Sumo: Throw and Go on PNN

Sumo: Throw and Go

Posted by Mark Weitzman Posted on: 07/28/08

Sumo: Throw and Go

The 15-day Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament ended July 27. Viewers new to sumo might titter at the big buttock cheeks flapping from what you're apt to call "the diaper". The name of that thong is "mawashi", and it is made of heavy silk, about 10 yards long by 2 feet wide, folded in 6, and wrapped around and up and over several times depending on the girth of the wrestler.

The mawashi is on there so tightly, there's no chance of a wardrobe malfunction.

Well, almost no chance. A mawashi did loosen in 2000 during a televised tournament and all was exposed to all. Fortunately, I missed that. But it was nice to be living in Japan and share this sumo moment because the last time a mawashi dropped in Japan was in 1917.

I attended a sumo event only once, here in Tokyo. It was a special one-day mini-tournament ("Jungyo Circus".) With no weight limits in sumo, it could be humongous guy versus simply huge guy. Competitors in sumo might face an opponent twice his own weight. At the tourney I went to, I sat way up in the rafters. When you see the pure power that these guys have, and hear the wham when they slam into each other at the start, it is quite fascinating.

That initial thud sounds more painful heard through surround-sound on these new digital televisions. Everyday, I watched the final hour of the July sumo tourney on TV. Like American football, the view is better at home, watching on TV. And now digital TV allows you to clearly see even the few whiskers that Hakuho sprouted on his chin during the course of the July event.

Watch videos from the July 2008 tournament, with English announcing. Sumo blog with more pictures and details of the July event.

In addition to competing, and eating at the table in their training "stable", sumo guys perform traditional rituals. They toss kids, throw beans instead of each other, and make infants cry.

In the Nakizumo ("Crying Sumo") event in April, sumo wrestlers hold babies, and the baby to cry loudest - as judged by the wrestlers - is the winner. Watch the Nakizumo video.

In early February, Sumo wrestlers wear kimono, and go to temples and shrines to join others and help throw beans for "Setsubun", to drive away evil and bring good fortune for the new lunar year. Watch the Setsubun video.

See the sumo photos from this article in larger sizes. Sumo photo set for PNN visitors.