It's Tokyo time!: Sumo　相撲

Sumo
Sumo is an amazing sport. As in sports we mostly think of worked out muscled people. Not so for sumo. Two colossal men fly at each other…

Sumo wrestlers
A few great sumo tournaments are held each year. On the day a big party is held around the special sumo stadium. You will find sumo wrestlers in the street and in the station. The tournament takes a few days and starts with the lower ranked. Ranking depends on the number of tournaments and bouts played and the number of victories

Sumo wrestler
The hair knot is very special. The wrestler wears it as long as he works on his career. From a certain moment in his career he is allowed to wear it. When he retires, sometime in his thirties, the knot is cut off in a ritual by other wrestlers form the same stable. It is a very emotional ritual and many a wrestler ends his career in tears.

Sumo is by all means a big happening. Wrestlers are held in high regard. Their status is comparable with mega pop stars. With the accompanying hysteric girls. The image of the heavy men is world famous and often depicted in Japanese art.

On the other hand sumo wrestlers are probably the only big Japanese you will find. Let’s say that only once a month we see a fat person in the streets. The next day we would still talk about it. Obesity is an unknown phenomenon here. Anorexia nevertheless...

The ring has a diameter of five meter. Rules are easy. The first one stepping outside the ring or touching the ground with anything else than a foot is out. Points can be earned as well but we don’t know how. It is still early in the tournament and the (more expensive) seats near the ring are not all taken yet.

Before they fly at each other there is a whole ritual of stepping, stamping, engaging and intimidating and so on. This takes a mere 90% of the time and is an integral part of the game. We as westerners don not always understand this very well and think it is boring. Watching Eurosport Channel you will find that they often cut this part. That is a pity as it is both exciting and beautiful.

In the ring you can see a referee. Around the ring sit judges, assistants and other wrestlers

The art is that the wrestlers fly at each other at exactly the same time. They call it ma. It requires ultimate focus. An uneven start results in stiff penalties, even money fines. And of course it is very Zen again. Zen is about the moment of now and nothing else.

The sumo stadium is everything but small. The seats directly around the ring are the most wanted. The ring is made of a platform of loam with a ring of twined rice stalks. Above the ring is a roof that shows similarity with the roof of a Shinto shrine. The ring is sacred ground. For that reason it is not allowed to take pictures in the corridors that run diagonally through the hall.

We had seats in the higher balconies of the hall, on ordinary seats. The seats below are basically a pillow of 90 x 90 cm (3 x 3 feet) that is half a tatami, a standard in Japan.

The actual physical engagement takes mostly only a few seconds.

A bout taking more than a minute is very exceptional and results in a frenzied crowd.

The one nearest to the edge is not always to become the loser. If he manages to get out of the way the other may loose his balance and be forced to make a step. Outside of the ring... and then you are out. Therefore it is exciting to the final moment. For those familiar with T'ai Chi: it is pure Push Hands.

Later in the tournament: the higher ranks of sumo wrestlers enter. They wear beautiful aprons, hand made and very precious. It is a great honour to be on this level.