The Incredible World of Sumo Wrestling: Japan's National Sport
The National Game of Japan: Sumo Wrestling
Sumo and Martial Arts tend to be the first sports to pop up in people’s minds when thinking about the most popular sports in Japan.
While technically right, you would be surprised to learn that Western imports like baseball are actually very popular in modern Japan, giving Sumo a run for its money!
As a matter of fact, some researchers even show Baseball leading as Japan’s most popular sport. However, Sumo is, without a doubt, the national sport of Japan, and here we will take a closer look at this famous sport.
Sumo as a sport not only originated in Japan, but it is also the only country where it is considered a national sport and it is practised professionally.
Even though the sport has a long history, spanning many centuries, it is still considered part of a gendai budō – modern Japanese martial arts.
Origins & History of Sumo: Japan’s National Sport
Sumo has deep roots in Japanese history!
Even some prehistoric wall paintings indicate that sumo originated from an agricultural ritual dance that ancient Japanese people performed when praying for a good harvest.
Shinto, which is an East Asian religion often referred to as Japan’s indigenous religion or nature religion, is a polytheistic and animistic religion that has no central authority in control and revolves around supernatural entities called Kami.
Kami are considered to inhabit all things, including forces of nature as well as prominent landscape locations.
The first official mention of sumo was in the Kojiki manuscript, which dates back to 712 and describes a wrestling match between two kami (Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata) as a way to determine who will possess the Japanese islands.
In this manuscript, the first description of a sumo match is said to take place in 23 BC between mortals, specifically a man named Nomi no Sukunem who went to fight Taima no Kuehaya at the request of Emperor Suinin.
Nomi no Sukune eventually killed him, making himself the mythological ancestor of sumo.
Until the Japanese Middle Ages, actually, the unregulated form of sumo-like wrestling was often fought to the death – as in literally until one of the fighters died.
Throughout the years, sumo has played a crucial role in Japanese history:
in 642, at the court of Empress Kōgyoku, the first historically-attested sumo fight was fought to entertain a Korean Legion.
In the following centuries, sumo’s popularity only increased, which brought a ceremonial and religious significance to the game and this is also the period when the first set of rules for sumo were set (specifically in the Heian period).
Sumo lost its importance at court during the Kamakura period and it was repurposed and reshaped into a form of military combat training for the samurai.
In the Muromachi period, sumo had no function at court but it had become a widely popular event for the masses and it received sponsorship.
The invention of the dohyō happened during the Nobunaga tournament held in 1578.
During the Edo period, sumo got temporarily banned, only for it to become permitted once again in 1684 and have its first sanctioned tournament in the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine. This is when an official sumo organisation developed, and many of today’s sumo elements like the dohyō-iri, the heya system, the gyōji and the mawashi can actually be traced back to this period.
During Matthew Perry’s 1853 expedition to Japan, a sumo wrestling match was shown, which he found to be distasteful, and as a response arranged a military to showcase and display the merits of Western organisation. This was the beginning of the new fixation towards Western culture, which only increased once the Meiji Restoration of 1868 brought an end to the feudal system.
During these 2-3 decades, sumo’s image changed, and it became seen as an embarrassing and backward relic. More so, internal disputes have split the central association.
It wasn’t until 1884 when Emperor Meiji organised a tournament that the popularity of sumo was restored. This example led to sumo becoming a national symbol in Japan.
On December 28th, 1925 the Japan Sumo Association reunited and increased the number of tournaments from two to four; then in 1958, that number further increased to six.
It is important to discuss the history of the game, since a lot of sumo’s aspects, traditions and rules come from its history.
The Basic Rules of Sumo Wrestling
In sumo, two wrestlers (rikishi) are wearing nothing but a loincloth (mawashi).
They face each other in a circular ring (dohyō) where they try to outmanoeuvre the other wrestler and get them to exit the ring or hit the ground with any part of their body that isn’t the soles of their feet.
Some interesting facts about Sumo
Most wrestlers weigh between 100-200kg, but there have been some that are way bigger!
The loincloth (mawashi) should not come off during the competition, or the wrestler is disqualified. However, this rarely happens.
The sumo bouts typically last a few seconds, with longer games reaching a minute or two; however, the longest bout was 32 minutes, and it happened back in 1951.
There are six divisions in sumo, according to their order of prestige; from highest to lowest they are:
Makuuchi or makunouchi (further divided into 5 ranks, from highest to lowest: yokozuna, ōzeki, sekiwake, komusubi, maegashira)
Jūryō
Makushita
Sandanme
Jonidan
Jonokuchi
The different ranks have different duties and receive different levels of compensation, privileges and status.
The strictest promotion is the highest one, from ōzeki to yokozuna, where an ōzeki is expected to win the championship for two consecutive tournaments or “equivalent performance” to be considered for promotion.
The match-ups for the tournaments are decided by the sumo elders from the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) who set up each wrestler to compete against a selection of opponents, mostly from the same divisions. The later selection of opponents is taking into account the prior performance of the wrestler to match their skills. Traditionally, the final day (senshuraku) is reserved for the top six ranked wrestlers and the top two compete in the final match.
In the ring, there are two white lines (shikirisen) which are the starting point of each wrestler for each bout.
The match starts with the initial charge (tachi-ai) upon which it is expected that both wrestlers jump from the crouch simultaneously after touching the surface of the ring with two fists at the start of the bout. If the simultaneous touch does not occur, the referee (gyōji) is allowed to restart the match.
The initial charge is crucial as it helps the wrestler gain advantage and momentum over their opponent.
Throughout the match, each wrestler uses various techniques, but usually their style is classified as one of these two: oshi-zumo, which is a tendency to push your opponent out of the ring, or yotsu-zumo, which is a tendency to grab your opponent's belt and force them out of the ring.
The best sumo wrestlers are typically adept in both styles and use various techniques to beat their opponents.
The referee is expected to immediately make his decision after the competition of the bout and point his war-fan/gunabi towards the winning side, upon which the winning technique (kimarite) is announced to the audience.
Ways of winning a Sumo Bout
In pro sumo, currently, there are 82 winning techniques (kimarite) recognised, among which the most popular ones are:
Push-out (oshi-dashi)
Outside-belt throw (uwate-nage)
Lift-out(tsuri-dashi)
Front force-out (yori-kiri)
Hand pull down (hiki-taoshi)
Outside leg-trip(soto-gake)
Rear push-out (okuri-dashi)
Slapping (harite)
Arm clamp-down (ottsuke)
The referee’s decision is not final. If it is disputed, the five judges that sit around the ring will meet in the centre to hold a talk (mono-ii) and reach a consensus as to who is the winner or call for a rematch (torinaoshi).
In sumo, forbidden techniques are:
Hair-pulling
Punching
Kicking
Grabbing below waist
Choking
Sabaori
The match is lost when any part of the body of the wrestler other than the bottoms of their feet touches the ring or when they are pushed or thrown outside the ring.
Women and sumo
Women are not allowed to compete in professional sumo nor enter the wrestling ring.
This stems from Shinto and Buddist beliefs that women are “impure” because of their menstrual cycle.
Nonetheless, a form of female sumo (onnazumo) existed in Japan before professional sumo was established.
Professional Sumo
In professional sumo, the maximum length of a bout varies depending on the division. In the top division, the limit is four minutes.
Today there are five major annual sumo tournaments, and all of them last 15 days.
The professional sumo is organised by the Japan Sumo Association. The members of the association (oyakata) are all former wrestlers, and they train new wrestlers.
To be a professional sumo wrestler, a wrestler needs to complete at least nine years of compulsory education, meet the minimum height (167 cm – 5.5 ft as of 2019) and weight requirements (67 kg-148 lb as of 2019). After the case of Takeji Harada, the JSA (Japanese Sumo Association) announced that they do not accept aspiring wrestlers who have surgically enhanced their height or weight.
Sumo wrestlers take wrestling names (shikona) that are not necessarily related to their real names.
Professional sumo wrestlers need to be members of a training stable (heya) that are run by one of the former wrestlers and trainers (oyakata).
The professional sumo wrestlers live under highly regimented rules that are prescribed by the sumo association. These should not be broken. If the rules are broken, the sumo wrestlers are fined and the offender, and stable master, will face potential suspension.
Regarding their appearance, wrestlers are expected to grow their hair long to form a topknot (chonmage). They are also expected to wear the traditional Japanese dress. The quality and type of dress depends on the wrestler’s rank and topknot when they are in the public. Their duties, as well as their daily lifestyle and their salaries, are heavily regulated and controlled depending on their ranks.
