Japan Watch-Japanese Sumo Wrestling (1)

Japanese Sumo Wrestling

As a national symbol , Japanese sumo wrestling (相撲) is a competitive full-contact sport originating in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally nowadays. According to sumo rules, the wrestler who attempts to force his adversary out of a circular ring called dohyo (土俵) or to touch the ground with any body part but the soles of the feet will be the winner. Rather than a modern Japanese martial art, sumo has boasted a history of some 1500 years. Still, many ancient traditions have been preserved in Sumo, and even today the sport includes many traditional rituals, such as the use of salt purification, from the days when sumo was used in Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi, or sumo wrestler, is highly regulated with strict rules devised by the Japanese Sumo Association (http://www.sumo.or.jp/). Most sumo wrestlers are supposed to live in communal sumo training stables known in Japanese as heya (部屋) and every details of their daily lives, from meals to their dressing manner, are dictated by strict traditional rules.

ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT
Japanese legend had it that the Japanese as a race was formed after the God, Take Mikazucih(タケミカヅチ), had defeated the leader of a rival tribe in a sumo bout. It is hard to tell whether the legend is true or not, but one thing is certain that Japanese sumo does have a religious origin. The first sumo matches, along with some sacred dancing and dramas, were part of a ritual practiced within the precincts of shrines dedicated to the gods with prayer for a bountiful harvest. 

Sumo Legend

Sumo's religious origin

In the Nara Period (奈良時代), sumo came into the ceremonies of imperial court. A wrestling festival was held annually including music and dancing in which wrestling winners would take part. Without strict rules, early sumo was just a rough-and-tumble game in an unlimited area, which allowed such actions as boxing and wrestling. Later, owing to the imperial influence, rules and techniques similar to those of today's sumo began to form.

In 1192, a military dictatorship was established by Minamoto no Yoritomo(源頼朝),the founder and the first Shogun(将軍) of Kamakura Shogunate, in Kamakura (鎌倉). Afterwards, a long-lasting war broke out. Therefore, sumo was employed as a means to train samurai, or Japanese warriors. Peace was finally restored when different warring factions were united under the Tokugawa shogunate (徳川幕府) in 1603. A period of prosperity ensued, and the mercantile class rose as an influential power. Varied sumo groups emerged, serving to entertain the rapidly expanding plebian class. Sumo came into its own as a national sport. The present Japan Sumo Association can be traced back to these sumo groups emerging  initially in Edo period.

                            

                                  Minamoto no Yoritomo

Tokugawa Ieyasu