If you decide to travel to Japan, there is an activity that you cannot miss: a sumo evening. Sumo is much more than two big men with a kind of diaper that they want to get out of a kind of tatami. From the ancient Greeks to the Aztecs, wrestling has had a very important role in history. Modern sumo is a continuation of ancient traditions, but it has also evolved to become a wrestling different.
This fight, originally emerged as a ceremony religious to the Shinto gods. Shintoism, the main religion of Japan, continues to play a very important role in sport, and many games and activities are dedicated to the different gods. Sumo was often used to settle disputes in imperial courts, rather than resorting to unpleasant bloodshed and violence.
Today, the championships are organized in the months odd of the year, and can be enjoyed in different areas of Japan. The wrestlers go up in the ranking based on their performance, until they obtain the most important prize, which is the Yokozuna. Once a fighter reaches the Yokozuna classification, he will never lose it, but will have to withdraw once his performance begins to decline.
The rules Sumo is very simple: two men face each other on a kind of 15-foot ring mat. The first to leave the area or touch the I usually with any part of the body other than the feet, it loses.
Sumo Wrestling Guide for Tokyo, Japan (April 2024)
- sumo
- 1,230
