Sumo tournaments

Whenever You think about Japan, one of the first items that comes to mind is certainly sumo wrestling (相撲). Japan’s national recreation has been in existence for a lot of centuries; it originally started as a performance meant to entertain Shinto gods. Some ancient rituals continue to be contained in modern sumo, for instance the leg-stomping workout to push away evil spirits, and tossing of sodium to the band to cleanse it.

Pro sumo wrestlers – known as rikishi (力士 – lit. “strong man”) in Japanese – stay a strictly regimented life where they live in a heya (部屋), a training quarters in which every thing they do is within accordance with custom. From their particular hairstyle, with their diet, with their garments, absolutely every detail of day to day life is planned out for all of them, with strict charges for breaking guidelines. Regarding their particular diet, wrestlers usually skip breakfast and eat a huge lunch of chakonabe (ちゃんこ鍋), a stew packed packed with protein particularly chicken or fish, tofu, and vegetables. This odd diet is used to help wrestlers to bring in the pounds – there are no weight courses in sumo, and so the bigger the better. Every wrestler must fit in with a heya, and are anticipated to stay with the exact same one in their whole profession. Much of their day to day life is determined by their particular position, with senior sekitori (関取) taking pleasure in a far more comfortable life than their particular junior counterparts, who're frequently forced to perform some worst chores and work as individual servants to a designated sekitori.

Action inside lifetime of a sumo wrestler within Nat. Geo. video.

While climbing the sumo ladder means an even more comfortable life, in addition means a much more substantial wage. Lowly wrestlers get a meager allowance, therefore the champ earns about , 000 each month. Incentives are also dolled out predicated on overall performance in significant tournaments. In sumo, the champ is called yokozuna (横綱), which virtually means “horizontal rope”; simply because of the distinct line that's worn around their waistline. To become a yokozuna, a wrestler must win two major tournaments consecutively. Attaining the name is an unusual task undoubtedly – only 70 wrestlers have ever reached this degree within the lengthy reputation for sumo.