Upon confirmation of my internship in Japan, I quickly developed a bucket list of things I must do/see while in the land of the rising sun. A couple items on that list include learning Japanese, visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, watching a sumo match, and battling a ninja in a cherry tree orchard. Well on May 15th, I was able to cross off one of those items...SUMO!
The origins of Sumo go back some 1500 years. Before it was a sport, it was a ritualistic dance in conjunction with prayers for things such as a bountiful harvest. Today it is one of Japan's most celebrated sports taking a back seat to baseball and soccer. Yet, in a way, it's almost more of a theatrical production than a sport.
Sumo matches take place during 15-day tournaments held every two months in one of four locations in Japan. It is an all day affair starting at about 10am and ends around 4pm. The low ranking wrestlers have their matches early so, between me and you, the real fun doesn't start until the more seasoned wrestlers arrive in the area (about 2pm). When the next division of wrestlers are about to start, there is an entrance ceremony (shown below). They all come out in there formal wrestling gowns and present themselves to the crowd.
Once the fighters begin their pre-fight rituals they have 4 minutes to actually start their bout. They use this time to get mentally prepared, stretch, and try to build the suspense. It should be said that it only takes one minute to do all of their rituals. The 4 minute time limit comes into play because they do all of the traditional stuff, get into position facing each other, stand up, and do it all again, and again, and again. For an American whose ADD has been fed by perpetual intense stimulation, it can get to be slightly dull.
I would say that on average, the bouts last 10-15 seconds. Which makes since when you consider one 300-400lb man trying to push/slap/pull/grab/throw/dodge another 300-400lb man. Needless to say, they get tired very fast. With that said, when two equally matched opponents face off, it is very exciting. Below, is one of the more exciting bouts.
An added bonus is that the ring is small and elevated about three feet! You can imagine that it's quite the spectacle when one of these giants gets thrown off onto the poor people in the front row.
One last thing I want to mention concerns advertisements. Before the highly ranked wrestlers fight, kids walk up to the ring and walk around holding company banners (i.e. McDonalds). In America, we would have models walking around in almost nothing with a screaming guitar solo blaring over the loud speakers. I'm glad this Sumo hasn't been tainted by this concept yet.
Walking into the Sumo arena
I'd hate to mess with that red guy.
The origins of Sumo go back some 1500 years. Before it was a sport, it was a ritualistic dance in conjunction with prayers for things such as a bountiful harvest. Today it is one of Japan's most celebrated sports taking a back seat to baseball and soccer. Yet, in a way, it's almost more of a theatrical production than a sport.
Sumo matches take place during 15-day tournaments held every two months in one of four locations in Japan. It is an all day affair starting at about 10am and ends around 4pm. The low ranking wrestlers have their matches early so, between me and you, the real fun doesn't start until the more seasoned wrestlers arrive in the area (about 2pm). When the next division of wrestlers are about to start, there is an entrance ceremony (shown below). They all come out in there formal wrestling gowns and present themselves to the crowd.
Entrance Ceremony
Once the fighters begin their pre-fight rituals they have 4 minutes to actually start their bout. They use this time to get mentally prepared, stretch, and try to build the suspense. It should be said that it only takes one minute to do all of their rituals. The 4 minute time limit comes into play because they do all of the traditional stuff, get into position facing each other, stand up, and do it all again, and again, and again. For an American whose ADD has been fed by perpetual intense stimulation, it can get to be slightly dull.
Pre-fight rituals
Face off
I would say that on average, the bouts last 10-15 seconds. Which makes since when you consider one 300-400lb man trying to push/slap/pull/grab/throw/dodge another 300-400lb man. Needless to say, they get tired very fast. With that said, when two equally matched opponents face off, it is very exciting. Below, is one of the more exciting bouts.
An added bonus is that the ring is small and elevated about three feet! You can imagine that it's quite the spectacle when one of these giants gets thrown off onto the poor people in the front row.
One last thing I want to mention concerns advertisements. Before the highly ranked wrestlers fight, kids walk up to the ring and walk around holding company banners (i.e. McDonalds). In America, we would have models walking around in almost nothing with a screaming guitar solo blaring over the loud speakers. I'm glad this Sumo hasn't been tainted by this concept yet.
Thanking their sponsors. Notice the 4 McDonalds banners.
All in all I'm very glad I got to experience all that Sumo had to offer. It was a great life experience and I'm going to try to take Katie in September. If you want to learn more about the sport of sumo click here.
-Seth
-Seth
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