Sumo. It is a sport where two opposing fighters or rikishi face each other in a circular area. The sport is of Japanese origin and maintains much of the ancient tradition.
The Japanese consider sumo a "gendai budō", a modern Japanese martial art. Due to its origin, it maintains much of the ancient Shinto tradition. Despite the large number of Shinto rituals before and after the fight.
Sumo has a history of over a thousand years. It has a certain similarity to boxing and wrestling, and a sport similar to sumo is practiced in Russia and in North and South Korea. Additionally, you can find references to the sport in historical records from India and China, as well as see sumo frescoes on ancient Greek murals.
Ancient history also tells us that the winner in sumo sports competitions received the highest award during the festival of the Olympic Games. Therefore, it can be said that sumo was practiced all over the world in ancient times, regardless of the differences between East and West.
The first reference to sumo in Japanese history is its use in mythological times in a duel. The history of sumo really begins in the 8th century when it was practiced for the emperor at banquets. Since then, sumo became one of the regular functions organized for court banquets each year and this tradition continued for more than 400 years. These fights were not carried out in a dohyo but in a square in front of the Shishin-den (imperial throne room). With the development of feudalism after the 10th century and the dominance of the warrior class, sumo began to be widely practiced as a fighting technique between warriors (1192-1580).
The rules of the sport are simple: the first fighter to touch the ground with any part of his body, except his feet, is eliminated. A wrestler who uses an illegal or kinjite technique is eliminated. If a wrestler loses the mawashi (the only clothing worn during a sumo game), it is eliminated. Athletes who practice sumo are renowned for their large size, as body mass is a deciding factor in sumo.
It is characterized by the sumo rings are known as dohyō. The dohyō is made of clay with sand scattered on its surface. It measures between 34 and 60 cm in height. The circle is approximately 4.55 m in diameter and is bounded by a large rope of rice called a tawara, which is buried in the clay.
