Japanese Wrestling: Sumo
Without going into undue details as regards the history of wrestling in Japan, it may here be as well to point out that until thirty years ago the sumotori ranked…
From: Unknown To: 1905 C.E.
From “Sumo and Jujutsu” in The Fighting Man of Japan by F. J. Norman
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Few people are so keen about wrestling as the Japanese, who have for centuries past practised two distinct kinds—sumo and jujutsu. As regards the difference existing between the two, it is worth noting that this is something more than a mere difference of style as between two schools of the same art. For while the votaries of siiino rely as much upon their personal strength and weight of body as upon any knowledge they may possess of scientific grips and falls, those of jujitsu aim solely at overthrowing an opponent by highly reasoned-out yieldings of self, or as a Japanese would put it, "by yielding to strength." And then again, while the sumotori are essentially professional wrestlers, recruited mainly from the lower strata of Japanese society, among the devotees of jaintsii muster men of birth and education, and often, too, of high social position and standing.
Without going into undue details as regards the history of wrestling in Japan, it may here be as well to point out that until thirty years ago the sumotori ranked next in social matters to the samurai, the soldier nobility of old Japan, for it was considered that their profession was a semi-military one. Now, however, all this is changed, and, instead of living lives of ease and honour under the protecting aegis of some great feudal lord or high dignitary of State, the sumotori of to-day have to content themselves with dangling after the heels of some one of their country's erstwhile despised shonin, or ''merchants." But fortunately for them and the cause of sumo, the "Wrestlers' Guild" is still well to the fore, and not only helps and succours them in trouble and sickness, hut exercises over them and their calling a beneficent despotism not unlike that exercised by the Jockey Club over horse-racing in England.
In days gone by the sumotori enjoyed many privileges — such as immunity from bridge and ferry tolls, and they could also claim the hire of post-horses at specially low rates. Theatres, booths at fairs, and other places of amusement were policed by them, and without the permission of their guild the managers of such exhibitions dared not open.
The "Wrestlers' Guild" has its headquarters in Tokyo, and the officers in charge of its affairs have always been recruited from the retired list of old wrestlers and umpires. Both sumotori and umpires enter upon their calling when quite young, and in the generality of cases owe their first start in life to the benevolent infiuence of some famous wrestler or umpire. Once fairly started upon their career, however, they then come under the orders of the guild, and without the sanction of that august body no wrestler may compete in any tournament or match, with the result that such a thing as “selling a match" is an unknown thing among the sumotori of Japan.
While the umpires retain their family nomenclature, the wrestlers have professional names bestowed upon them, as, for instance, Taiho, or "Great Gun," Nishi-no-Ume, or "Western Ocean," &c., &c.,— all indicative of great size and strength. For the sumotori, it may here he remarked, are all huge men, almost giants in comparison to the ruck of their fellow-countrymen, and yet despite of their great paunches and the lumps and rolls of fat that encase their bodies, they are not only enormously strong, but active withal.
Curiously enough, the training of the sumotori is in strict opposition to all theories held upon such subjects by English athletes and trainers, for not only do they eat and drink excessively, but also any kind of food or liquor they may fancy. And then, as regards their work outside of the ring, it consists mainly in butting at posts with their shoulders and chests, and in lifting and flinging about and catching weights in the shape of sacks of rice, sand, and the like. They also go through a good deal of posturing with a view to the loosening and suppling of their limbs, and, perhaps, too, as a sort of balancing practice.
A budding aspirant for umpire honours is generally a member of a family that has followed that calling for generations, and commences his study of palaestral matters under the supervision of a thoroughly trustworthy senior. When deemed sufficiently advanced he will be put to umpire practice bouts and the bouts of novices, and he gets his promotion according to vacancies and his own competency.
According to Japanese records, the first great umpire was Shiga Seirin, who umpired the wrestling matches fought out before the Emperor Shonin (724-749 a.d.). The baton of office wielded by an umpire is a fan of the old time military type; similarly antique is his costume. His orders and injunctions to the wrestlers and his address to the spectators, are given in a peculiarly high-pitched tone, very dramatically and very penetratingly. Ranking next to a samurai, and often one, an umpire is allowed to wear a sword, and at all great matches he invariably does so.
According to their skill so the sumotori are divided into classes, weight having nothing to do with the matter, and the classifying of them is altogether in the hands of the guild. Their examinations for class honours are carried out twice a year, in January and May, within the famous temple grounds of Ekoin, in Tokyo, and excites immense enthusiasm among all classes of that great city's population. For days before the contest the streets are made noisier than usual by men beating drums, announcing the day and hour upon which the matches are to commence, and, besides all this, a great drumming is kept up on a specially prepared tower called a Yagura, standing some forty feet high and immediately in front of the wrestling booth. An amphitheatre having been erected, in the centre of it is left a square arena, and in the centre of this again is built up an eighteen feet square structure to a height of from two to four feet above the level of the ground. This is unrailed, though roofed over, the pillars supporting the roof being firmly planted at the four corners, and in the exact centre of all is pitched the wrestling ring, twelve feet in diameter, marked out by a plaited straw rope. The pillars and roof are adorned with draperies, flags, bannerets, &c., and the whole turn-out makes quite a brave show.
When all is ready a toshiyori, or elder from among the retired wrestlers, steps into the arena and declares the meeting opened, and the sumotori, who are divided into two parties, then file into it from opposite sides. One party is invariably called the east and the other the west, and when they have finished filing in they squat down, the members of each party on their own side of the arena. Two of the least skilful of the contestants then step into the ring, one from each side, being ushered in by a junior umpire, who, after introducing them to the spectators by their professional names and status, orders them to commence.
Being low down the grade of wrestlers, they, as also the half-a-dozen or so couples that follow immediately after, dispense with preliminaries, as much, perhaps, because of their ignorance of them as for any more valid reason. Not so, however, their seniors, who, after having been ushered into the ring and introduced to the spectators by an umpire of an equal status to themselves, proceed to go through some of the most fantastic and extraordinary posturings and preliminaries imaginable, winding up by taking a pinch of salt and tossing the same in the air as an oblation to Nomi-no-Sukune, the tutelary deity of the wrestlers of Japan.
A mawashi, or "loin cloth," is all that covers a sumotori's nakedness while actually engaged in a bout. It is generally made of hemp, but sometimes of silk, and may be either white or red in colour. The aprons worn during posturing and preliminaries by the highest ranked sumotori are the Japanese equivalents of a British pugilist's belt, and being richly embroidered in gold and silk sometimes cost as much as 1,000 yen, equal to about £100. Sumotori invariably allow their hair to grow as long as possible, shaving off however, a portion of it in front, and tying it back into a queue fasten it on the top and back of their heads.
When both wrestlers have done with their preliminaries they take up their positions within and on opposite sides of the ring. Squatting on their haunches they watch for an opening, and when one of them sees it he immediately makes a dart at the other, but the chances are, his opponent will not recognise it as a fair start. This may occur over and over again, but once fairly started a Japanese wrestling bout is a very short-lived affair indeed, seldom lasting over a minute, and the reason is that the men are as often as not afraid to grapple for fear of being pushed, butted, or thrown out of the ring before they have well commenced. For, as has been already pointed out, the ring is but twelve feet in diameter, and the least possible throw, step or push outside of it loses a sumotori his bout and perhaps his rank and status also, and this means money to him, for according to their rank and status so the men are paid.
There are forty-eight recognized methods or hands for coping with an antagonist, and the Japanese claim they have remained unchanged for centuries. In addition to these, there are a hundred and sixty-eight possible or subsidiary hands. The orthodox hands are classified into throwing, grappling, twisting and bending, each having twelve hands, but these do not, of course, exhaust a good wrestler's resources, which, within certain bounds, depend upon his quickness of eye and decision. Should a wrestler employ methods dangerous to life and limb he is at once admonished, and should he do so again he is promptly ejected from out the arena and the guild, and this is a punishment that carries with it penalties similar in all respects to the suspension of a jockey by the Jockey Club of England.
In the first rank of the sumotori stand the Ozeki, then the Sekiwaki and Komusubi. Following them come seven gradations or classes of Mayegashira. Should an Ozeki prove himself superior to all his rivals of the same rank he is promoted to Hinoshita Kaizan, carrying with it the privilege of wearing the yohozuka, or "side rope," a belt in the form of a rope. According to Japanese accounts Akashi Shigenosuke was the first to have this honour conferred upon him, in 1624 A.D., and since his time there have been only sixteen kaizan, the latest being Hitachiyama, the present champion of Japan.
Norman, F. J. The Fighting Man of Japan. Archibald Constable & Co., 1905.
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