Sumo

A couple of weeks ago I went to Nagoya to watch a sumo tournament. We watched for about 4 hours and it was a lot more exciting that I am expected. Each round starts off with the wrestlers coming out and walking around the dohyo, or ring, as their names are called. After they exit the opponents do the same thing but they come in from another entrance in order to avoid contact with their opponent before the match. After the walk about is finished, the dohyo is purified with salt and then the first competitors come out. There is no weight class in sumo, the opponents are pitted against one another based on how many tournaments or matches they have won. I found that for the most part the competitors appeared to be of the same weight. There were also Western competitors and some of them didn't appear to fit the sumo stereotype look. One of the westerners we nicknamed Jean Claude van Dam because he looked more like a karate type guy than sumo.

The fights were pretty quick. The goal is get your opponent out of the dohyo or to make them touch the ground with any part of their body besides their feet. The matches were pretty clear cut when deciding the winner but at one point the judges had to confer and decide the winner.

Sumo isn't just a sport for the competitors, it's a lifestyle. They must dress in their yukata (light kimono) when out in public and they usually live all together in a place referred to as a stable. The life span of a sumo wrestler is shorter than the average Japanese because of their lifestyle. They eat irregualry and large portions, they also drink a lot of beer and their physical injuries has a toll on their bodies.