Sumo wrestler
Sumo (相撲 Sumō), or sumo wrestling, is today a competition contact sport wherein two wrestlers or rikishi face off in a circular area. The sport is of Japanese origin and is surrounded with many rituals. The Japanese consider sumo a gendai budō: a modern Japanese martial art.
The criteria for winning are fairly straightforward:
- The first wrestler to touch the ground with any other part of his body than his feet will lose.
- The first wrestler to touch outside the circle will lose.
- A wrestler who uses an illegal technique or kinjite loses.
- The mawashi becoming completely undone will also result in a loss.
Matches usually last only seconds, as one wrestler is quickly ousted from the circle or thrown to the clay. Each match is preceded by an elaborate ceremonial ritual. The sportsmen themselves are renowned for their great girth, as body mass is a factor in sumo.
Sumo matches take place in a ring called a dohyō. The dohyō is made of clay with sand spread over the top. It is between 34 and 60 cm high.
The circle in which the match takes place is 4.55 meters in diameter and bounded by rice-straw bales called tawara, which are buried in the clay. At the center are two white lines, the shikiri-sen, where the rikishi position themselves for the start of the bout.
Professional sumo wrestlers are ranked in a system dating back hundreds of years. The highest rank attainable is that of Yokozuna, grand champion, a title held at the moment by only one man, Asashoryu. Other recent yokozuna include Akebono, Musashimaru and Takanohana, who retired in January 2003. In the previous decade, Yokozuna Chiyonofuji retired after winning an astonishing 31 tournaments. That's nearly as many as Akebono and Takanohana won together. Once a wrestler has attained the title of Yokozuna, he can never again be subject to demotion and is expected to retire on his own initiative if he cannot perform to Yokozuna standards.
The other ranks in the top, or Makuuchi, division are (in order from highest to lowest): Ōzeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi, Maegashira. The lower divisions are Jūryō, Makushita, Sandanme, Jonidan, and Jonokuchi. Wrestlers move up and down these lower rankings depending on their performance. In addition, sumo is an amateur sport, with participants in college, high school and grade school.
The sport is mainly practiced in Japan, where it originated, but wrestlers of other nationalities participate; indeed, the yokozuna Musashimaru, although now a Japanese citizen, was born in Samoa, and yokozuna Asashoryu is Mongolian. Akebono, born in Hawaii, was the first foreign-born yokozuna.
The sumo tradition is very ancient, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements from when sumo was used in the Shinto religion.
Six grand sumo tournaments take place annually: three in Tokyo, and one each in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. The tournament begins on a Sunday and runs for 15 days, ending also on a Sunday. Each wrestler has one match per day; the highest-ranked contestants come at the end of the day. The wrestler who wins the most matches wins the tournament. If two rikishi are tied for the top, they wrestle each other and the winner takes the title. Three-way ties for the top position are rare; the three wrestle each other in pairs with the first to win two in a row taking the tournament.
The term kachikoshi indicates a record having more wins than losses. It contrasts with makekoshi, which indicates more losses than wins. In the makuuchi division, kachikoshi means a score of 8-7 or better, while makekoshi means a score of 7-8 or worse.
A wrestler who finishes the tournament with kachikoshi is then eligible to receive one of the three prizes awarded for technique (ginōshō), fighting spirit (kantōshō), and for the defeating the most Yokozuna and Ōzeki (shukunshō). Many wrestlers who achieve kachikoshi can expect a promotion; makekoshi carries the threat of demotion. The standards are higher for rikishi in the top ranks.
Sumo wrestlers take wrestling names called shikona (しこ名). For more information, see Japanese name.
