A bovE Okinoumi
entertains fellow
wrestlers outside the
Hakkaku Stable
Top RIGHT Kyokutenhō,
a Mongolian wrestler
who retired in 2015, is
mobbed by media in the
Kokigukan Stadium
boTTom RIGHT Sumo
wrestlers can often be
spotted walking around
Ryogkoku in TokyoThe first professional sumo
tournament took place at the Tomioka
Hachiman Shrine in Tokyo in 1684, and
it is therefore regarded as the birthplace
of sumo as a professional sport. The
shrine was protected and patronised
by the Tokugawa shogunate, and hence
both the shrine – and sumo – was seen
to be endorsed by the shogun. Two
basho, or tournaments, took place here
each year, one in the spring and the
other in the autumn, and the systems
and rules of sumo became increasingly
sophisticated.
The banzuke – the ranking of sumo
wrestlers – dates from this period: the
earliest surviving banzuke list dates
back to 1761. Two weeks before a
tournament, sumo judges assign ranks
to each of the 600 wrestlers, based on
how they performed in the previous
competition. The wrestlers’ shikona
(ring names), home town, and rank
are listed, with those who are ranked
highest appearing at the top of the list,
and in the biggest writing. Even today,
the banzuke is written out by hand in
elegant calligraphy, and takes about a
week to complete. Printed copies, on
smaller sheets, can then be made and
distributed to sponsors and spectators.
When the first foreigners were
allowed to enter Japan in the 19th
century, shows of sumo wrestling were
sometimes presented to entertain them.
The American Commodore James Perry
arrived in Japan in 1853, and described
the wrestlers he saw as “overfed
monsters”. The Japanese were similarly
unimpressed by a boxing demonstration
by American sailors: they decided they
were far too scrawny. The foreigners
bought woodcut prints of sumo wrestlers
and geisha girls as souvenirs, and wrote
about what they saw, contributing
significantly to foreign stereotypes of
the Japanese, many of which are still
held today.As the sport of sumo grew in
popularity and complexity, it demanded
a professional organisation to oversee
it. Each region had its own association
for organising tournaments, and in
1925 the two largest of these – the
Tokyo Association and the Osaka
Association – merged to create the
Japan Sumo Association. There was
a strong tie between the association
and the Japanese military: the first
chairman was a lieutenant general, and
his successor was an admiral in the
imperial navy. It was only after WWII that
this link with the military was severed,
and the association became attached to
the Japanese Ministry of Education.Even today, the banzuke
is written out by hand in
elegant calligraphy46 HERITAGE