SUMO WRESTLING

By Riley Johnson

History

Sumo has been played for over 2000 years

Originally performed to entertain their gods

Originated in Japan It is a very religious sport to Japan, and

priests bless the ring before and after every match.

It never really became a sport that people watched until around the 1600’s

The object of the game is not let any body part other than your feet hit the ground.

OR not step out of the 15 feet(diameter) ring called a Doyho

Women are not allowed to step in the Doyho for any reason. Sorry bibs.

You can use any technique except for grabbing the opponent's hair, hitting his opponent with a closed fist, boxing his opponent's ears, or choking his opponent .

The fighters are called rikishi.

Diet

The main meal is Chanko nabe which is a broth that includes seaweeds, different meats, and may also include fish, vegetables, and noodles which makes a high calorie meal.

They eat late in the day. Going to bed with full stomachs their bodies must respond to the huge flood of nutrients with a rush of insulin, forcing their bodies to store some of it in the cells as fat instead of in the muscles and organs as nutrients.

Not all Sumos are fat, but most of the great ones are.

Also, they believe it is better to eat together in a social environment because it can make you eat up to 40% more food than you would have alone.

Akebono Taro

Akebono was born in Hawaii and became the first non-Japanese Sumo wrestler to be yokozuna(grand champion).

He was 6 feet 8 inches and weighed over 500 pounds.

He got to the stage yokozuna in an unbeatable record of only 30 competitions.

He had a total of 566 wins and 198 losses before he retired in 2001 after several injuries that occurred.

Other

Sumo is the quickest competetive sport in the world as it may take less than 10 seconds to finish a match.

The rituals before the match last around 2 hours There aren’t any weight divisions in sumo. Sumo was always performed outdoors until the

first Kokugikan was built in Ryogoku, Tokyo in 1909.

Sumo wrestlers are banned from driving cars for traditional reasons.

The keshou-mawash (ceremonial aprons) are given to wrestlers by their fan clubs.

THE END