first ten days or so of the 15-day basho and advance tickets are even easier to get, but you'll have to go to Ryogoku and buy them from the ticket office in person. Towards the end of the tournament, the tension escalates as rikishi (wrestlers) try for their kachikoshi (winning record) or vie for the yusho (championship).

What is sumo?
As peoples crossed from the Korean peninsular to displace the native tribes they brought many of the skills and materials to build an agrarian culture. On a diet of rice some people got really big and powerful and the first sumo matches were rituals dedicated by the ‘big’ people to the gods, praying for another good harvest. Latter in the Nara period, between 710 and 1185, no-holds-barred sumo was a popular spectator sport in the Imperial Court. During this time the rules that direct sumo to this day were developed, turning the contest from a brutal submission spectacle that could result in death or severe injury into a highly ritualized toppling match in which the victor either forced his opponent to the ground or out of the ring. Under the Shoguns public contests were banned and instead the military used sumo as a training ground for its soldiers. Indeed Ju Jitsu was developed as an off-shoot of sumo. In the 16th century sumo was revived as a public sport. Today sumo is still profoundly connected to religious ceremony in Japan. The opening or entrance ceremony is performed to appease the Gods and a similar ceremony is performed at Japan’s main Shinto shrine connected to the imperial family, the Grand Shrine Ise.

The tossing of salt before individual bouts (a purification rite), and the opening and closing Sumo ceremonies, all reflect Sumo's Shinto origin. Salt is scattered in quantity by sumo wrestlers before each bout to purify themselves and the sumo ring (dohyo). The dohyo is considered a sacred place, and regrettably women are not allowed to enter it because they are considered impure, ironic since Shinto reveers the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. One young female wrestler who won a regional sumo competition for primary school children was not allowed to enter the professional ring to collect her prize from a famous pro wrestler. Approximately 45 kilos of salt are scattered every day at national sumo tournaments.

Most sumo wrestlers are highly trained athletes aged between 20 to 35 years old. Besides rigorous weight training，and mucking about in the Dhojo the wrestlers eat large amounts of hearty chanko-nabe stew and go to bed right after eating in order to gain mass. The wrestlers live in special sumo stables where the rules are very strict, especially for lower ranked wrestlers. At the top of the sumo wrestlers' hierarchy (banzuke) stands the yokozuna (grand champion). After reaching the rank of yokozuna, a wrestler cannot lose it anymore. However, he is The Take Down expected to graciously retire as soon as his results start to worsen.
The hairstyles adorning active rikishi are the most noticeable connection the sport still carries to Japan's feudal past. Two forms of 'mage' are seen today; the more common and simple 'chonmage' and the more formal 'oichomage'. All rikishi have their hair set in the chonmage style for day-to-day life by professionals connected to their stables, and only salaried rikishi are permitted to have their hair set in the oicho style for honbasho. On retirement from active wrestling and also as part of his move 'upstairs' a wrestler may have his top knot cut off which is an emotional moment for the rikishi shedding his 'mage,' The event is sometimes performed before a full house at the Kokugikan and can take a long time as a great many guests are invited to take a snip.
As is the case with many things in Japan success is often dictated by not what you know but who you know. Wrestlers belong to a stable, or beya, which can determine how far they will rise in sumo. If a wrestler is in a powerful beya he will avoid some very difficult matches as stable mates sumo are forbidden to fight each other unless there is a play-off at the end of the tournament. For Example, Fujishima-beya was the leading stable for the latter half of the 1990s, with five rikishi ranked in the top ten. This meant that Wakanohana followed his brother to the rank of Yokozuna even though being one of the most limited rikishi in the top echelon. He would have 11 easy matches and four real contests, as would the other high-ranking wrestlers from this stable. By contrast, he leading opponents outside of his stable, Akebono and Musashimaru would have a straight week of really rough contests to settle, because of their relatively weak beya.

Foreigners.
Front & Back The quandary in recent times for many Japanese sumo fans is that Yokozuna have been foreigners, or gaijin, and this has led to a lot of soul-searching. The first gaijin to make a real impact on the sport was Konishiki, a Hawaiian behemoth who tipped the scales at 557 pounds, equipped with a full range of attacking techniques and proved to be a very skillful fighter. He was the first foreigner to win a yusho and he was kept at ozeki, the rank below yokozuna, by a bad tournament. It has been argued that this let the Sumo association of the hook regarding whether it would have promoted him to the rank of Yokozuna, since there was a general feeling that Gaijin could not be allowed to be the guarantor of the Japanese race.

Sumo tokyonodoko.com

Two Sumo Wrestlers In the mid-90s two yokozuna were promoted in quick succession. One was Takanohana, belonging to one of sumo's most powerful families. The other was Akebono, another Hawaiian and the first foreigner to achieve sumo's highest rank. These two yokozuna held a deep animosity toward each other. Takanohana was wrestler with great skill and an undisguised disdain for foreign rikishi. Being Xenophobic didn't’t seem so bad when you are as large as Takanohana was. He gave an outlet to national feelings of inadequacy and concerns over foreign invasion. Akebono was a tough scrapper with a chip on his shoulder and an urge to prove himself against the standard bearer of Japanese insularity. The result caught the nations imagination and was one of the most stimulating rivalries in living memory. The Takanohana-Akebono clashes were gargantuan and the racial undertones were always evident whoever won. Overall, Takanohana was more successful, but it was Akebono who opened the door for Gaijin and altered Sumo forever.

Sumo Stadium Tokyo

Lured by financial gain more and more wrestlers have come to Japan from overseas to become rikishi, especially from Russia and Mongolia. These fighters posses a physical strength and mental determination lacking in many native wrestlers. Yet they have proved to be genuinely popular wrestlers who have broken down many barriers in recent years. The Japanese that have remained loyal to sumo don’t publicly display disdain when a gaijin wins although there is a suspicion they are simply waiting for the next Takanohana to arrive.
A day out at Ryogoku will give you time to reflect of the Japanese character and the finale is always worth the wait. Afterwards there is only one thing to do and that’s find a Chanko-nabe restaurant.

Tokyonodoko.com