Sumo: An Introduction and Guide

The powers that be at VMTV have kindly allowed me to cover the amazing Japanese sport of Sumo wrestling going forward. Before the next tournament gets going this November 14th, it seemed like a good idea to introduce Japan’s ancient sport to those who don’t know the score. Here you will find a basic guide and all the need-to-know information before diving in to one of the best combat sports on the planet.

The History

Sumo is an ancient sport that has been practiced for thousands of years. Japan is the only country in which it is practiced professionally but there are amateur clubs all over the world and world championships won by people from a variety of nations. Sumo started as a ritual dance performed to try and guarantee a good harvest, but it also exists in manuscripts from as early as 712AD which tell stories of the Gods. Legend says two gods had a Sumo bout to decide who would possess the Japanese islands they wanted.

A document from 720AD called the Nihon Shoki tells us about the first match between humans, which apparently took place in 23BC. This of course must be taken with a pinch of salt, having been written so far after the fact, but what is true is that this sport has at least 1400 years of history, as we know a tournament took place in 642AD in the royal court. Until the Middle Ages, Sumo was often fought to the death.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), Sumo began to become more regulated and official sanctioned tournaments started. It was in this era that the first official Yokozuna (the highest rank of Sumo) appeared. Following the influence of the West after 1868, Sumo’s popularity fell. The Emperor Meiji held a tournament in 1884 which increased the popularity of the sport once more. The Japan Sumo Association increased the number of tournaments first from two to four, and then to six a year from 1958. Sumo has remained largely the same in format since that date.

The GOAT

Since I started with the history of the sport, it seemed appropriate to mention the Greatest of All-Time at this point. Like all sports, there is debate over who is the greatest to have done it. There are several candidates, but for me it is a no-brainer. The GOAT is Hakuho, a Mongolian wrestler who became Yokozuna in 2007 and remained so until just this year, when he retired after winning his final tournament.

He has won 45 tournaments, the most ever and is the holder of a host of records including the most undefeated tournaments (16), the most career wins (1187) and most tournaments ranked as Yokozuna (84). Other candidates for the title of GOAT include Taiho (32 tournament wins) who was the only wrestler to win a championship in the top division in every year of his career and Chiyonofuji (31 tournament wins) who wowed the crowed with his incredible technique and strength.

The Season

As mentioned earlier, since 1958 there have been six tournaments held each year. They take place in odd months in the year, so January, March, May, July, September and November. Three tournaments take place in Tokyo. The Hatsu Basho (opening tournament) in January, The Natsu Basho (summer tournament) in May and the Aki Basho (autumn tournament) in September. The Haru Basho (spring tournament) happens in Osaka in March. The other two are named after the locations they take place in, the Nagoya Basho in July and the Kyushu Basho in November, which is held in Fukuoka, the mayor city on the island of Kyushu.

The Athletes

Many scoff or laugh at the size of sumo wrestlers, but these guys are conditioned machines. They undergo insane training regimes at live-in training complexes from young age. Training will normally begin at 5am, with leg exercises designed to strengthen and also increase balance. Training continues through the day with exercises designed to increase agility and flexibility. The wrestlers can only eat twice a day to keep metabolism down, and they eat a meal rich in protein and nutrients but also high calorie. They can eat upwards of 10,000 calories a day to increase body mass and make themselves hard to move. The food is called Chanko and is a type of stew made with vegetables, chicken or pork, or sometimes all three. There is a strict disciplinary code inside the sumo stable, the elders are fed first, followed by the high ranks, and only when they have finished are the low ranking sumo allowed to eat. They are men of extreme discipline, strength, technique and surprising agility.

The Foreigners

There aren’t a lot of foreign wrestlers in Sumo. For now, only one foreign wrestler is allowed at each training stable and they must join before they are 23. That’s not to say foreigners are not successful in Sumo. The GOAT is Mongolian, the 1990s was a successful time for American Sumo wrestlers and there was even a wrestler from the UK. Right now in the ranks there are wrestlers from Mongolia (the most common after Japanese wrestlers), Bulgaria, Georgia and Brazil in the top division.

The Rules

If you step out of the roped-off ring or any part of your body that isn’t the sole of your foot touches the floor, you lose. You can force your opponent out, they can slip over, you can throw them to the ground. Each of these would result in you winning. The referee decides the winner, but there are also judges ringside. If the judges disagree with the referees decision, they have a chat about it and watch a video replay to decide who actually won the bout. If a winner can’t be determined, usually when the two wrestlers touch the floor at the same time, then they replay the bout.

At the top ranks, wrestlers have 15 bouts, one each day. The winner of the tournament is the one who has the most victories at the end of the tournament. Wrestlers tend to be matched against others around their own rank. If two wrestlers are tied for victories at the end of the tournament then there is a playoff bout to decide the winner.

The Techniques

There are many winning techniques allowed in Sumo. To start off with, I’ll explain what is not allowed. There can be no punches, although flat-palm strikes are allowed. Hair-pulling is not allowed, nor are kicks (leg sweeps are okay), scratches, gouges or grabbing the crotch area. If you commit any of these fouls you are automatically disqualified and your opponent is awarded the victory.

The most common winning technique is called Yori-kiri (frontal force-out), where you force your opponent out of the ring by holding his belt and pushing with your bodyweight. After that there is Oshi-dashi (the push-out), Uwate-nage (outside belt throw) Osoto-gake (outside leg trip) and Nodowa (the throat thrust). Watching Sumo, you might see cushions fly into the air as the crowd get excited. This is because a low ranking wrestler (Maegashira rank) has defeated a Yokozuna and earned a kinboshi (gold star). This is a big deal and the crowd get pumped at the sight!

The Controversies

Sumo might be long, storied and traditional, but it’s not without its controversies. The most dangerous to the sport happened in 2011, when police unveiled a match-fixing scandal. 14 wrestlers and stablemasters were involved and some admitted to the police they had fixed matches for money. For the first time since 1946, a tournament was cancelled in the wake of the scandal. The 14 were forced to retire from the sport after being found guilty. The May tournament did go ahead, but without TV coverage, without sponsors and without a trophy presentation. It was won by Hakuho, of course.

In 2010, a scandal involving the Yakuza rocked Sumo. The Japan Sumo Association banned a high-ranking sumo and his coach for betting on sports in an illegal Yakuza betting ring. A further 18 wrestlers were banned from the July 2010 tournament. The chairman of the association announced that Yakuza members were being banned from tournaments. In response, the largest Yakuza group in Japan purchased 50 prominent seats during a tournament so their members would appear on the live TV broadcast.

In a way similar to that you might have heard of in American universities, young Sumo wrestlers can often be subject to hazing when they join a stable. This went to an horrific extreme in 2007 when a 17-year-old Sumo wrestler called Takashi Saito died from injuries suffered in a hazing ritual involving the stablemaster. The stable master hit him on the head with a beer bottle, after which other wrestlers physically abused him further. The stablemaster was sentenced to six years in jail and the Sumo Association forced changes within the stables.

Following these scandals, interest in sumo fell to a very low ebb and with it so did ticket sales. Thankfully, the Japan Sumo Association did a lot of work to improve the reputation of Sumo at this time and interest slowly returned, although to this day it still hasn’t returned to former levels.

The Banzuke

Two weeks before each tournament begins, the Banzuke is released. This is a list of all wrestlers in ranking order. Ranks are decided based on the record in the previous tournament. If you had a winning record in the last tournament you can expect to move up the rankings, and if you had a losing record, you can expect to fall in the ranks. There are 5 named ranks in the top division. These are split into East and West. The top of the list is the Yokozuna, and there are usually two of them (since Hakuho’s retirement, we currently have one). Following that, there are the Ozeki, of which there must be a minimum of two, one for East and one for West. East is ranked higher than West, so the top ranked East Ozeki is higher ranked than the West. After Ozeki comes Sekiwake and then Komosubi. These four ranks make up the San’yaku ranks. The rest of the wrestlers in the top division are in a ranking called Maegashira and are numbered from 1 to 15-17 East and West, depending on the number of wrestlers.

Currently, there is one Yokozuna, two each of Ozeki, Sekiwake and Komosubi, and 1-17 in both East and West Maegashira.

The glossary

Here are some words which will often come up in future articles and broadcasts of Sumo and will be useful to know;

Gyoji – The referee in the ring

Rikishi – The Japanese word for the wrestlers

Dohyo – The ring

Kachi-koshi – A winning record

Make-koshi – A losing record

Mawashi – A wrestler’s belt

Heya – The Sumo stable

Honbasho – A Sumo tournament

Kimarite – A winning technique

Mono-ii – The discussion between judges about the close decision

The Next Tournament

The next tournament is the last one of the year, the Kyushu tournament in November. It is the first tournament since Hakuho retired and left a small power vacuum. The favourite for the tournament will be Terunofuji, who won the last tournament (Hakuho was absent through Covid) and was recently promoted to Yokozuna. Look out for Takakeisho, Shodai and Daieisho who are all capable of winning a championship on their day. In addition, the exciting styles of Wakatakakage, Tobizaru and Ura make them must-watch wrestlers. For outside shots at the title, look out for Myogiryu and Endo who have been making great improvements to their game. This tournament also sees the return of Abi to the top division, after being previously suspended for breaking Covid rules in Japan and working his way back up through the ranks. The retirement of Hakuho has removed the most dominant force in Sumo history, and hopefully the future will see some new tournament winners. That said, Terunofuji is the definite favourite to add to his tally of championships.

Stick with Violent Money to find out what happens in the November tournament. It runs from Sunday November 14th until Sunday November 28th. I will be bringing you the biggest stories and the daily results from all 15 days, so you can follow the tournament even if you can’t watch it. I look forward to bringing news to existing fans of Sumo and hopefully helping create new fans of this ancient sport.