Sumo Wrestling - Feb 9, 2020

Today we went to see a Sumo wrestling tournament. This tournament was supposed to be especially interesting in that the competitors were paired by a random drawing rather than by their rankings. I was surprised by how short each individual match was, often only a few seconds, especially in comparison to the ~5 minute pre-match rituals for each match. Let me walk you through the event….

The competition takes place on a dohyo. The dohyo is made of clay with straw rice bags embedded within it in a circular pattern. Sand is placed in the center of the circle. A Shinto temple style roof sits over the dohyo with tassels hanging from each of the corners.

Prior to the start of the tournament there was a drum ceremony.

Two tournaments were scheduled for the day. The competitors for the first tournament were introduced.

Each match started with the names of the competitors being sung.

The wrestlers (rishiki) then entered the ring, stood in the center, and acknowledged each other before going to their respective corners to stomp their feet (shiko).

They then rinsed their mouths with water, spitting the water out afterwards.

Salt is thrown into the ring to purify it prior to their re-entering it.

Once back in the center of the dohyo they stomp their feet again.

Then the ‘psych out’ period starts. The wrestlers squat, clap and preform a series of hand motions…

… and just when you think they are ready to compete…

…they stand up, go to their corners and restart the stomping, spitting, salt throwing, hand motion process all over again. On average they repeated the routine 4 times before they actually touched each other.

The loser of the match is the first wrestler to touch the ground with any part of his body other than his feet or the first to touch the ground on the outside of the ring.

Here are some of the more exciting matches:

The matches with different sized competitors were definitely more interesting. Sometimes the bigger wrestler would just pick up the smaller one and carry him out of the ring.

But more often, the smaller one was effective at throwing the bigger one off balance.

At the end of each match the winner was declared by the referee who was dressed like a Shinto priest.

During the intermission between tournaments there was a singing ceremony where each wrestler took turns standing in the center and singing.

There was also a comedy wrestling match where they demonstrated what not to do,

such as spitting on each other.

The second tournament was similar to the first. At the end of the day the tournaments concluded with a "bow dance"...

...and a large trophy was awarded to the winner.

It was definitely and interesting experience.