One word... SUMO!

OK... let's start from the beginning with Sumo Wrestling... also known as the national sport of Japan! Sumo originated in Japan around the 16th century and is a full contact sport where wrestlers are in a ring and try to force the other wrestler out of the ring or to get the other one to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of his feet. It was originally used a performance to entertain the gods. Japan is the ONLY country where Sumo is practiced professionally... all those other countries are just amateurs! haha On a serious note, many of the ancient traditions of Sumo have been preserved. Life as a Sumo wrestler (rishiki) is extremely regimented down to what and when they eat and the way they dress, even outside of the ring. Other things that are regulated as a Sumo Wrestler... just in case any of you are interested:
-no driving cars
-must have long hair with a topknot
-usually 20-35 years old
-expected to wear traditional Japanese Sumo dress.... ALL the time (yikes)
-no breakfast, LARGE lunch, then a nap (supposed to help them gain weight)
-live in places (called stables) with other wrestlers and have chores and strict rules to follow...

Sumo wrestlers in Japan have a life expectancy of more than 10 years of the average Japanese male... for obvious reasons... diabetes, hypertension and for some less obvious ones such as arthritis and also liver problems from the excessive alcohol intake!

There was a time when women participated in Sumo, but it was mostly a spectacle and seen in brothels... The Sumo Association believes that it should be men only because it has been that way for centuries and it would be a dishonor to their ancestors to change it now... Women are not even allowed to touch or step foot into the Sumo ring as this would make it "unpure."

There are 6 Grand Sumo Tournaments held per year, each lasting 15 days... we were lucky enough to get to go to one on Sunday in Tokyo!!! Each tournament lasts for 15 days.... so each Sumo wrestler has one match per day for the 15 days! It starts around 0800 each day with the amateur Sumo's and then finishes up with the last matches around 1730 at night with the really good ones. We got there around noon and there was not a lot of people in the arena... but by the time the really good wrestlers (Yokozuna) came up it was a packed house and A LOT more exciting than I thought!!! One match takes about 5 minutes with all the traditional and symbolic aspects... they really only wrestle for about 15 seconds though! When they lift their legs in the air, they are stomping out the evil that may be inside the ring!

Some things that are not allowed are hair pulling, striking with fists (must have open hand), eye gouging, choking, or kicking in the stomach or chest... enjoy the show!!!


We had such a fun day watching Sumo for about 6 hours. We went with some friends and Damian bet 50 yen on each match... all in all we came out on top with +450 yen. One thing we were surprised about a little was the amount of foreigners participating in the matches. We ended up watching Sumo on TV a few days later and definitely understood it more... I was glad our seats were up in the balcony because I didn't like it as much on TV when you could really see up close... it was sort of gross!!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Rikishi (ree-key-she): Wrestler