What is Japanese Sumo / Culture in Short

Hello! Welcome to RoYuMi and if you are here it is because you are wondering what Sumo is (You can watch the video or continue reading below)

Normally this was done only by powerful people, that is, the feudal lords, the most powerful priests, but little by little it was opened to more people. Already in Edo, for example, there were professional Sumo wrestlers who were totally from an amateur field, let’s say so, who started growing little by little and dedicated themselves to this professionally.

And good to talk a little more directly about Sumo, Sumo is fought in a ‘dojo’ (fighting arena) that is circular, this ‘dojo’ is normally made of clay covered with sand and is a sacred place, for the same reason it has to be purified with a ritual and salt has to be thrown into it to drive away evil spirits.

It has very basic rules that are in practice in order to win a fight between two of the fighters, one of them must fall to the ground, that is, touch any part of their body other than the sole of their foot on the ground or get out of the ‘ dojo’. To do this, they have very specific rules about what is allowed and what is not, for example: you cannot pull your opponent’s hair, you cannot give him direct blows such as punches or kicks, although it is possible when pushing yourself to slap or slap even if you do not It must be with the intention of hitting to hurt, you cannot hit low blows or grab low areas obviously, you cannot choke your opponent or make holds to try to choke him, although it is possible that while pushing you will hit the neck of your opponent and this is not punishable, you should not hurt your opponent’s eyes either.

In Sumo there are no categories, levels, or weight limits, that is why they have seen that there are many Sumo fighters who are very corpulent and fat, it is because they want to have more weight so that their opponent has more difficulty in removing it. or push or pull, even the heaviest sumo wrestler ever recorded weighed 600 pounds, wow!

Sumo wrestlers are called ‘Rikishi’, and they all live together in a barracks or stable which is like a kind of guild where all these sumo wrestlers train, live together, sleep together, eat together, of course they have different differences between them. ranks too, these ranks are called ‘bansuke’ and come from the lowest which is practically the novice to the highest which is the ‘yokozuna’

The ‘yokozuna’ is a champion and there is only one in all of Japan. This champion is special because he does not go up or down in rank once he reaches the position of ‘yokozuna’, the only way to change his ‘yokozuna’ is when he retires, normally by tradition the ‘yokozuna’ retires once he starts not perform as well.

In the barracks or guilds where all the sumos live, they have many tasks on a day-to-day basis, depending on your rank, what type of task you should do, what time you can train, etc. You can visit these stables, although the visits are very limited and they are very strict, you must attend with a person who speaks Japanese perfectly and who is aware of the basic rules of Sumo, many times these visits are limited to practically sitting for hours in silence watching sumo wrestlers to train or talk to each other.

But if you want to see a real fight you have the opportunity to do it in these four cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, 6 times a year in these 4 cities the official Sumo tournaments are held. Sure, it is possible to see other Sumo matches in exhibition tournaments that are also held.

Returning a bit to the weight of the ‘rikishi'(sumo wrestlers) they do not gain weight uncontrollably, they follow a very strict diet high in protein in order to gain weight in a healthy way. This diet, once they withdraw, they transform it and manage to lose that weight, reaching their proper weight in a fairly fast time. Traditionally, the vast majority of Sumo fighters were Japanese, although there is no limitation by nationality or race. Currently there are many Sumo wrestlers who come from other countries such as Russia, Mongolia, Hungary, the United States and even one of the most recognized Sumo champions was from Mongolia.

And you can certainly imagine that a professional sumo wrestler makes a lot of money. The average salary for a Sumo professional who already appears in official matches is approximately one million yen per month, which is equivalent to about ten thousand dollars per month, with the champions or those with the highest rank even 3 or 4 times their monthly earnings. , and all this without counting commercials and other types of television appearances.

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