Heavy Monday

Last Monday, I went to see a sumo fight for the first time at Ryogoku. As many Westerners, I had always been a bit disturbed by the aesthetics of this wrestling sport - naked, huge bodies and inscrutable faces. But it was the perfect opportunity to try to understand more about it, and so I did.

A rikishi (wrestler - in Japanese, "professional of strengh") on the ring... The clash is coming !

First, the place : Ryogoku Kokugikan, in the Eastern area of Tokyo. At the entrance, colourful banners welcome the visitors. Inside, the atmosphere is lively - people drink and eat, shout the name of their favorite rikishi and loudly comment the fights.

The dohyo (figting ring)

The dohyo iri (wrestlers presentation)

Even the cleaning of the dohyo looks like a choregraphy

For your information, us women are not allowed to walk on the dohyo, even when nobody's around. And even nowadays. We are such impure creatures. Jeeeeez.

Sumo champion showing-off

The gyoji (referee)

The rikishi throw salt on the ring before fighting, to purify it.

This world-wide famous gesture is for chasing away the bad spirits

Fists on the ground to accept the fight

The tachi-ai (clash) - trust me, they are surprisingly fast !!

The sumo fight is all about make you opponent walk/touch/fly the area outside the ring. This is why the wrestlers have to be so heavy. Still, there is no weight categories like in boxing, so the two rekishi's weight can be 100 kilos different ! Ouch, my spinal column... They say that 150 kilos may be the best for a wrestler : heavy enough not to fly too much, but offering a minimum of flexibility.

The rikishi have to follow a very strict physical discipline to maintain their body in the right shape - a bit like classical dancers in Europe. They wake up at 5am, train themselves all day long and eat carefully - mostly boiled vegetable and meat (nabe). Being a sumo fighter requires a permanent body and mind controle. 

This rikishi is Bulgarian-born. More and more foreigners (especially Mongols) try to make a career in sumo, so the Japanese Sumo Association had to restrain the number of non-Japanese to one new member per year. Not so bad. Among the Japanese, the number of candidates is decreasing. A rikishi life doesn't make people dream anymore...

What do the sumo rikishi fight for ? To please the gods. For sun, for rain, for harvest and for long life.

Thank you for your heavy prayers, guys !