Thinking Allowed: Sumo

Sumo wrestling has always been a sport that captivates the worlds attention due to its poetic questioning of how an athlete should appear. It strikes me as particularly interesting choice of national sport for Japan (well technically I think baseball is now their national sport) coming from a society that so strongly shuns obesity. We have looked around intentionally and did not see obesity. The Japanese population is as lean as its diet. Food is savoury but simple and portions are small. Overeating or eating outside of meal times is not encouraged. And yet, they have a sport where the expectation is that the athletes become as large as they possibly can and then proudly show off their larger figures. It almost seems as if part of the appeal is just to witness what it looks like to be large, to be able to overpower with mass, to break the barrier of social norms and be superhuman. What a high expectation of athletes as well - to be so large you can barely bend and yet remain athletic, flexible, and agile.

We were lucky to be in Osaka at the right time and to get tickets to see firsthand what sumo wrestling is like. Aurora presented on the rules and etiquette of the sport so that we could all be up to date on what was going on. I took Sophia and Zadie to the first half of the day which is the novice level. The arena was empty and quiet. The first match was about ten seconds long and Zadie looked at me in shock (“ that was it?”). We had watched a video on how they make the dohyo platform (by hand over weeks) so Zadie seemed to be more impressed by the dohyo and her book. Sophia, on the other hand, sat mesmerised the entire time and had lots of questions. There was so much ceremony surrounding each match - chanting, bowing, staring - that the actual wrestling was a small portion of the time. We witnessed an athlete get badly injured when his opponent landed on top of him in an awkward way. It felt odd to sit and watch him moan in pain. The medical staff came out to help but it seemed the help offered was encouragement to handle his pain on his own enough to get back into the arena and bow to his opponent and to walk out with dignity. In the novice group there was a definite trend of the smaller wrestler outmoving and beating the larger opponent.

Tova and Aurora came to the second half of intermediate and advanced wrestlers. Tova was incredibly worried about having to sit still for three hours and was lucky to have Aurora along to read to her during the more ceremonial parts. For the second half of the tournament the arena was completely full and pulsed with that competitive sport fan vibe. The better athletes spent a lot more time on ceremony, often taking their full allotted four minutes of visual intimidation through staring, stomping, belt slapping, salt throwing, and face washing. The athletes didn’t fall over nearly as much as the novice group and their better skill was obvious. It was incredible to see how fit and powerful even the hugest of wrestlers could be. There was a lot more pinching and slapping of opponents than I expected. I am not much of a sports watcher but it really was an interesting experience and Tova was very glad she came. It was nice to watch a sport that had so much ritual, spirituality, and values intertwined in its mission.