
Who is the best sumo wrestler ever?
Musashimaru Kōyō
- Ōrora Satoshi
- Konishiki Yasokichi The Hawaiian-born sumo champion Konishiki Yasokichi is popular in Japan. ...
- Yamamotoyama Ryūta Yamamotoyama Ryūta is a retired Japanese sumo wrestler in Saitama prefecture from Saitama City. ...
- Kenho Mitsuo Born on February 10, 1989, Ōsaki, Kenho Mitsuo is a Japanese Wrestler trained in Tokitsukaze stable. ...
What are sumo rules?
Sumo Wrestling Rules
- Object of Sumo Wrestling. The object of Sumo is simple. ...
- Players & Equipment. The first thing that anyone notices about Sumo is the size of the competitors. ...
- Scoring. No points are scored in Sumo, as Sumo is a simple win/lose format in which there can be no tied bouts.
- Winning the Match. ...
- Rules of Sumo Wrestling. ...
Who are the top sumo wrestlers?
What are the ranks of sumo wrestlers?
- List of the top ten most notable sumo wrestlers who have held world records
- Hakuho Sh is a Japanese proverb. Hakuho Sho began his sumo wrestling career in the year 2001 and has progressed to the level of an excellent professional sumo wrestler from ...
- Taiho Kiki is a fictional character created by author Taiho Kiki. ...
How much sumo wrestlers earn?
Sumo wrestlers get paid anywhere between ¥1.1 to ¥3 million ($9,500 to $24,500) a month if they are ranked. However, top Sumo wrestlers can win as much as ¥10 million ($88,613.50) in a Grand Tournament, on top of the thousand-dollar bonuses they might earn based on their performance in a match. Take note that the process of climbing the ...
See more

How many seats are there in the Tokyo 2020 tournament?
September 2020 tournament in Tokyo was held with the same capacity. November 2020 Tokyo tournament was transferred in Fukuoka and held with 5,000 seats open to the public instead of 11,000. Contents.
Is there a Sumo tournament in Japan?
There are tournaments all over Japan every odd months and Osaka is hosting one of them in March. I jumped on the opportunity to take a Shinkansen 🚅 from Kyoto (with my Japan Rail Pass) to spend an afternoon and enjoy the Sumo wrestles. I booked the tickets in a conbini (convenience store). On the official site, the booking procedure is quite restrictive: you have to register, and I’m not even sure they can send tickets outside Japan.
What is sumo wrestling?
Sumo is a competitive full body contact wrestling match in which a wrestler ( rikishi) tries to push his opponent out of the circular ring (dohyo) or force him to the ground. Sumo wrestling originated in Japan, and it is practiced professionally only in Japan.
What is the origin of Sumo?
The Origin of Sumo. Sumo is associated with rituals of the Shinto religion. In fact, some shrines perform a ritual dance similar to a sumo match, in which a human wrestles a divine spirit. The Shinto ritual was crucial for the imperial courts centuries ago, and every province was required to take part in the contest, known as sumai-no-sechie.
How does Sumo work?
The winner of a sumo match must force his opponent out of the ring or to the ground. A wrestler can also lose the match if he uses an illegal technique, if his belt (mawashi) is undone, or if he fails to show up. Sumo matches have a single round which often last for only a few seconds, but in some rare instances they can last for minutes. Sumo does not have weight divisions, and an elaborate ritual is always performed before a match starts. After the match ends, an off-stage referee determines the winning technique, and then announce the winner to the spectators.
When did Sumo wrestling start?
Professional sumo wrestling began during the Edo era as a unique type of entertainment, and the first professionals were samurai. Modern style tournaments started in 1684 in the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine. Western parts of Japan also held competitions in Osaka.
Where did Sumo wrestling originate?
Sumo wrestling originated in Japan, and it is practiced professionally only in Japan. Sumo has been practiced in Japan for centuries, and most traditions of the game, like using salt purification, are still used.
Does Sumo have weight divisions?
Sumo does not have weight divisions, and an elaborate ritual is always performed before a match starts. After the match ends, an off-stage referee determines the winning technique, and then announce the winner to the spectators. In rare instances, the wrestle that touched the ground first can be declared the winner.
What is sumo wrestling?
"striking one another") is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a rikishi (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring ( dohyō) or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by throwing, shoving or pushing him down). Professional sumo excludes women from competition and ceremonies.
Who organizes Sumo?
Professional sumo is organized by the Japan Sumo Association. The members of the association, called oyakata, are all former wrestlers, and are the only people entitled to train new wrestlers. All professional wrestlers must be a member of a training stable (or heya) run by one of the oyakata, who is the stablemaster for the wrestlers under him. In 2007, 43 training stables hosted 660 wrestlers.
What is the life of a Sumo wrestler?
Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as heya, where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition.
How does Sumo work?
The elementary principle of sumo is that a match is decided by a fighter first either touching the ground outside the circular dohyō (ring) with any part of the body, or touching the ground inside the ring with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet. The wrestlers try to achieve this by pushing, tossing, striking and often by outwitting the opponent. The Japan Sumo Association currently distinguishes 82 kimarite (winning techniques), some of which come from judo. Illegal moves are called kinjite, which include strangulation, hair-pulling, bending fingers, gripping the crotch area, kicking, poking eyes, punching and simultaneously striking both the opponent's ears. The most common basic forms are grabbing the opponent by the mawashi (belt) and then forcing him out, a style called yotsu-zumō (四つ相撲), or pushing the opponent out of the ring without a firm grip, a style called oshi-zumō (押し相撲) .
Why was Sumo banned in Edo?
Because sumo had become a nuisance due to wild fighting on the streets, particularly in Edo, sumo was temporarily banned in the city during the Edo period. In 1684, sumo was permitted to be held for charity events on the property of Shinto shrines, as was common in Kyoto and Osaka. The first sanctioned tournament took place in the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine at this time. An official sumo organization was developed, consisting of professional wrestlers at the disposal of the Edo administration. Many elements date from this period, such as the dohyō-iri, the heya system, the gyōji and the mawashi. The 18th century brought forth several notable wrestlers such as Raiden Tameemon, Onogawa Kisaburō and Tanikaze Kajinosuke, the first historical yokozuna .
How is Sumo ranked?
Professional sumo wrestling has a strict hierarchy based on sporting merit. The wrestlers are ranked according to a system that dates back to the Edo period. They are promoted or demoted according to their performance in six official tournaments held throughout the year, which are called honbasho. A carefully prepared banzuke listing the full hierarchy is published two weeks prior to each sumo tournament.
How long is the top division of Sumo?
The top division is given four minutes for shikiri, while the second division is given three, after which the timekeeping judge signals to the gyōji that time is up. Traditionally, sumo wrestlers are renowned for their great girth and body mass, which is often a winning factor in sumo.
How many times is a sumo tournament held?
Grand sumo tournaments are held six times a year. Three times in Tokyo (January, May and September) and once each in Osaka (March), Nagoya (July) and Fukuoka (November). Each tournament lasts 15 days.
What is the name of the Sumo?
During tournaments, and in public life in general, rikishi are referred to by their sumo name.
What is the sumo ending?
Some choose a name that has some reference or derivation from their place of birth or the name of their sumo master. Common sumo name endings include – yama (mountain), – gawa (river) and – umi (sea).
How many rikishi are there in the pro league?
The top division, the pro-league, if you will, is called the maku-uchi and is fixed at 42 rikishi. Within the maku-uchi division, there are five ranks. From lowest to highest, they are maegashira, komusubi, sekiwake, ōzeki and yokozuna. Most people come to see the ō zeki and yokozuna; you should try to remember those names. You'll likely feel (and hear) the excitement escalate when rikishi of those ranks enter the ring.
What is the official ranking of Sumo?
The official ranking list is known as banzuke. It is issued by the Nihon Sumo Kyokai (Japan Sumo Association) and printed in ancient, stylized calligraphy.
What is the roof of Dohyo?
Suspended above the dohyo with cables is a roof resembling a Shinto shrine. Each corner has tassels to mark the four seasons of the year.
When does the Grand Sumo tournament start?
Grand sumo tournaments go from morning to early evening each day of the tournament. The lower ranks are the first to appear, leading up to the top maku-uchi division at the end of the day. The top division usually starts around 3.30pm and ends at around 6pm.
Why do people use Sumo?
Later it was used as a way to compare strength and determine those fighters most adept in hand-to-hand combat.
Who is the biggest sumo wrestler in history?
Heaviest sumo wrestler in history? Orora Satoshi a Russian wrestler from the Republic of Buryatia (a region above Mongolia), who weighed 271 kilograms.
How many rikishi are there in Sumo?
There are around 650 rikishi in the six divisions of sumo: The maku-uchi (the 42 best rikishi) naturally receive the most media attention. At the top of this pile sits the yokozuna, the grand champion. This position is typically achieved by winning two honbasho (major tournaments that determine rankings) in a row.
What do Sumo wrestlers eat?
What do they eat? It’s hard to write about sumo without mentioning the staple food of their diet, chanko-nabe: a protein-rich Japanese stew consisting of fish, meat and vegetables in a chicken broth designed specifically to help the rikishi gain weight. You don’t have to be a sumo wrestler to eat chanko-nabe —there are restaurants that specialise in this type of stew.
What is the purpose of the dohy o in Sumo?
The day before each major tournament the dohy o—the 4.55 metre diameter clay platform housing the ring in which the bout takes place—is “cleansed” to pray for the safety of the rikishi. This involves placing salt, cleansed rice, dried chestnut, dried kelp, dried cuttlefish, and nutmeg berry in a small hole made in the middle of the ring as offerings to the gods.
Is sumo a sport?
At first glance sumo is nothing if not bizarre: overweight men dressed in an enormous thong pushing each other inside a small ring where the pre-ceremony is usually longer than the actual fight. However, delve a little deeper and you will find a unique and technical sport with a rich history and wrestlers whose rigorous training regime and dedication cannot fail to impress.
What is amateur sumo?
Amateur sumo, consisting of bouts between non-professionals, ex-professionals, or people otherwise ineligible to compete professionally such as women and minors. Includes individual and team competition at the international level.
How many groups are there in Sumo?
There are five groups: Dewanoumi, Nishonoseki, Takasago, Tokitsukaze, and Isegahama. These groups tend to cooperate closely on inter-stable training and the occasional transfer of personnel. All ichimon have at least one representative on the Sumo Association board of directors.
What is the ring in which Sumo wrestlers hold their matches?
The ring in which the sumo wrestlers hold their matches, made of a specific clay and spread with sand. A new dohyō is built prior to each tournament.
How many times has Sumo Poise been performed?
It has been performed only 24 times since the Meiji era, most recently with Harumafuji and Kakuryū in 2016 and with Hakuhō and Kisenosato in 2017.
What is the Japanese name for the oil used in sumo wrestlers' hair?
binzuke (鬢付け) Also called binzuke abura ( binzuke oil). A Japanese pomade, which consists mainly of wax and hardened chamomile oil that is used to style sumo wrestlers' hair and give it its distinctive smell and sheen. It is used exclusively by tokoyama hairdressers.
How many wrestlers are in the top division of Sumo?
Inside the curtain. The top division in sumo. It is named for the curtained-off waiting area once reserved for professional wrestlers during basho, and comprises 42 wrestlers.
When is the Sumo ranking released?
It is written out in a particular calligraphy (see sumō-ji) and usually released on the Monday 13 days prior to the first day of the tournament.
