The Appeal of Sumo

When I went over to Japan in 1995, Sumo was already on my radar because of Channel 4 in the UK, which covered the sport for about a year or so in the late 80s. The sport immediately fascinated me, but when it stopped being shown I pretty much forgot about it because there was no other way to access Sumo in those far off pre-internet days!

I got over to Japan at the end of July, just after the end of that month’s tournament so my first experience of live day by day Sumo was in the September tournament (they are held in January, March, May, July, September and November) and I was instantly hooked once more. I was able to use that interest to learn some Sumo specific Japanese which enabled some rudimentary conversation to take place. Sadly, for a variety of reasons, lifestyle, time, stresses and lack of aptitude my everyday Japanese stayed at a disappointingly low level. Unfortunately, some of my colleagues considered it was the result of laziness and lack of interest without knowing the full story. Sumo and Japanese baseball were my way in with the students who appreciated me more than many of the adults!

Sumo is fascinating because it is a combination of history, religion, culture and sport. Although it skews towards an older demographic, in a similar way to cricket in the UK, there are always young people who are interested in the sport and adults who rediscover the sport as they get older. Once you start watching it regularly, you can become a fan of particular rikishi (the Japanese term for participants) and root against others. They are not just faceless fighters but real characters on and off the dohyo (the ring). Currently, the Sumo ranks are packed with characters. Ura, is a small, compact rikishi whose fights feature rare winning moves that he has developed to help him compete with opponents who are much bigger and taller. Tamawashi is the Iron Man of Sumo who has just celebrated his 41st birthday and is still fighting at the highest level. Aonishki is a Ukrainian rikishi who has won the past two tournaments with dynamic fighting. He is currently an Ozeki, the second highest rank. At the highest rank are two young Yokozuna, Onosato and Hoshoryu who are both incredibly exciting rikishi who have been so good over the past two years in particular that they have raised the standards of the sport as the rest of the field train and fight harder to ensure that they can compete.

Sumo is an incredible experience live and I was lucky enough to go to the Nagoya Basho (tournament) twice in my time in Japan. When (hopefully) Janet and I go to Japan again, it will be on an odd numbered month and we will be going to at least two days of the tournament. It’s a sport we love and every two months we look forward to seeing our favourite rikishi, and those we don’t like, fight it out!