Sumo (Tut Books)

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SUMO. Japan's spectacularnational sport, continues to maintain ia popularity despite the inroads made in recent years by baseball. Millions continue to be enthralled by the flfteen-day championship matches now held six times a year in Japan's major cities' The tournament halls are filled to capacity every day ald nationwide televisingnow enablesanyone to see Sumo. adding further stimulus to the popularity of the sport. Mr. Sargeant,sportseditor for the EnglishJanguage .lsohi Evening -llews, realised that there were many foreigners who would enjoy Sumo more if they knew more of the essential facts about it. Utilizing his knowledge and fust-hand information on the sport' he produced this book to meet this need. Written in the humorous, easy-to-read fashion with which the many readersof his sports column will be pleas' antly familiar, Mr. Sargeant has also given us a picture of the excitement of the sport, as well as ls6hnical aspects that are apt to escapethe uninitiated eye. The professional Sumo wrestler is very much in the public eye, his activities, both in and out of the ring, being followed with eager interest by millions of fans via press,radio, and television. Here we are taken into the wrestler's life behind the scenesat a tournament, at the gruelling training sessionsin the various gymnasiums, and, in delightfully informal accounts, in moments of recreation and relaxation at home. Not neglectedare the rich pageantry and histori.:.

(continuedon insideback cover) Couer designbY M. Kuwata

The title and author's name are presented on the rcver in Japan€se characters.

SUMO

t\

SUN,[O the sport dnd the traditiort

w l. A. SARGEANT

CHARLES E. TUTTLE COMPANY Tolcyo,JaPan Fnttlanil, Vermont

Reprercntatiues For ContfuettalExrope: Boxrnroors, fNc., Zaricb For tbe British Ishr PnrNrrcr-Her-r, INrnnNATroNAL,INc., London For Australasia: Boor ril7rsr(Ausrner-re)Prr. Lro. 104-108SassexStreet,S-1dne1 2000

Table of Contents P*lified fu tbe CharletE. Tuttle Companl,lrc. of Ratland, Vermont dt Tok1o,lapan ntith editorial ofrcesat Sildo l-chone, 2-6, Bunkyo-ka,Toklo @ 1959 b1 tbe Cltarlet E. Tutth Companl, Inc. arder the BerneConaention All rightr reserued and tlte UniuersalCop.ltrightConention

1

In Days Gone By

2

Born Sumoists

3

The Road to Stardom

4 5

Grand Tournaments

6 7

" PsychologicalWarfare " The Techniquesof Sumo

I

Grand Champions

9

Pageantry

Sumo Ranking

Library of Congress CatalogCard No. 59-599t

10

The Referee

11

InternationalStandardBook No. 0-8048-1084-2

L2

The Honorable ]udges So Clean and Gentlcmanly

13

Sumo Nomenclatue

14

" Off Duty "

15

Thc Charm of Sumo

First printing, 1959 Eigltnentb printing, 1985

Printed in Japan

7 t2 t6 23 26 32 36 47 56 65 69 72 76 84 88

CHAPTER 1 ILLASTRATIONS

t 2 3-4

Tokitsukazc, prcsident of the fapan Sumo Association Preliminary to a bout Sumo in action

f

Chiyo-no-yamaperforming the dohyo-iri

6

Tochinishiki performing the dohyo-iri

7-lo 11 L2 L3-t4 15-16 17-20 2L

Sumo in action Sumo throws A former grand champion in action Former grand champions performng dohyo-iri Grand Champion Waka-no-hanaand friends Sumo in action Bow-twirling ceremony

L7 18 t9 20 37 38-40 42-43 )/ 58-60 77 78-79 80

ffiffi

In Days Gone BY

Thc West has its "sport of kings'" fapan, in Sumq has her "sport of emperors." Tokyo's famous mecca of Sumq the Kuramae Kokugi Hall, has a conspicuousroyal box. When Emperor Hirohito takes his seat therc, gazing in loving admiration on the colorful spectaclethat unfolds bcfore him, hc is but following age-old tradition' With a difierence, however. Nowadays the empcror goes to Sumo; in the old days Sumo went to him. Even in ancient times the imperial court, thc story goes,resounded with the stamping of the feet of {16 $rrmo giants, and down the years the empcrors as well as the great warriorlords who rulcd ]apan during the Middlc Ages havc been ardent devoteesof this manly sport. The first recorded and perhapsmost famous bout of xll time was one that astonishedand delighted the eyesof thc Emperor Suiiin a few yearsbefore the opening of thc Christian era. Nomi-nesukune with his seven-foot-ten-inchframe, was a formidable opponcnq but his rival, Taema-ne.kehaya,altet a Homeric struggle that seemed interminable and thrilled the hearts of the empcror and his court,

8

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

fnally dealt him such a hefty and well-placed kick that he felled him e1 the spot. This was quite in keeping with what went on in those blood-thirsty days but, needlessto say, in this more refined Atomic age, violence of that sort is completely taboo. With its imperial beginnings, Sumo certainly started out on the right side of tle tracks, but, curiously enough, the very first grand tournament, or basho,was held in a temple compound, and temple and shrine grounds continued to be one of the favorite sitesfor bouts through the cenruries. These religious and imperial ties probably account to a large extent for Sumo's being adorned with so much pageantryeventoday. ProfessionalSumo is said to have originated in the sixteenth century under the overlordshipof the famous Oda Nobunaga; but its colorful history of men of valor, real and legendary, dates back further. We are told that about elevenhundred years ago there was a muscle-mannamed Hajikami living in Omi, the present Shiga Prefecture, who was so strong that the ordinary run-of-themill wrestler could not handle him. He alwayswon hands down and took all the fun out of the sport, so one resourcefulrefereeat a contestin Osaka'sSumiyoshiShrine obtaineda coil of thick rope, or shimenaata,and tied it around Hajikami's middle. To even things up, it was announcedthat any man who could succeedin touching the rope would be declared the winner. This, of course, added some spice to the proceedings,but even at that Hajikami remainedundefeated. It is thanks to him that great white hawsers still adorn the midrifrs of the grand champions,or yoftozuna, even today (seePlates5, 6, 12 & 13). Ironically enough,however,Hajikami was not proclaimed first grand champion. That honor was rcserved for another Sumo grcat, Akashi Shiga-no-suke,a figure

u

In Days Gone By

9

shrouded in mystery of whom there is actually no precise record availablc. It seemsthat in the early part of the seventeenthcentury a great tournament was held at the imperial court in Kyoto. Akashi, the son of a samurai, defcated Nio Nidaya, of Nagasaki, to win the tourncy and becomc the first official yoftozt4na in the history of Sumo. He rcputedly stood ovcr eight feet tall and weighed over four hundred pounds, but tle figures arc not oficial, and he has no doubt grown in stature with every passing generation. Not long after copping the title, he came up to Edo, as Tokyo was then called, and appearedat the Sasa-dera, a temple in Yotsuya,on the occasionof the first grand tournamentever held in the presentcapital of fapan. We are on much firmer ground when we come to Tanikaze Kajino-suke,the fourth grand champion and possiblythe greatestof them all. Thc son of a poor farmer of the Tohoku region in the north, he was born in 1749 and hailed from the neighborhood of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture. During a period of eight years in the ring he piled up the amazing record of 183 wins, 12 losses,and 25 tiesn in a total of 220 bouts. That gives him an average of 938. His achievementof going through sixty-six bouts without a defeat has beenbettercdonly by Futabayama'ssixry-nine. In contrastto some of his legendary predecessors, Tanikaze was a merc six feet two inches in height, and his 3,14pounds put him in about rhe same classas the modern pot-bellied Kagamisato He finally succumkd, not to an opponent in the ring but to an attack of influenza and died n 17% at the age of fony-six. A fapanesesaying has it that "There neverwas the equal of Tanikaze,beforeor since." His name means "wind of the valley." The next star in the ranks of the great was Raiden Tame-emon,

IO

Sport and Tradition

who wrestled at the end of the a 370-poundsix-foot-three-incher of the nineteenth century. His beginning the and eighteenth tournaments,seven less than twenty-five greatestfeat was to win no of them in succession.Raiden holds the dubious distinction of yearslhe was remaining in the champion,or ozefti,slot for seventeen never elevatedto the rank of grand champion becausehe roughed it up too much. The only man who could get away with that sort of stufi was the before-mentionedNomi-no-sukune. Coming to comparativelymodern times,the two great wrestlersof the Meiji era were without a doubt Totaro Ume-ga-taniII (18781927)andHitachiyamaTaniemon (187+1922).Ume-ga-tanichalked up a wonderful winning averageof -920,but in fifteen tilts with his arch-rival Hitachiyama,his amazing techniqueseemedto be of no avail, and he managedto come out on top but thrice. Hitachiyama walked away wittr seven matches,and the rest were ties. Bouts betweenthese two are said to have been really terrific, the greatestin modern Sumo. Ume-ga-tani,with his five feet six inches, tipped the scalesat 335 pounds. Hitachiyama towered two inches abovehim, but was inferior in weight, being a measly320 pounds' Hitachiyama, the nineteenth yoftozuna, was an all-time great' After attaining maftu-uchi (inside-the-curtain)rank he lost only eight times in eighteen tournaments,spread over nine years' He was truly a srupendouspersonageof the period. He might indeed be callpd the prototype of the modern Sumo man, being the first fapanesewrestler ever to go abroad. In 1907he visited the United States where he was presented to "Teddy" Roosevelt; he was accompaniedby the present Dewa-no-umi,until recently head of the fapan Sumo Association. Visitors to the Sumo Museum at the Kuramae Kokugi Hall may seethe top hat and walking stick that

In Days Gone By

11

Hitachiyama sported when he went to the States. Naturally, he took with him an apron, such as all Sumo wrestlerswear at the dohyo-iri, their daily ceremonialentry into the arena. But none has ever been gracedwith one like Hitachiyama's. It was studded with diamonds and was worth millions. In throwing a few bouquets, one might consider Tanikaze, Hitachiyama, and Futabayama(Plate 1), of whom more anon' to be Sumo'sgreat trio; but men like Terukuni, who in 1944at the age of twenty-four becamethe youngestgrand champion on record, should not be forgotten. The oppositesort of record was set up by the twelfth yoftozuna, |immaku, in the mid nineteenth century' He was actually thirty-nine yearsof age when he attained the rank of grand champion,and he carried on long after that. Thesedays, with six big tourneysa year,that kind of stayingpower is out of thc question. It's like baseball. With all those night games there'Il be no more like Ty Cobb or Eddie Collins, who carried on for ovet twenty seasons.

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CHAPTER 2

Born Sumoists

L3

sequently,the boystake up the cheapestsport they can find. Sumo, of course,fills the bill perfectly. All that is required is a simple ring and a loin+loth, and the latter, it is unnecessaryto add, need not be studdedwith diamonds. |ust somethingto sparethe sensitivities

Born Sumoists It is a hotly debatablequestion whether or not baseballhas supplanted Sumo as the national sport of fapan. Undoubtedlyin suchgreat centersof populationas Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya,one seesmore youthswith bat, ball, and glove than one seespracticingthe land'sancientand traditional sport. In many parts of the country, nonetheless(particularly true in the case of the farming villagesof the north and the fishing villages), the reverse is to be found. The rustic Sumo ring often takes the place of the urban baseballdiamond. There are quite a number of reasonsfor Sumo'spopularity with the country boys, one being, of course,that the rural areashave enjoyed much less frequent contact with Western influences. In many districts feudalism is still rife, apparentif one but scratches the surface,and the great Japaneseprofessionalbaseballsquadsin their provincial tours never touch theseremote areas, Another reasonis economic. The farmers in the north eke out a bare living, the land is poor, crop failures are not uncommon. They have little money to spend on their sons' pastimes. Con-

of the country maidens. Incidentally, it is no mere coincidencethat so many of fapan's grand championshail from Hokkaido or the northeasterndistricts, areasthroughout the long winter under a blanket of deep snow, trudging through which strengthensthe hips-a vital part of every wrestler'sanatomy. The samething may be said of youthsfrom the mountains. It is natural that they should be able to developstronger hips than the lads who walk only on the flat, non-hip-developing plains. In rowing, too, the hips come into much play. Thus, the sonsof fishermenoften turn out to be good wrestlers. The greatest sumoistof modern times, Futabayama-now retired and, under the name of Tokitsukaze, head of the fapan Sumo Association-is a fisherman'sson from the Kyushu prefectureof Oita, in southwest |apan. Of the threereigning grand championsonly one,Tochinishiki (see Plates6, Z & 10), was born and brought up in a city. He is the son of a Tokyo umbrella-maker. The remaining two are from the snowy north, Chiyo-no-yama(Plate 5) from the northern island of Hokkaido and Waka-no-hana(Plates8, 15 & 16) from Aomori, at the extremenorthern tip of Honshu, fapan'smain island. A similar proportion may be found among the lower-ranking grapplers. The life of the city slicker is evidently not conduciveto the production of a great wrestler. The ]apaneserace as a whole, however, may be said to be well adaptedto the sport of Sumo. The reasonis that the fapancse,if

14

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

I may be permitted to use such an ungraceful term, are rather "low in the water." By this I mean, of course, that they have been endowed by Mother Nature with long bodies and short legs. In Sumo the point of balance or fulcrum must be as low as possible. It makesa man so much more difrcult to topple. Generations of squattingon the tatami (straw mats usedto cover the floor) instead of sitting on chairs have perhaps more than anything else developed the fapanesetype of body. In this connection it is of interest to note that an improved diet through the increasedintake of meat, bread, and dairy products, together with a greater use of chairs, is producing a taller and more massivebreed. of this has been a gradual raising of the standard A consequence required of Sumo novices. At the end of the Meiii era (around 1910) the requirementwas a minimum weight of a little over 132 pounds. There was no limitation on height. By the beginning of the Showaperiod (1926) the standardhad risen to about 160pounds and a lad had to be at least five feet five inches in height before he could be accepted. Since May, 1957,the standard of height has been five feet seven inches and of weight 166 pounds. There can be little doubt that with the gradual improvement in fapanesephysique thesestandardswill go on rising. The clephantine Odachi, who retired early in 1958, ranks with the Sumo giants of all time. He steppedinto the'ring at closeto 390 pounds and tipped the beam at six feet four inches, a vcritable colossus. And that's not all. He slimmed down from well over 400 pounds, thc heaviest ever, maybe. Anyway, it's an enthralling question, with such monsters as Dewa-ga-take in thc field. This la4 who got as far as scftiuaftc (junior champion) in the 1920's,towered to a height of six feet 6ve inchcs and fuctuated

Born

Sumoists

15

in weight between360 and 430 pounds. He was so strong that certain of the regular sixty-eightholds were barred to him after he had, accidentallyof course,causedthe death of an opponentin the ring. The fapan Sumo Associationno doubt heaveda sigh of relief when this behemothretired iust before World War IL As for height, the modern "Eiffel Tower" is the prognathous demoted champion, Ouchiyama, who can lay claim to six feet sevenand one-half inches. But way back in the 1820'sthere was a wrestler boasting the picruresquename of Ozora (big sky) who really was a sky-scraper,if figur:s don't lie. He was a staggering sevenfeet three inches and would have been worth his weight in gold to any basketballteam. The first grand champion, Akashi, who flourishedin the seventeenthcentury, is said to have reached sevenfeet five inches. But this, like most facts about this gentleman. should perhapsbe taken with a big grain of salt.

CHAPTER 3

The Road to Stardom Taro, a farmer's son, is a hefty lad; at fourteen he already tips the scalesat 165 pounds. There's no matching him for miles around; he can throw all his comradeswith ease.A grand champion in the making, as everyoneagrees. One day, in the course of a provincial tour, a group of noted wrestlersfrom Tokyo reachesthe neighboring town. The word is passedaround that a boy called Taro is somerhing out of the ordinary. Inquiries are made and, beforehe knows where he is, he is whisked up to the capital and installedas an apprenticein one of the great Sumo gyms. Here he will live in, with his food and pocket money provided by the master of the gym, a retired Sumo great. He will be given no salary,of course,for a number of years; 6rst he must prove himself. Taro's gym is locatedin the Ryogoku areaof Tokyo, where are to be found by far the greaternumber of theseinstirutions;for it was in this quarter that the great tournamentswere formerly held, at the arenanow known as the Kokusai (International) Stadium. There are aboutfifteen of thesegyms scatteredthroughout Ryogoku. They

l Tue P nrsrorrr : Tokrtsukazc i cx-grancl champi on Futabayarna), presi dent of thc Japan S umo A ssoci ati on, i s s how n i n Japaneseatti re standi ng at the entrance of the gy m or trai ni ng quarters of w hi ch he i s the master .

h .5 4

e % .a .

\.# ^ - ,

3. U rrcrr,rnr : In thi s tacti c the man underneath, i n thi s casc K oto-ga-hama, w eari ng knee s upporter, di gs i n w i th hi s heel s on the edg e of the ri ng and r.vi th a qui ck tw rst of the body i o the l eft sends hi s opponent S hi mi zugaw a spi nni ng out of the arcna before he hi msel f fal l s.

2. S nrr < r n r - N a o s H: r T h e two r vr e stle r s h e r e a r e e n g a g e d i n s hilliri-n a o s h i , r v h i c h p r ece clcsa b o u t. T h e y cr o u ch , r .vi th f is t s f irr n l y p l a n t e d i n t h e sa n cl,stu d yin g e a ch o th e r in te n tl y. T he re f e r e e , i n t l t e r e a r with fa n u p r a ise d , r e g u la te s the proc eecl in g s .

4 . T n s M r cHr y r .q r r r N ! : L yin g like a pol e-axed s t e er is th e b u r ly T o kitsu ya m a , th e vi cti m of T a ma - n o - u m i' s h ifti- o to sh i, wh ich m ay be rransl a r e d " p u llin g h im d o wn ." T h e r e feree may b: g l i mp scd in th c r e a r , b ch in d T a m a ,n o-umr.

.lii

The

Road

to Stardom

are nothing much to look at-just

zL plain frame houses containing

little more than the training ring itself and a large communal eatery. They house, a1l told, a total of approximately one thousand wrestlers. Taro's is one of the larger gyms so he finds himself a member of a squad of some seventy or eighty wrestlers, most of them apprentices iike himself, but including the whole hierarchy of Sumo-dom right up to the champions and grand champions themselves. The young hopeful has a hard life in front of him as he starts out on the road to fame. In the 6rst place he is, in spite of recent attempts at democratization, in what may frankly be described as a feudalistic set-up. His status is not unlike that of a fag at an English public school, for he has to fetch and carry for his elders. in return for which they see to it that he gets to know the ropes, Among his other multifarious duties wiil be scrubbing the backs of his superiorsin the bath, combing and fixing up their hair-do when training is over, and doing all the cooking and the cleaning up of the establishmerrt. And what do the women do, you may ask I The answer is simple; there are no women, apart from the master's wife: Ch iyo - n o - r ' a m a ( cctt5. G n, l x n C H r r r p t o r C u tyo - No - y,q tt,c. t er, rv it h a r m s o u t s t r c t c l - r e d )is sh o r ' vn a t th e d o /t1 ' o - ir i r vith his t ac h i m o c l t i ( l e f l h o l d in g th e swo r d a n d tsu yu lttr ti or at t endan i ( r i g h t ) . R e f e r e e is a t e xtr cm e lcft.

Sumo-dom is strictly stag. Taro and his fellow-neophytes rise at the crack of dawn and, it might be thought, start off the day by downing a hearty breakfast. Nothing of the sort! There is no breakfast. The youngsterstumble out of the sack around five or six-before the streets are aired-clean up the ring, and get going with their warming-up exercises. Their elders, as be6ts their rank, lie abed a little later, but they too are usually on the scene by eight at the latest. The seniors put thc roungsters through their paces, tip them ofi as to their faults, and so on and so forth.

The master of the gym is mostly in attendance

ZZ

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

to keep a watchful eye on the proceedings,but in his absencethis duty is delegatedto the top-ranking wrestlers. The entire forenoon is devotedto various forms of training and practicebouts-and all the while not a bite of food. Spartansthey are indeed,but then they have to be. This is no life for a weakling, and if a lad can't stand the pace,he simply drops out. It's rough all right but Taro will not be bullied, for this regime,feudalistic though it may sometimesseem,is not militaristic. The life is tough, but not brutal; if a boy can'tor won't learn,he won't get on. That is punishmentenough. Morning training done,the lads have to wait on their seniorsat in the the mid-daymeal, after which they can immersethemselves welcometub and rub their manifold bruises,and then, at long last, from the common pot of stew. The meal over, help themselves and it can Taro and his mateshavethe restof the day to themselves with their of rest; indeed, they make it a day that well be imagined else for it. energyusedup and no money to burn, there'snothing If the lads wanted to kick over the tracesthey wouldn't have the wherewithal;for them wine and women iust don't exist. Wlren Taro approachestbe dizzy heightsof stardom,possiblyten yearslater,and can affbrd to take unto himselfa wife, he is allowed to reside in his own home, of course,for too many wives would clutter up the gym. During a big tournament,however,even the married wrestlersoften prefer to move back into the gym for greater convenience. Perhaps,too, for greater easeof mind. Incidentally,the Taros of the future will lead somewhatdifferent for, in line with the gradual Iives from those of their predecessors defeudalizationof the sport, a Sumo training school has recently been established,to be attendedby scrubsfrom the variousgyms.

CHAPTER 4

Grand Tournaments The basho or grand tournamentsare the World Seriesof Sumo' Currently there are stagedsix grand tournamentsa year-the New Year tournament,held in Tokyo, the spring tournament in Osaka, tie summer and autumn tournamentsin Tokyo, the fuly tournament in Nagoya, and the November tournament down in Kyushu at the city of Fukuoka. The two last-namedare recent additions' These ioustingshave a long history-and few would ever guess where the first one on record was held. It was in the precinctsof a temple on the outskirtsof the ancientcity of Kyoto, a former capital of )apan. That was way back in the Kanseiera (1789-1800).Only one tournament was held a year, and it could hardly be called official. An
24

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

fans, so in the forty-secondyear of Meiji (1909) the spacious Ryogoku Kokugi Hall (the presenrKokusai Stadium) was opened, and for the first time Sumo had a home worthy of its long history. The remark is sometimespassedthat we modernsare sissies.But this can certainly not be applied to the sumoists. They startedout with five-daytourneys,which, as we have seen,later went up to ten days. And then, in the fourteenthyear of Showa (1939),fifteen-day tournamentswere instituted. It is incontestable that a man has to be plenty tough to be pulled and pushedand flung around like a sack of coals for fifteen days on end. Things are just getting tougher and tougher for the lads. And then, as if to make it all the harder,in 1948Osakawas given its first big tournament,making three in all. Tokyo was handedan additional tournament in the autumn ot 1953,and, to cap it all, Fukuoka was accordedthe honor of putting on the big show from 1957and Nagoya from 1958. One may think it's all pretty rough on the grapplerswho, in daysof yore,had to work only about tweoty daysa year. They don't really mind, though. And for a very good reason..They can make more dough, as will be explainedlater on. A novice will make no more than a feeting appearancein the great ring on the occasionof his 6rst tournamenr. He will merely "drop in for a cup of coffee" on the 6rst day only beforea handful of spectatorsand then retire for the remainder of the proceedings. His name will not even appear on the official ranking list of the |apan Sumo Association,a Magna Chartalike screed written in hundredsof quaint Chinesecharacters,as in ancicnt times. When it doesappear,it will be microscopicbut will gradually loom large ashe attainsthe dizzy heightsof stardom. As his techniquedevelops

Ctrand Tournaments

z5

ad he puts on weight, he will emergemore and more frequentlyad later and later in the day. A real, dyed-in-the-woolScotsmanwould just love a Sumo tournaocot, for he could settle himself comfortably in his seat at six in rlc morning and still be there at six in the evening. Talk about gcning one'smoney'sworth! There has never been anything quite ELc it. Tte ring the Tokyo novicefinds himself in is laid o:utwith. raftida carth, speciallybrought in from neighboring Chiba Prefecture. The ring is two feet high and eighteenfeet squareat the base. Around it ere placed a number of thick coils of straw forming a circle fifteen fieetin diameter. All nice and soft to fall on-after the right kind of tnining, that is. From the four cornersof the awning of the ring :rc suspendedfour huge tassels,signifying the seasonsof the year, rith a blue tasselon the eastside,white on the west, black on the oonh, and red on the south. Until 1952four large colored poles spported the awning. These, however, were found to interfere rith the view of the sport and were replacedby tassels.The awning is now suspended from thc roof of the hall by meansof cables.

CHAPTER 5

tiumo Ranking

27

The martu-achigroup is sub-divided into mae-gashira(literally, 'before the head") and san-yaftu,the former composedof about forty-five wrestlersnumberedmae-gashiraI,2,3, etc.San-yaftumen re further divided into ftotnusubi,seftiwafte,ozefti (champion) and yoftozana(grand champion). Higher than that a wrestler cannot go. He is standingon Sumo'sEverest. Seftiwaftemay be translated, perhaps,"junior champion,first grade," and ftomusubl"junior cham-

Sumo Ranking A grand Sumo tournamentresemblesa drama which opensquietly, the suspense beinggraduallybuilt up asthe play unfoldsitself until the climax is reached.A tournamentstartswith the striplingsin the early morn. As the day rolls on, higher and higher ranking sumoiststake the stageuntil finally the grand championsmake their appearance. It is with theia-ry;o(ten ryo-an old fapanesecoin-was their pay) wrestlersthat the interest of by far the greater part of the fans begins to be ar.olsed. This group of around fifty grapplers,immediately below the top-ranking ma\a-uchi men, starts wrestling early in the afternoon. They merit interestinasmuchas their bouts are the first to be given much notice in the vernacularsportspapers. Following the 6nal iu-ryo tilt come the "Grand March of the Gladiators" and the "Triumphal Entry of the Grand Champions," later to be describedin detail., Excitementmountsas,the ceremonial over, the top-rankerscommenceto take each other on. But first, a word or two as to ranking, as it concernsSumo'shighly exclusive maftu-uchi group.

pion, secondgrade." All wrestlerswear their hair done up in a queue,and one may or recognizethe approximaterank of a man by the elaborateness simplicity of the queue. Tyros have their hair fixed in a plain top k-not or chon-mage,while the top rankers (san-yaftu) afiect the fashiontermed o-icho-mage. Nor should it be thought that this is all mere aflectationor tradition. The top-knot acts as a bufier between the wrestler and the 0oor of the ring when he is brought to earth with such a thwack that his skull seemslikely to be split in two. Wrestlersare boostedor busted accordingto their achievements. A man who has a won-lostrecord of, say,twelve-threein the spring torunamentmay well find himself elevatedttom rnae-gashira15 to mae-gashira9 for the summer tourney. And he'll probably be droppedsix or sevenrungs il all he can show is a three-twelvemark. An eight-sevenrecord will probably lift a man but a single rung and a seven-eightscoreboot him down one. Ascending the Sumo ladder is, as may be imagined, somewhat like climbing the Himalayas. Progressis fairly rapid on the lower slopes,but the higher one gets the rarer the air becomes,and the advanceis at snail'space. That is, if one is not actuallydriven back.

z8

Sport and Tradition

For this is what usually happenswhen a young hopeful attains the heightsof ftornusubifor the first time. With the laudableobjectof saving the best bouts-those berween two grand championsor betweengrand champion and championfor the end of the tournament, the gentlemen who arrange the programsfind it necessaryon the 6rst two or three days or so to pit the ftomusabi and the top mae-gashiramen against the grand champions.The resultis, of course,that rtomusablrankersalmost inevitablyget off to a bad start, end up with a mediocrerecord,and fall back again down the scale. An outstandingexceprionwas Annenyama,who won the 1957SummerChampionshipimmediately after being promoted to ftomusubi. It is estimatedthat only one wrestlerin five hundred makesozeki. Ozcfti means"grear barrier," which is preciselywhat it is. It's Sumodom'slastgreatchallenge.Lessthan half the ozefti makeyoftozuna, for a man has to have a number of first-classtournament performancestuckedin his belt beforehe'snamedgrand champion. There's one consolation,though. Once a yoftozuna,always a yoftozuna. A grand championalone can never be demoted,horvever poor his record. That would be much roo undignified; and of all sportsSumois rhe mostdignified. It may,of course,be argued that the sacrosanctstatusof the yoftozuna is thoroughly undemocratic, that there is somethingmonarchicalabout the whole thing. Well, the grand champion, with all his regalia and all rhe ceremonial splendor that attends his entry on the stage is certainly very much like a king. He shouldnot, many feel,be dethroned. Promotion, incidentally, is not the only reward of which a successfulwrestler may be proud. The winner of a tournament-the man with the best wonlost record-receives,after the bouts are

Sumo Ranking

29

over on the final day, the h:uge shihai or Emperor's Cup. This trophy is returned by the victor at a ceremony that takes place on the opening day of the following rournamenr and is replaced by a smaller replica which he may have for keeps. An interesting postrvar innovation at each tournament has been the presentation,made by an American gentleman in formal |apaneseattire and speaking impeccable/apanese,of a large trophy given by Pan American World Airways. Ancient and modern, cheek by fowl. In addition to the Emperor's Cup for the winner, three consolation prizes, in the form of shields, are awarded at each tournament. They are the shuftun-sho, or prize for outstanding achievement given to the grappler who upsets the most grand champions and cirampions; the gino-sho, or prize for skill, and the ftanto,slto or prize for fighting spirit. Nor is that all. There is a well-known /apanese saying, hana yori dango, which roughly rranslated, means "I'd rather have dumplings than pretty flowers." Or, in other words, "appreciation should be shown in a more practical manner." So, previous to a bout, sometimes as many as seven or eight yobidashi or announcers walk around the ring each carrying a large banner. These bear the names of various companieswhich, for the sake of advertisementor, who knows, out of pure kindness of heart, rvish to announce that they are awarding a prize to the winner of the bout. The victor receiveshis prize from the referee as they both squat, but before actually taking it the wrestler makes three passesover it rvith his hand, first to the left, then to the right, and finally to the center. Black magic I Not at all. He is merely giving thanks to heaven, earth, and man in turn. No, the envelope does not contain currency or a check. It is simply a catalog from which he may

30

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

selectwhateverhe happensto like. But thosesevenor eight banners may be worth seventyor eighty thousandyen in all to the winner.

A Typical Ranking List of the Leading Sumo Wrestlers (Summer,1957 ) East

West Yoftozuna Kagamisato ,, Ozefti

( r0-5)

Yoshibayama

(5-6)

Asashio

(e-6)

Yokozuna Tochinishiki Chiio-no-yama

Ozefti

Waka-no-hana Matsunobori

( 12-3) (absent) (11-4) (8-7)

West continued: Llaegashira 13. Hirakagawa (absent)

,,

Wakahaguro

Komasubi Annenyama ,, Maegashira

Kotogahama

(8-7)

,

14.Shionishiki

(8-7)

u

75. Takanishiki

(9-6)

u

T 6.A z umaumi

(5-10)

,,

(8-7)

l T.Y os hi -no-mi ne(2-10) (6-9) 18. Koi-no-se

19. Izuminada

(8-i)

19. Kamiyuyama (6-9)

,,

20.Fusanishiki

(11-4)

20. Kaminishiki

,,

21. Yoshiiyama

(11-4)

21. Fuku-no-umi

(8-7)

,

22.H i yodoshi

(5-10)

22. Orochigata

(4-11)

14. Hirosegawa

(8-7)

,,

15. Kuninobori

(8-7)

,,

l6.Yasome

(7-8)

,

17. Kiyoenami

(7-8)

,

18.O-no-ura

,,

SeftiuafteTama-no-umi

(I3-2)

KomusubiTsuru-ga-mine

(0-6)

(5-10)

(12-3)

(7-8)

23. Mae-no-yama (7-8)

(Figures in brackets show the wrestler's wonlost record in the summer tournament, 1957,the 6gure on the left indicating the numKomusubi Annenyama, with a thirteen-two

record was the winner. At times, due to sicknessor injuries sustained during a bout, a wrestler is unable to continue until the end of the tournament.

In the above record the wonlost scores that do not

total fifteen represent such cases. It should be noted that the East

l. Tochihikari

(5-10)

1. Ouchiyama

(7-8)

and West men do not necessarilyclash in the ring.

2. Naruyama

(2-13)

2. Dewanishiki

(G9)

fications are for convenience' sake, half of the wrestlers coming down

3. Wakamaeda (5-10)

3. Kita-no-nada

(9-6)

the east aisle and the other half down the west).

4. Hoshikabuto (5-10)

4. Shinobuyama (G9)

5. Narutoumi

(3-12)

Maegashira

5. Iwakaze

(4-11)

6. Shimizugawa (10-5)

6. Mitsuneyama (9-6)

(5-10)

7. Shimanishiki (5-10)

7. Ohikari

,, ,

(11-4) (7-8)

East continued: Maegashira 13. Miyanishiki

,,

ber of matches won. Seftiuaftc Tokitsuyama

31

Sumo Ranking

8. Dewaminato

(0-2)

8. Tokinishiki

9. Wakasegawa

(7-8)

9. Futatsuryu

10. Araiwa (8-7) (W) 11. Odachi 12. Wakabayama (8-7)

10. Daitenryu

(10-5) (8-7) (ll-4)

11. Osegawa

(7-8)

12. Hajimayama

(8-7)

The two classi-

CHAPTER 6

"Psychological Warfare " A Sumo wrestler'smake-up consistsof three parts. The first is physical,the secondtechnical,and the third psychological. For the simple reasonthat a Sumo bout gets under way with psychological warfare,the latter merits prior discussion. It is, perhaps,the most difficult part of Sumofor a non-Orientalto appreciate. Following an initial flexing of musclesand stamping of feet at the edgeof the ring, the rivals pick up a handful of purifying salt, scatterit, and squat down facing eachother at a resPecduldistance in the center of the arena. The refereekeepsa watchful eye on them, meanwhile barking out words of encouragementand instruction. In the courseof this ritual, which is known as the shiftiri' get down almostwith their nosesin the sand, naoshi,the contestants pound the floor with their fists (Plate 2), and fix each other with piercingglances. Like a grand champion'striumphal entry, to be describedlater, the shiftiri-naoshifollows a set pattern. The whole thing, it should be noted,is limited to four minutes,during which period the rivals march back and forth bctwecn the center of the ring and "salt

'Psychological

Warhre

"

33

@rner" about four or five times. When time is up, the time-keeper (one of the black-robedjudges) nods to one of the young attendants sitting by tle water pail. He in his turn standsup and nods to the contestants and to the referee. For the ia-ryo-wrestlers ranking immediately below mafta-achi -the time allotted for shiftiri-naoshiis only three minutes. And the vcry young wrestlers who perform in the early hours to empty benchesdon't go through the motions at all, but haveto get on with 6eir bout right away. This basicelementof Sumo,which very likely causesmany Westcrners to lose interest in the sport at the very outset and to mutter, 'Why don't they cut out all that stuff l" is regarded as the very marrow of the art by those in the know and, indeed, by the wresders thcmselves.For it is during theseseeminglygrotesqueposrurings that the grapplersscekto read what is in eachotler's mindsto discover whether the other man appearslikely to spring at once to the attack or to await his rival's onrush. By taking a good peek at a wrestler'sface as he makes his way cach time to the center of the ring in the preliminaries,an expert observercan figure out whether or not he has a plan of campaign ell nice and clear-cutiu his head. He can tell when the man is still trying to make up his mind how to proceedand can distinguish a grapplerwho is brimful of confidenceand quite composedfrom one who is all tenseand jittery. It requiresplenty of practice,of course, to spot all this. And if the obscrver is able to do it, you may be guite sure thc wrestlers themselvescan. Naturally, they aim to fool cach othcr. A man who knows precisely what he is going to do, for instance, may trick the other fellow into thinking that hc doesn't.

34

Sumo:

SPort and Tradition

The secondpurpose of. the shiftiri is to give the wrestlersan opportunity gradually to work themselvesup to the right pitch of excitement. In this sense,it may be termed a warming-up. It is the referee'sjob, by giving out a seriesof shrill, Kabuki-typeeiaculations, to whip up the requisiteamount of excitementin his charges. The shiftiri-naoshiis weII worth more than a little study by the Sumo enthusiast. If he can muster sufficientinterest in it he will no longer complain, as somepeopledo, that Sumo is all froth and no beer. The preliminariesover,the refereecrouchesdown, givesthe word, and the rivals spring toward eachother. This is called the tachi-ai or the initial clash. It has been said that pitching is seventy-five per cent of baseball. Similarly, it might be said that the tachi-ai is seventy-fiveper cent of Sumo,for "thrice armed is he who gets his blow in first." A man who is late in the tachi'ai usually goesdown to defeat,for the wrestler who is up first can, as a rule, direct the courseof a bout as he pleases,putting his opponenton the defensive and often catchinghim off balance. There are,of course,exceptions. Some wrestlersare noted for staging wonderful recoveriesafter a bad tachi-ai, Grand Champion Tochinishiki, for instance. A bout may be won either pl eiecting one'sopponentfrom the ring or by downing him inside the arena. In the former caseit spellsdefeat if so much as a toe is over the edge; in the latter a tilt is lost if any part of the body above(and inciuding) the knee hits the dirt. And the winner may achieve his obiective by any one of sixty-eight recognizedtechniques,known as ftimari-te. The word is almost impossibleto translate,for a man may be thrown, pushed,pulled, flipped, tapped,etc., either down or out. There are, naturally, certain things that are taboo in Sumo. For

' Psychological

Warfare "

35

this is not all-in wrestling, by any means. It is forbidden to strike a man with the fists. And the karare chop,a sledge-hammerwhack deliveredwith the side of the hand, popularizedby the famous pro. tr'restlerRikidozan (an ex-Sumoman) is also prohibited. Hairqulling and eye-pokingare frowned upon, as are slapping the ears and grasping the throat. Not surprising, of course. Nor may a $restler kick his opponentin the belly or the chest. Nor yet in the head. And, lastly, caremust be exercisedso as not to lay foul hands on the n ae-tatemitsa-that part of the grappler'sattire that sweePs iown at right anglesto the belly-bandand coversthe vital organs. \-iolation of any one of the aboveembargoeswould ensureautomatic Cefeat. It seldom occurs, however. The author himself. in the ;ourse of many years of Sumo-viewing,only once saw the hair pulled. No more than tlat.

CHAPTER 7

The Techniques of Sumo Broadly speaking, it may be said that there are two types of Sumo--that in which the wrestlerscome to grips and that in which they do not. A great number of true connoisseursof the art will turn up their nosesat the latter. They like the men to grapple. If they do, the bout is likely to last longer and provide more thrills. After all, the customerwants value for money. By the end of the shiftiri-naoshi,the preliminary posturing, the wrestlerhas-or should have-made up his mind whether he wishes to come to grips or not. Certain wrestlersinvariably prefer not to do so. They like to slap their opponenttoward the edgeof the ring and then, when they'vegot him right ofi balance,push him out (see Plate 10). The leading modern exponentof this type of Sumo is Grand Champion Chiyo-no-yama(Plate 5). His strength lies in those long, powerful arms of his. The slapping maneuver,which is known as ttuppari, although not sopopularwith the fans,is a mostvaluableweaponin a wrestler's armory. It enableshim to polish off his man in double-quicktime. A Sumo tournamentlastsfifteen davsand is an immensedrain on a

.

'l

l

goes Tochi n i s hi k i 6. GnrN o C nar.rprorv TocstN rsnrxr: through the ceremoni al moti ons of rhe dohyo-i ri . B ehi nd hi m may be gl i mpsed the sw ord hel d by hts tac hi moc hi ot sw ordbearer, standi ng on the cdge of ri ng.

7. T: e. z H r a v r - r r o ! : G r an d Ch a m p r o n T o ch in ish iki ( r ig h t ) lif t s his a r c h - r i v a l , n o r v Gr a n d Ch a m p io n Wa ka - n o - h a n a, s t raight o l T t h e g r o u n d a n d h o ists h im b o d ily o u t o f th e ring. Th i s t y p e o f h e a v e - h o is kn o wn a s tsu r ;- d a sh ;. No te t he int en t n e s s o f t h e r e f er e e a s h e wa tch e s th e r iva ls' fe e t.

9. A N uN usuA L TH R ow : Q urc k as l i ghrni ng, Oi rampi on Waka-no-hana (re ar) depos i ts Tok i ni shi ki i n the sand w i th a rare throw k now n as yobi -modoshi . H e takes hi s opponent by the arm and si mul taneousl y tri ps hi m. W ak a-no-hana more or less has the monopoly of this throw.

8. U w ,c.rr-N ecp: The then cham pi on W ak a-no-hana sends K i ta-no'nada spraw l i ng w i th an ui l l ate' nage or upper hand throw ; t. e. the throw i s ac hi ev ed bv W ak ano-hana's " upper " hand, the hand that i s outs i de hi s opponent's hand.

The Technique.s of Sumo

4L

fellow'sphysique. If, however,he can get through a bout in one secondffat, which is about the absoluteminimum, it's more or less equivaientto a day'srest. The averagetime requiredfor a match very few go on for over a minute. When they is about10 seconds; do, the customersroar and ask for more, but that's what really takes

10. O s nr - o a s n r : G r a n d ch a m p io n T o ch in ish iki ( r ig h t) is s hown pu s h i n g I w a k a z e ou t o f th e r in g . T h is fin a l p u sh, or os hi-d a s h i , r s p r e c e d e d b y a se r ie s o f h e a r ty sla p s o r t s ilppar; t o d r i v e t h e l o s e r to wa r d th e e d g e o f th e a r e n a .

it out of a wrestler. A further advantageof the slapping method is that there is less likelihood of leg injuries, the behemoths'biggest bugbear. Televiewers must have noticed the tremendousnumber of supporters adorning the knees,the weakestpoint of a sumoist. It is interesting to note that in recent tourneysGrand Champion Tochinishiki book and become hastaken a leaf out of stablemateChiyo-no-yama's a really proficient slapper. Slapping savesa lot of trouble for a man who has passedthirty. For those who do not wish to grapple, slapping is not the only maneuver. There is, for example,hatafti-ftomi which usually requires no more than a secondto execute, What happensis that a man sensesby the look in his opponent'seyesjust before clinching that the latter is intent on getting the darned thing over quickly. So he simply stepsto one side and giveshis rival a hefty smack on the back as he fies past. Many a fan has been caught napping by a hatafti-ftomi.It's all over in a jidy. Another quick maneuveris ftetaguri,copyright held by the crafty Dewaminato. As his opponent rushesin, he kicks his legs from under him. Time required,one second. Then there'sashi-tori, for which Wakabayamaholds the patent. He simply grabs his rival by the leg and has him hopping around the ring until he finally toppleshim over. Now for the grappling typcs of Sumo, preferred by men like

ll, Suvo rHRows. In Sumo there are numberlessvariations of throws, out of which, smaller groups of the recognized techniques have been evolved,thesebeing the \imari-te and the shijahaile. Here arc some of ihose better known throws in use in the Sumo /olyo todav. The wrestler wearing the black band represents the wlnner.

Uwate-nagc

Hatakikomi

tfaki-otoshi

Yorikiri

M Sukui-nage

Hiki-otoshi

Kirikaeshi

Katasukashi

Tsuri-dashi

A b i s e -t a o s h i

Ketaguri

( ">\ N i m a i g cri

Shitatc-dashinage

Uttchar i

Shitate,yagura

Am i uc hi

G y ak u- hi nc r i

Okuri-dashi

Uwate-y4gura

*&v p-N] f*\

"lFr..'NK

/1$

4#

Sotogakc

Uwate-dashinage

Uchigake

Nodowa-zeme

Watashikomi

Kubi-nage

Kote-nage

Kom atas uk ui

Oshi-dashi

Sabaori

Shitate-nage

Tsuki-otoshi

Koshi-nage

r suKl-oasnl

t 44

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

former grand champions Yoshibayama(see plates 12 &.13) and Kagamisato (Plate 14), who delight rhe genuine, dyed_in_the_wool fan. In contrastto the lighter wrestlers,thesefattiesnaturally prefer to take the fullest advantageof their weight and to come to grips with their opponent as soon as possiblq. For grappling purposes, wrestlersmay be divided into two categories,hidari-yotsu,or left_ handers, and migi-yotsa, or right-handers. The whole idea_and this is what a televiewershould watch out for-is for the southpaw to get his left or stronger arm inside the other man's right, and converselyfor the right-hander to thrust his right arm inside the other's left. The man who can get his arms into a good position beforehis opponentdoesso enjoysa very big advantage. The next thing is to get a firm grip on the other,s maanshi or belly-band (see Plates7, 17 & l8). The latter will try ro prevent this either by squirming about or by keeping the lower part of his body at a very safe distance. The wily, long-bodied Koto_ga-hama is a noted exponentof_thesemaneuvers. His maanshi is always an extremely difrcult thing to grab hold of. There are also some wrestlerswho are open to criticism for repeatedlyhaving their bellyband looselytied, so as not to afiord their opponenta securegrip. This, of course,is "not cricket." But a sharp refereewill ,poi,h. fact and quickly tighten things up. Now comesthe jockeyingfor positionpreparatoryto the heave-ho. With the immense,porbellied men rhe favorite tactic is gradually to edge the opponent, using their tremendous weight, toward the rim of the arena and gently march him out. This tactic, known asyori-ftiri (seePlate 11), is the most common of all. A more thril_ ling variant is yori-taoshi (seePlate 16), in which victor and van_ quished go hurtling out of the ring together, with the former on

The Techniques

of Sumo

45

top. Timing, in this as in all Sumo moves,is of the utmost importance. A skilllul wrestler bides his time until he can catch his rival off balanceand then launcheshis attack. Wrestlers like the huge Champion Matsunobori (see Plate 19) and ex-junior champion Tokitsuyama (seePlate 4) are fond of.tsari dashi (see Plate 7). They grasp their opponent'smawashi firmly with both hands, then run him around till he's off balance and finally hoist him high in the air and clean out of the ring. This is something truly Herculean. Then there's the miraculous uttchari (see Plate 3). This occurs when a man, on the point of being toppled out, digs in on the edge of the ring, hoists his rival up ovcr his stomachand, with a quick turn, flings him out, himself following a tenth of a secondlater. Coming now to tacticsaimed at dumping a man inside the ring, it can be noted that some wrestlers are adept at using their legs to trip an opponent. One such is Koto-ga-hama,employing his favorite achi-gafte(seePlate 18). Choosinghis moment to a nicety, he will suddenlythrust a limb betweenhis rival's legs and upset him with a neat trip. Others favor the soto-gafte,in which a leg is wound outside the opponent's-with the sameresult. The beautiful iluate-nage(seePlate 8) and shitate-nage are throws by which lighter men, such as Grand Champion Waka-no.hana, often overthrow much heavier opponents. The former may be translated the "upper-hand throw," the latter the "under-hand throw." The "upper" refers to the hand that is outside the other man's arm, the "under" to that which is inside it. In the uuatenage the throw is executedwith the outside hand, in the shitate-nagc with the inside hand. More often than not quite a lot of maneuvering takes place and several fruitless attempts are made at a throw

46

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

CHAPTER 8

before an opponent is finally caught ofl balanceand fung down. The abovedescription includes someof the throws most commonly seen. But therc are countlessvariations, depending on exactly how a man is thrown, pulled pushed, slapped,kicked, and so or5 either down or out. To describethem all would require a volume in itself.

Grand Champions Therc arc three grand champions in the Year of Grace, 1958. The number is by no means arbiuary. There have been two only in the past; there may be two again. Or, again, thcre may cven be as many as five; there's nothing in the rules of Sumo to p(event it. The senior grand champion is the tremendously tall, giant spiderlike Chiyo-no-yama (Plate 5), who was born in Hokkaido in L9?6, tfte son of a fishcrman-farmer. He was a stand-out even as a youth and was told by a prowling news-hawk that he would go far if hc would only step up to the capital and place his feet on the first rung of the Sumo ladder. I\1942, the year following the outbreak of the Pacific War, Chiyo no-yama enrolled in the large gym nrn by Dewa-no-umi, ex-grand champion Tsune-nehana, the tragic figure whq weighed down by the heavy burden of responsibility tlrrown onto his shouldersas head of the fapan Sumo Association at a critical stage in its history in 1957,attempted suicide. Chiyo-no-yama'sprogress was rapid. As early as the fall ot 1949hc was already ozefti and had grabbed his first tourney championship. He followed up this initial uiumph

48

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

with a secondvictory in the very next tournament (spring, 1950). One would, perhaps,have imagined that his successive triumphs would at once have securedhim promotion to the covetedrank of yortozuna. The council of selectors,however,who meet to discuss questionsof elevationand demotion after each tourney, are hard men to please. The tall youngsterhad to wait until the year 1951, when he gathered in the trophy with a magnificent record of fourteen wins and one defeat,for his reward. After his great success in the summer tournament of that year he was finally, when still only twenty-fiveyearsof age,createdgrand champion. And then somethinghappened. For some unexplainablereason he began to slip. Tournament followed tournament as he saw his rivals repeatedlysnatch the prize from his grasp. The sensitive Chiyo-no-yamawas in the end driven to suggestingthat he abdicate, forfeit his crown, and start from the bottom agah. Such a thing had never occurredbefore. Grand championsare never demoted; they just carry on until they are old enough to retire. It was preposterous.Chiyo-no-yamawas persuadedto reconsiderhis decision. He did sq and finally, after twelve tourneys without a grain of comfort, his name was in the spodight again when he capturedthe New Year's championship of. 1955for his fourth triumph. The big man's revival was consolidatedby a victory in the following tourney, at Osaka in the spring. Then again there was an interval of six meetswithout a win, but the "Big Spider" registered his sixth and latestsuccess at New Year's, 1957. With six successes in all to his credit, Chiyo-neyamais surpassed only by Grand Champion Tochinishiki. The secondgrand champion, Tochinishiki (seePlates 6 & l0) is often known as rnciiin, or the master-craftsman.Unlike his two

Grand

Champions

49

colleagues,he is a city man. The son of an umbrella-maker,he was born and brought up in Tokyo. With all the rain fapan gets oe would think umbrella-making should be a profitable business. History, however, does not record that the tneijin's father amassed a fortune. A year younger than his friend Chiyo-no-yama-the two belong to the samegroup of gyms and so never clash in the ring-Tochinishiki relies on skill as much as on weight to down his opponents. He is a mere (l) 250 pounds, in contrast to ex-grand champions Kagamisato'sand Yoshibaynna's 320. His speedis phenomenal; he is a master of strategy,and he can vary his tactics to suit the occasionor his opponent. The phrase"brains rather than brawn" may well be applied to this masterwrestler. He has, however,put on quite a lot of weight sincebeing named grand champion and is beginning to developa "pot." On his way to the top Tochinishiki was awarded the gino-sho, the prize for the most skillful wrestler, nine times, a record. But somethingmore than skill is neededif such a comparativelysmall man is to scalethe heights. And Tochinishiki hasit in a high degree. That somethingis just plain guts. Here is a man who will never admit defeat. Many a time in the courseof a long, drawn-out bout he seemsto be a goner. Then, as if by a miracle,he turns the tables on his opponentand emergestriumphant. A casein point was the tilt on the last day of the summer tournamentof 1955,a tournament won by Tochinishiki. On this occasionthe usually lethargic, huge Ouchiyama suddenly came to life, giving Tochi the shock of his life. Taken by surprise,the grand champion made a bad start but hung on grimly. Finalln with an almost superhuman efiort, hc tbrew his rival by the neck, using the throw known as rtabi-nage.

50

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

Tochinishiki has a record of sevenchampionshipsgained in all. The first was in the fall tourney of 1952,when he was still sefti.tuafte, and the secondin the spring of the following year, by which time he was ozefti. Successivetriumphs followed in the summer and autumn ot.lgl4,resulting in his elevationto grand champion. Three tourneys later came his fifth victory, in the summer of. 1955, attet a tlvo-year interval, his sixth in the autumn of 1957,and seventh in the summer of.1958. The youngest and latest grand champion, Waka-no-hana (see Plates7, 8 & 9), is by far the most popular of the three. In fact, it would scarcelybe going too far to say that he is the most poPular figure in the whole of fapanesesport. He first saw the light of day in 1928in Aomori, the prefectureat the extremenorthern end of Honshu, the main island, a prefecture that has produced any number of fine sumoists, including the paunchy ex-grand champion Kagamisato,who retired at tle close of the New Year's tournament of 1958. It was in 1946, the year after the termination of the rvar, that Waka-no-hana, then a callow youth of eighteen, came down from the north to try his fortune in the Sumo ring. He entered the Nisho-no-seki gym, graced in pre-war days by the illustrious Grand Champion Tamanishiki. At first he found the going rough, so rough in fact that he grew despondentof ever making out and actually contemplatedsuicide as a way out. It is recordedthat the noted Rikidozan' now a gnrntand-groaner but then Waka-no-hana's senior in Nisho-no-seki, was instrumental in smacking the nonsenseout of the lad. They are now tfie closest of friends. Waka later transferred to the Hanakago gym in the same group'

Grand Champions

51

He grew in strength and skill and finally got as high as ozefti at New Year's,1956. In the summer of the sameyear he won his first championship. It was a most eventful yearfor him, a yearfull of joys and sorrows. He lost his only son, a child of four, who was scaldedto death when he overturneda steamingpot of cltanfto-nabe,wresier's stew. Then, in the autumn, when he was riding high with elevenwins and no defeatsand threatening to repeat his summer's successand assure himself of promotion to yoftozana,he was suddenly taken ill and was hospitalized. Thereafter, at every tournament, he developeda habit of sweeping all before him for ten days or so and then collapsinglike a pricked balloon. It beganto seemthat the highesthonor in Sumo-domwould elude him. The peoplewere for him, he was their hero, who had appearedpersonallyin the movie, The Waka-no-hanaStory. They waited anxiously for him to come through. And then, in one of the most sensationaltournamentsof recent he did come through, at New Year's,1958. Grand Champion ,rrears, Yoshibayama,with a poor record,announcedhis retirement midway *rough the tourney, and Grand Champion Kagamisatoat the end of it. Amid all the excitement,Waka-no-hanaslipped in, won his secondchampionshipand becamethe 45th yoftozuxa.

Some Ex,Greats The records of the currently active grand champions, however, almost pale into insignificance when compared with thc stupendous achievementsof Futabayama (the present Tokitsukaze), who has no

52

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

lessthan twelve triumphs to his name. This magnificent wrestler notched his first in the summer of 1936as a seftiuafta, or junior champion,and then proceededto take the next four ia a row (the first two when he was champion). And what is even more remarkable is that he went through the entire five tournaments without once going down to defeat. Futabayama, whose final triumph camein the war year of 1943,actually fought at one period as many as sixty-nine bouts without a single loss, a feat without parallel in the long history of Sumo. In the seventiethbout the grand championwas finally toppled by sertiwafte(later yoftozuna) Aki-no-umi. Other outstanding records were those of Tachiyama (nine championships)at the end of the Meiii and the beginning of the Taisho eras(1910-1916)and of Tochigiyama (the presentKasugano, master of the gym to which Tochnishiki belongs), who racked rrp nine championshipsin the Taisho era between l9l7 and 1925. Tsune-no-hana(later Dewa-no-umi) was another great performer, who ran out victorious ten times betweenthe years 1923 ar,d 1930, embracing both the Taisho and Showa eras. Tamanishiki, whose death,due to appendicitis,in 1938at the early age of thirty-five came as a staggeringblow to Sumo-dom,triumphed seventimes between l93I and 1936. In more recent times, following the retirement of the great Futabayama, Haguroyama (th. present Tatsunami) took six championships,starting in l9at4and winding up in 1952. Another colorful figtire was Grand Champion Azumafuji, who emergedon the winning side in six tournaments. This 370-pounder,whose last triumph was in the fall of 1953,withdrew from Sumo circles because of dissatisfactionover the then-prevailingfeudalistic conditions and

Grand Champions

)J

joined the ranks of the "grunt 'n groan" pro-wrestlers. He followed the noted Rikidozan, who reachedseftianfte rank before seceding There can be little doubt that the secessions of Rikidozan and Azumafuji, together with that of lesserlights, was the first step in the de-feudalizationof the ancient sport.

Complete 1st. Znd. 3rd. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th. llth. 12th. 13th. l4th. l5th. l6th. 17th. 18th. 19th. 20th.

List of Grand Akashi Maruyama Ayagawa Tanikaze Onogawa Ao-nematsu Inazuma Shiranui I Hide-no-yama Unryu Shiranui II Jimmaku Kimenzan Sakaigawa Ume-ga-taniI Nishi-no-umi I Konishiki Ozutsu Hitachiyama Ume-ga-taniII

Champions lTth century

t7r2-t749 1700-? 1750-1795 1758-1805 L79r-r85r 1795-1877 1801-1854 1808-1862 1823-1891 t825-r879 1829-1903 1826-1871 1843-1889 t845-1928 1855-1908 1867-1914 1870-1918 187+1922 r878-1927

Sumo: Sport and Tradition

54 List of Grand Champions continued:

2Lst 22nd. ?3rd. 24th. 25th. 26th. 27th. 28th. 29th. 30th. 3lst. 54n(I.

33rd. 34th. 35th. 36th. 37th. 38rh. 39rh. 40th. 41st. 42nd. 43rd. 44th. 45th.

Wakashima Tachiyama Okido Otori Nishi-noumi II Onishiki I Tochigiyama Onishiki II Miyagiyama Nishi-no-umi III Tsune-no-hana Tamanishiki Musashiyama Minanogawa Futabayama Haguroyama Aki-no-umi Terukuni Maedayama Azumafufi Chiyo-no-yama Kagamisato Yoshibayama Tochinishiki Waka-no-hana

r87Gr943 1877-1941 t877-t9r6 18871880-1931 1855-1908 t892r89l-r94r 1895-t943 1890-1933 T896_ 19011938 19091903r9t2t9I+ T9L+ l9l% t9t+ l92lT92G 1922t92L)19251928-

(Note: The twenty-seventhgrand champion,Tochigiyama (under the name of Kasugano); the thirty-first, Tsune-no-hana(Dewa-noumi); the thirty-fifth, Futabayama(Tokitsukaze); the thirty-sixth,

€mnd

Champions

55

Haguroyama (Tatsunami); dre thirty-eighth, Terukuni (Araiso) and the thirty-ninth, Maedayama(Takasago),all operateSumo gyms for the training of wrestlers.)

CHAPTER

9

/

Pageantry Pageantryand ceremony invariably play a prominent role in the life of countries like |apan and Britain with a long history and tradition. Possiblynowhere elsein the world do colorful festivalsabound in every corner of the land as they do in fapan. The great medieval processions that take placeannually in Kyoto and Nikko are but two examples. Then there is Kabuki with all its gorgeouscolor. And Sumo is no exception. It is crammed full of pageantry. This is only natural when one considers Sumo's original tie-up with religion-the 6rst tournament was held in the grounds of a temple-and also the fact that the wrestlersregularly performed at court and before the great daimyq or feudal lords, and other dignitaries. It may be no exaggerationto saythat, in all sport, there is no more brilliant spectaclethan the triumphal entry of the grand champions. Termed the dohyo-iri, this takesplace every day of each fifteen-day tournament. Around three-thirtv in the afternoonwhen the minor

12. Y onr-xrnr: E x-Grand C hampi on Y os hi bay ama (ri gtrt) bv marn strength forces i ri s opponent W ak ahaguro out of the rrng. l n yori -fti ri both w restl ers u rrai l y l i ni s h up on thei r feet. It i s the gcnti est w ay of w ^r)i l urg.

13. E x-Gn,rN n C nauproN Y os nraey ev A ,: Y oshi bayama crouches and extends hi s pal ms at the dohyo-iri. In the rear at left is the referee. Note the huge knot (behind) of the grand champi on's tsana.

6l

Pageantry

bouts, which have been going on since early morning' have been safely tucked away, the yobidashi, or announcer, steps into the arena and beats his clappers, the ring is carefully swept, and one half of the top-ranking maftu-uchi wrestlers stride in Indian file down the aisle They are clad in beautifully embroidered (see Plates 5, 6, 12, 13, 14 & 20), aprons of multiftesho-mauashi colored brocade, of every design you can imagine. If your eyes are

leading to the ring.

sharp enough and you can read the fapanese writing on them, you can no doubt make out the wrestler's name. How on earth, you may wonder, can they afford such magnificent The answer is, they can't. The aprons are, in nine cases

apparel I

out of ten, given by patrons. Every self-respecting wrestler has his patron-and very often his patroness as well. A good-quality apron wiil run up to as much as Y300,000 (or about $800); and they say some wrestlers have so many of them they can wear a diflerent one each day of the tournament and then have some left over. The wrestlers, about twenty in all, next step up into the ring and form a circle round it, clap their hands in unison, go through an amusing little routine in which they saucily hitch up their aprons half an inch or sq and then withdraw by the same route as they came. The remaining half of the top-rankers then march down the opposite aisle and go through identical motions in the arena. This impressive spectacle might well be called the "Grand March of the Gladiators " Now comes the piece de rdsistance, the ceremonial entry of the

'&. 14. Ex -G n a N o C s r l , r l r o N Kr cAM r sAT o : We a r in g th e tr a d iti o nal t s un d o r h a w s e r , S h in to - style p a p e r str e a m e r s a n d ce rem onial a p r o n , K a g a m isa to is a b o u t to cla p h r s h a n d s, orre of t he c o n v e n t i o n a l f e a r u r e s o f th e d o h yo - ir i.

grand champions. Amid thunderous applause from the fans, a superbly gowned little gyoji (see Plates 5,7, 13 & 15), or referee-of whom more anon-follows

a clapper-beating announcer down the

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

aisle. Next comesthe grand champion'stsuyaharai,or attendanl Then the great man himself and finally, bringing up the rear, his tachimoclti,or sword-bearer. Beforethey hoist themselvesinto the arena,let us glanceat one of tle greatmen's apparel. Most striking is the massiverope or hawser that encircleshim below his magnificently juting stomach (see Plates5, 6, 13, L4,15 & 16). The handiwork of the young wrestlers who wait on him hand and foot, it appearsto weigh anything up to sixteentons. It is tied at the back in a picturesquebow. From this rope (tsuna) is derived rhe name yo\ozana (meaning "side rope"). It is the symbol of his lofty status. The white zig-zaggohci, or paperstreamers,hanging from the rope afford evidenceof Sumo's religious associations;they are identical with those seen at the entranceto a Shinto shrine. The grand champion'sfancy apron is, of course,even more gorgeousthan thoseof the lesserlights. Spear-headed by the diminutive referee,all four participantsin the ceremony step up into the ring. The great man, flanked by his retainers, squats down and then, after rising and bowing to the gallern marches like the monarch he is to the center of the arena. Then comes the moment all the thousandsof children in the audiencehave been waiting for hour upon hour. As he balances himself on one leg and brings the other down with a loud thump to the ground, the youngstersset up a roar of approval that threatens to raise the roof. The motions the grand champion goes through may be split up into three classifications-the clapping of the hands, the extending of the arms, and the stamping of the feet. They follow a fixed form and there can be no adJibbing. Actually, there are two styles,known as the anryu (originated in the nineteenthcentury by Unryu, tenth

63

Pageantry

wrtozuna) and the shiranai (first performed by Shiranui, eighth yortozuna). The present-day grand champions, Chiyo-no-yama, Tochinishiki, and Waka-no-hanafollow the unrya style. What's the differencel Well, the unryu is describedas being "defensive" and the shiranui:tt might give offense to call it "offensive""aggressive." Going back to religion (or is it superstitionl) again,the clapping of the handsis said to be for the purposeof attractingthe attention of the gods. A fapanesedoesthis habitually when he pays a visit to a shrine. The extendingof the arms and the turning up of the palms is to show, symbolically,that the wrestler has no weapon concealed. In other words, he is pure and will fight clean. And tie stampingof the feet symbolizesthe stampingof everythingthat is evil into the ground. All this done,the grand championretiresto the edgeof the ring, bows once more, and withdraws, his place to be taken by the remaining grand championsin turn. When all have gone through the ritual the announceragainbeatshis clappersto attract the gods' attention and the breath-takingspectacleis over.

Bow Ceremony

An interesting little yumitori-shifti, or bow-rwirling ceremony follows the concluding bout each day (see Plate 2l). It appearsat first glanceto havelittle to do with Sumo. Its history is as follows: In the third year of the Tensho era (1575) the great warrior-lord, Oda Nobunaga, to celebratehis victory in battle, hdd a great Sumo tournament at Azuchi Castle, in what is now known as Shiga

64

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

Prefecture. Notices went out all over the country to the eflect that the winning wrestler would be given the colossal prize of five hundred ftofta (l ftorta equals4.96bushels)of rice, for in thosedays everythingwas reckonedin terms of ftoftu. One Ganzaemonwon the tourney and, in addition to the rice, was presentedby the great lord with a bow, the very samebow, it is claimed,that is usedin the ceremonytoday. And to commemoratethis historic occasionthe winner of each tournament was given the privilege of performing the yumitori-shifti after the final bout on the last day. A change was made kL 1952,and the show is now given daily by a hand-picked wrestler, Otayama, who has made the bow routine his special line. T\e yumitori-shifti may be said to round o{f the day's proceedingsnicely.

CHAPTER 10

The Referee

It may be considered strange that a mere referee should grab a whole chapter for himself. Yet it is no {nore than the Sumo arbiter deserves.He is unique (seePlates2, 4, 5,7, L2 & I4). To conjure up a vision of this colorful characterone must first of all obliterate all pre-conceivedideas of what a referee or umpire should be and jettison all one's Occidental notions. Take, for example,the refereein soccer. Therreticalln he is supposedto efface himself while at the same time maintaining control of the game He is not a part of the spectacleat all. That is to say,not until he brings down on his head the wrath of the fans by giving a decision againstthe home team; then, of course,he holds the centerof the stagewith all the spotlightsturned on. The "men in the blue suits" who officiatein baseballare somewha more conspicuousthan their soccercounterpartsbut the common view is to regard them in the light of a necessary evil. In both case they are more often the object of derision and abusethan of respect In the worst eveht they may evenbecomethe target of a barrageof rotten fiuit, eggs, or other missiles.

66

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

The refereein Sumq on the other hand, is regardedwith supreme respect. There are lots of what might be termed closeplays. But, howeverhe may call them-and like baseball'sgreat Bill Klem, he calls'em ashe sees'em-his decisionis never challengedby the fans; nor bylhe wrestlersthemselves.There is no booing, no catcallsif a popular wrestleris not declaredthe winner. And the unfortunate loser doesnot argue or with venom flashing in his eyesshake his 6st in the arbiter's face. It is simply not done. He retires, gracefully, to the showers. The ring is consideredsacrosanct'so that anytling in the nature of a barrage of fruit, vegetables,or dairy products would be looked upon as an outrage, and the offender-if such an extremely improbable event ever occurredlynchedby the crowd or sentencedto six months in the penitentiary. Sumo referees,known as gyoii, are all given the family name either of Kimura or Shikimori. This is the tradition which has been followed from time immemorial. They start out at the tender age of thirteen or fourteen by officiating at the bouts held betweenthe teen-agenovicesvery early in the morning. Then, their work over, they go to schoollike any other kid. have a ranking. And The referees,like the grapplersthemselves, in the lower grades, rank, very simply they dressaccordingto their until at the top they are then graduaily ascendingin gorgeousness a blazeof color. Look at the tasselon the fans they carry. It will provide a clue to their rank. Imperial purple (for the tate-gyoii,ot referee-in-chietonly) is the highest,followed by purple and white, maroon, red and white, blue and white' and blue, right down to funereal black, the lowest. The youngestrefereesofficiatebarefoot. Their seniorswear white tabi, or socks,and sandals. A seniorrefereein all his brocadedsplendoris alwaysver)/much

Tlre Referee

67

in the Sumo picture. For instance,he headsthe triumphal march of the grand championsdown the aisle preparatoryto their daily dohyo-iriritual, at which he is anything but a mere bit player. And, he is not only seer5but very much heard. Following the dohyo-iri it is his duty to read out from large sheetsof paper, which he displays to each side of the ring in turn, the following day's main bouts. The namesof the wrestlers,written by himself with a brush in large Chinesecharacters, are calledout in the peculiarhigh-pitched tonesof a Kabuki actor. It has to be heard to be believed. The styleis traditional and has at leastthe virtue of penetratingto every nook and corner of the vast amphitheater. In the wake of the announcer,the refereealso calls out the names of the wrestlerswho are to clash in the next bout. Then they step up into the ring and, as they go through their four minutes of shiftiri-naoslti,he bawls out somethingto work up their excitemen and finally instructsthem that "time is up" and that they had better "git rasslin'." The wrestlersknow when time is up, not only becaus the referee barks "Time!" but becausethey are also apprised of the fact by a young fellow who jumps up for this purposebehind the placewhere the purifying salt is kept. "But how is the audience to knowl" It's quite simple. All they have to do is to keep their eyeson the refereeand his fan. When he squatsright down and the fan, which previouslyhas beenfacing sideways,facesthem-if they are televiewing that is-that means the equivalent of "play ball!" A refereetakeschargeof boutsfeaturing wrestlersholding a rank correspondingto his own, and only the top man himself is entitled to handle the very last tilt of the day, in which one of the two rivals is alwaysa grand champion. He takeschargeof aboutthreematches beforebeing replacedby a colleague. A refereeis only human, of

68

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

course and, like even the best of politicians, sometimes makes a mistake. If he makestwq however,he is demotedand stepsdown the ladder a rung. Mention was made earlier of the teen-agerefereeswho brandish their fans sometime beforethe sun is up. At the other end of the scaleis the venerableShikimori I-no-suke,of the shrill voice and white goatee,who is over seventy. Fifty-five years a referee; that's / his record, one that will be very hard to beat. Questionsof salary are always interesting. I-nesuke, who ranks each haul in a second,and the seniorreferee,Kimura Sho-no-suke, total of seventythousandyen a month. Refereescorrespondingin rank to san-yafta wrestlers get forty-five thousanil and those correspondingto maftu-uchimen, thirty thousand. Plus specialallowancesfor each tournament.

CHAPTER 11

The Honorable |udges

Anyone who has evcr sat through a Sumo tournament will doubtIcss agree that there are times whcn it would take the wisdom of a Solomon to decide the winner of a bout. Two gigantic bodies take ofi more or less simultaneouslyfrom the arena, hurtle through space,and land with a thud somewhere in the vicinity of the front row of spectators. Question-who went out first? It happenson occasionthat one behemothis fung beautifully out of the ring while his opponent remains inside it, apparendy a certain winner. But nq before sending his rival seemingly to his doom, he has steppedan eighth of an inch outside the arena and is thus the loser. The refcrcc really has to keep his eyes skinned so as not to miss thesefine points. But "to crr is human" and, as was pointed out in the previous chapter, miss he sometimesdoes. To ensure,therefore, that justice prevails and the palm is awarded to the right man, Sumo has its court of appeals. Seatedat intervals aroundthe ring are five rtensa-yafta, or judges. Clad in the traditional ceremonial attire of the haori, a loose black robe flopping over thc haftama,a thicker black skirt. The haoi bearstle family crest

70

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

Should the refereebe in doubt and appealto the panel or should he err in his decision with a resulting protest from one or more of the judges,ttrerefollows what is known as a mono-ii, or pow-wow. When this occurs,the five judges hoist themselvesout of their seats and into the ring and thrash out the moot point, complete with gesticulationsto indicate what they think has taken place. The refereehimself plays no part in thesedeliberations. He awaits, at times no doubt in fearful trepidation,the outcome. As often as not, the other membersof the panel acceptthe view of the judge who chancedto be seatednearestthe spot where the wrestlerswere at the crucial moment. But not necessarilyso; and if the thing was so closethat no agreementcan be reachedon the winner, a rcri-naoshitakes place. This means that the bout must be fought all over again. A decisionto stagea toriaaoshi is invariably greeted,for obvious reasons,with prolonged applauseby the cashcustomers. They like to get a bit more for their money. Should no decisionbe reachedeven after this secondinstallment, the bout is re-stagedfollowing two intervening tilts and a chance gladiators to regain their energies given the by-this-time-exhausted in the dressing-room.And, if even after that one man finds it impossibleto win and the other to lose,the judgeswash their handsof the whole thing and call it a day and a draw. But this very rarely happens. Incidentally,until the summer of. 1957there used to be a a sort of Lord Chief |ustice,to whom a final appealwould rtensa-cho, be made. But with the recentdemocratizationof the sport, tlis omce was thought to be too autocraticand has been thrown to the winds. One of the judges actsas timekeeper. A timekeeperis indispensable,not only to determine when the wrestlersshall get down to work but also decidewhen a bout shall be temporarily halted in the

The flonorable

]udges

7l

event of no decisionbeing reached. For naturally they cannot go on puffing and blowing at each other endlessln all to no avail. They have,as it were, to comeup for air. The timekeepermotions to tle refereeand the rivals departto their respectivecornersto have their belly-bandstightened,to wipe off the sweat,and to slaketheir thirst with water. Now a word or two as to the identity of the judgesand the method of their appointment. As might be expected,they are all former wrestlersof at leastrnarta-uchirank, but not necessarilyall ex-grand championsor ex-champions,for the best wrestlers do not always make the bestjudges. Many of them are mastersof the gyms where the wrestlersdo their training. What's that about favoritismI No dice-there are too many judges; favoriiism is out'of the question. A total of twelvejudgesare selectedeachNew Year-though there is nothing arbitrary about this number. They bear different names from thosethey had in the dayswhen they were activein the ring. For instance Futabayama,Sumo's greatestmodern wrestler, who once went through sixty-nine bouts without a defeat, now calls himself Tokitsukaze. Tokitsukaze is a busy man. In addition to his duties as a judge, he runs his own gym, and is also presidentof the JapanSumo Association. The reader may be wondering whether there are any teen-age judges,just as there are teen-agewrestlersand teen-agerefereesin the early tilts. The answerto that one is that there are none. This is one job where age definitely gets the nod. In the early morning encounters,however, the number of judges is limited to f!vo, one on the eastsideof the ring, the other on the west. The honorable iudges,by the way, are paid for their work just Iike anybodyelse. They are honorable,but not honorary, judges.

So Clean and Gentlemanly

So Clean and Gentlemanly "Cleanlinessr"runs an old saying, " is next to godliness." It certainly is in Sumo, at any rate. Make no mistake about that. Originalln Sumo may be said to have been a form of entertainment offered to the gods. Indeed, as we have seen,the first tournament ever was held in a temple compound. The grand champions, it has been noted, have white zig-zag gohei hangng from the rope that encircles their waist. The same type of thing may be seen at the entrance to a Shinto shrine. To call the attention of the gods, it is believed,wooden clappersare beatenby the announcerbefore the ceremony of the dohyo-iri and also prior to the concluding bout of the day. So much for the godliness. follows asnaturally asnight follows day. To take, The cleanliness first of all, the scattering of salt in the ring by the wrestlers that plays such a prominent part in the pre-boutproceedings. A whole bale of it, they say,is useduP in a coupleof days,and one can well 'Westerner,this ritual. Religious believeit. Quite mystifying to the in origin, of course,its object is the purification of the ring. It can well be imagined that if a wrestler should ever forget to do his salt-

73

scatteringhe would considerthat his luck was out and that he would inevitably lose his match. It is interesting to note the various styles of salt-scattering. Some wrestlers fing it down in a more or less pcrfunctory manner, almost contemptuously,in fact. Others, among whom Annenyama, the great young hopeful, is an outstanding cxample, throw it joyously high in the air. So much for the salt. Now to turn to the water. Yes, that's all it is, although some spectatorsmay be running away with the false idea that it's somethingstrongerthan just Adam's ale the grapplers rke at the ringside beforeand after a contest. The wrestlersdon't drink the water. They merely rinse their mouths and immediately ryit it out; for, like the salt routine, this water businessis nothing more than a purification rite. Two large pails are kept in opposite cornersof the ring; out of them the water is ladled with wooden dippers. The rinsing of the mouth is a must. And certainwrestlers it should be added, arc even more particular. They meticulously and ostentatiouslywipe underneaththe armpitswith tissuepaper,to removeany offensiveperspiration. This takesplace,curiously enough, beforea bout, not after; the idea is to start out clean and pure. To return to the ring. In addition to the thorough salting it undergoesfrom morning to evening it is carefully swept and smootheddown at frequent intervals. Any piece of foreign matter is tossedout, often by the wrestlers ttremselves. From time to time, the arena is also given a sprinkling of water. But it is on the rcmewhat infrequent occasionswhen blood is drawn, quite acci dentally of course,and spills on the floor of the arenathat one realizes what tremendousstressis laid in the world of Sumo on purification. With so much slapping going on it is natural that a nose for instance, should bleed from time to time. And, should any of

74

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

the blood fall and defile the sacredring, the contestantsat once withdraw until the messhas been cleanedup. This is no simple matter, either. The foul section is scraped and scrdped again, sweptand smoothedoverand over and then inspecteduntil no doubt at all remains that everything is in order and the bout may be resumed. It is in no senseof carping criticism that it has to be noted that, unfortunately,the ideal of cleanlinessdoesnot extend as far as the auditorium. Now for anotherfeatureof Sumo that is to be found in very few other sports,or at any rate to the samedegree. Referenceis made to its gentlemanlycharacter. In this respectit resemblesparticularly the typically British sports of rugby football and cricket. It is consideredextremely bad form to question in any way a decision made by tie referee in the former game or by the umpire in the latter. As previouslymentionedin the chaptertitled "The Referee" the sameremark may be applied to Sumo. It is a well-known Oriental trait not to betray one'sinner feelings -hence referencesto the so-called"Oriental mask." And this trait is nowheremore in evidencethan in the Sumo ring. The wresders are seldom stirred to anger-foul tactics are extremely rare-but even i.f they were so stirred, the spectatorswould never be aware of it. In Sumo a display of temper, such as may be seen on the soccer6eld or the baseballdiamond, is unthinkable. Undoubtedly the religious angle has very much to do with it, Sumo being just as much a rite as it is a sport. Imagine a soccerplayer or a professionalwrestler helping an op ponent up from the ground after he has felled him! Yet that is exactlywhat happensin Sumq wherc the helping hand is invariably

So Clean and Gentlemanly

75

cxtcndedto a fallen rival. Again, after steppingup into the ring for his match, a wrestler is handed a dipperful of water by the winner of the previous tilt. That is the gentlemanly thing for a winner to do, rather than making an unseemlydashfor the showers. Actually, it's a steaminghot bath he enjoysafter his labors. It is also regardedas good etiqucttefor a wrestler to bow in the direction of the ring on his arrival from the dressing-roomand to do likewiseprior to his return. fust anotherindication of the shrinelike atmospherethat surrounds the ring. The same custom is still observedat certain girls'high schoolsin |apan. On reaching the schoolgatesas they are leavingto rerurn home the girls turn around and bow to the schoolas a gestureof respect.

CHAPTER 13

(Y 6

yYi.,,

l-J n-,

n -

Sumo Nomenclature

rs

The nomenclatureof Sumo, in common with many aspectsof the sport, is somethingout of this world. The ordinary Tom, Dick, or Harriet in fapan has the suffix san tacked on to his or her name, correspondingto our Mr., Mrs. or Miss. Not so with the wrestlers,at leastin their professionalcapacity. They are labeledse{2,Chiyo-nc.yama(Plate 5), for instance, (pronouncedae{i). Also, being referred to as Chiyo-no-yama-seki a wrestler in the courseof his career bears at least three names, and sometimesmore, for a man may decide on a change in the belief that therebyhe may win the favor of Lady Luck. For, like stagefolk, the big grapplersare extremely superstitious. To takc the caseof the greatestwrestler of the age, the peerless Futabayama(Plate 1). He was born, way down south in Oita Prefecture(Kyushu), SadajiAkiyoshi. Then, for his Sumomonicker, he took the name of his patron, Futaba,and added the suffixyama or mountain. (No, Futaba is not Scotch for football; it means "two leaves.") Finally, .when he retired from active competition and setup a heya,or gym, of his own, his name becameTokitsukaze

i i . Gn.qN n C uavproN Wara-uo-naN n : N ew l y promote d Grand C hampi on Waka-no-hana, Il anked by hi s attc ndants rrrformi ng the dol tyo-i ri , a rceremony reserved for grand ri amoi ons onl v.

16. A rrrn rse oey's gour: The new grand champi on, Wak a-no-hana and fri ends.

1 7 . Y o n r - r a o s n r : In yo r i- ta o sh l b o th r vr e stle r s g o headl o n g o u i o l t h e r in g , th e m a n o n to p b e in g th e w tnncf. H e r e H i r o s e g a r va is se e n to p p lin g T a ka n ish iki. ";aewiLa

K o t o - g a - h a m a io n tcp ) u se s h is fa vo r ite 18. Uc ur-c . r r : tut'/ t i-gnlg t h r o r v t o c l c f e a t Iu ' a ka ze . In th is th r o \\' K( ) to ga-ham a ha s i n s c r t e c l h i s l e ft le g b etwe en th e lcg s o f h is opponent an d t h e n t o p p l e d h im o ve r .

". "

:

19. A rr,ruyi )'tH oL,srr:D: Th e hugc C harnpi on l l atsunobori i l cft) i s pushccl out of the arc na by K oto-sa-hama, rvho has takcn 6rn hol c l of hi s ri val 's btl l r,,bantl . N otc K oto ,ga-harna' s heav i l y banrl agecl l cft shoul cl cr.

20. S r xl r-srcr: : In thi s throw W ak abav ama (ri ght-l sxi r-rgs N aruvama ncatl y round and then dcposrts hi m on the i l oor.

Sumo Nomenclature

:l;:li*rt;*r

21 Y urt r r o n t - s n t r r : O t a ya r n a is h cr c p er fo r m in g th e yu m i' tori-s hif t i o r b o w c e r e m o n y, wh ich is h e ld a t th e co n clu sio n of c ac h d a y ' s b o u t s a t a g r a n d to u r n a m e n t.

8L

(ftaze-pronounced "kazay"-s1sx15 "wind"). This secondnamechange occurs when a wrestler quits the ring and his topknot is shorn off by the master of his gym. Certain suf6xesconstantlyrecur in Sumo nomenclature,the most common being yama and gatua. For a giant wrestler nothing could be more apt than to stick yama on to the end of his name. And garua or river is surely appropriate in that after many windings and tribulations it finally reachesits goal; the wrestler'sgoal is the rank of yoftozuna. Umi, found in a number of names, means "the sea"; as with yama, its very size makes it fitting for use in Sumo. Shio, too, is commoq meaning "tide." It may be said to denotethe ebb and flow of a wrestler'sfortunes in the arena. The name Asashiomeans"morning tide." One often comesacrossthe suffix nishifti after a name. It means "brocade" and is derived from the gorgeousceremonial brocade apronsthe wresderswear when they stagetheir daily paradearound the arena. Prominent nishifti-tagged men are Grand Champion Tochinishiki (see Plate 3 & 11), and also Shionishiki, Tokinishiki and Miyanishiki. Nobori, as in Matsunobori (seePlate 18), means "ascent" symbolizingthe climb up the Sumoladder of success.Rya, seenin Futatsuryu and Daitenryu, is "dragon," calculatedto strike fear into the heart of a rival. So much for the sufExesmost frequently found in Sumo-dom. Now for the fore portion of the names, which sometimespresents much more of a problem. Someof them seemmeaninglessat first, until you tumble to the fact that they are proper names. Take Narutoumi for instance. Naruto is the name of |apan's most famous whirlpool, which is ofi the coastof Awa, former name of Tokushima Prefecrure,in Shikoku. Narutoumi comes, however,

82

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

not from Awa but from the island of Awaii, betweenHonshu and Shikoku. He has taken a slight liberty here. Shinobuyamatook his name from Mt. Shinobu, in Fukushima Prefecture,where he first saw the light of day. And Champion Matsunobori'sMatsu is the 6rst part of the name of his home town, Matsudo,in Chiba Prefecture. Other proper names are contained in Koto.ga-hama (see Plates 3, 18 & 19) and Annenyama. Thc former comesfrom Kotohira, in Shikoku; hama means "harbor" and the ga is merely a connectinglink. Annen is the gentleman's surnameand all he did was to add yama. The pudgy and popular ex-champion Mitsuneyama, though brought up in Tokyo, originally came from Gumma Prefecture, which boasts the mitsu or "three" famed peaks of Myogi, Akagi, and Haruna. And Miyanishiki who, you might think, had some connection with a miya, or shrine, was born and raised in the city of Miyako, up north in Iwate Prefecrure. Ih many cases,however,a wrestler takes his name from the gym to which he belongs. If his name begins with Tofti, like Tokitsuyama or Tokinishiki, then it may safely be assumedthat he's a Tokitsukazeman. Tochinishiki and Tochihikari are obviouslydis ciples of ex-grand champion Tochigiyama, a native of Tochigi Prefecture,whose name since his retirement has been Kasugano. Tochi means"horse chestnut" and hiftari, "light." Tama-no-umi II belongs to the gym once operatedby the late great Grand Champion Tamanishiki. It is of interestto note that the no in the middle of his name may be written in ftanii (Chinese characters)or in the ftauftana syllabary. Originally Tama had it in ftanii, the same as Tama-no-umi I, presently a TV commentator. But a bad streakbrought tearsof shameto his cycs,so he changed

Sumo Nomencliature

83

it to the ftataftana"no." Recentlyhe switchedback again. Tarna, by the way, means"treasure." Picturesqueare the handlesadoptedby Grand Champion Chiyono-yamaand ex-grand champion Kagamisato. The former name means"mountain of a thousand eras," and the latter, "village of tie Mirrorr" ftagami denoting "mirror." Kagamisato'smentor was cx-junior champion Kagamiiwa; it is from him that Kagami took hic name. Waka-nohana means "flower of youth." Waka ("young") is a member of tht Hanakago or "basket of flowers" gym. Wakahaguroand Wakamaedaalso derive their namesfrom their masters, ex-grand champions Haguroyama and Maedayama resPectively. Theseare the colorful namesthe world of Sumo gives its heroes And what of the fansl What names do they call them? The answeris, they don't. "Ya big bum" has no |apaneseequivalentat leastso far as Sumois concerned.

CHAPTER 14

'Off Duty" Everything about the Sumo ring is most exotic-the very appearanceof the wrestlers,the ceremonial.the posturing,and so on and so forth. One might, then, expectthe private lives of the grapplers themselvesto be equally exotic, with the great men holding court, surrounded by a bevy of fawning geisha, or having mysterious rendezvouswith ladies of gentle birth, and dates with movie stars or glamorousfashion models. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Your Sumo champion should not be confusedwith a professional pug in the Western world. The latter frequently becomesthe darling of some particular-or should one say not so particularlsocialset. He is lionized; he soonembarkson a life of luxury that ill becomeshis, in nine casesout of ten, lowly upbringing. The breath of scandalis soon abroad, training is neglected,bouts are lost, and his name quickly forgotten. Most Sumo men, however, are just plain country fellows when they start out and remain so, as a rule, even when they have reached their destination,the rank of grand champion. To begin with, the

"Off r)uty,

85

young apprentices,novices,scrubs,tyros-call them what you willhave only a very meageramount of pocket money to spend. Their life consistsof little other than training, eating, and sleeping, with an occasionalvisit to a movie theateror a pachinfto (pinball) parlor. They have neither the time nor rhe wherewithal to step out of line. As they proceed up the ladder their allowance,or rather $alary under tle ncw (1957) system, rises. Maftu-uchi wrestlers get forty-five thousandyen a month. Not bad, of course,but not enough by any manner of meansto play around with. The majority of wrestlers of. mae-gashira grade, who are thc lower-ranking maftu-uchi,are still strangersto tle bonds of mauimony. Naturally, therefore,they like to step out, and when they do the tab is picked up for the most part by their patrons. Fan ciubs are built up around many of the leading wrestlers,and they help to boost a grappler's salary. As in most circlesin fapan, it's what one can pick up on the side that really counts. Televiewers must also have noticed elegant geisha scatteredhere and there in the crowd at a Sumo tournament. Theseladiesare among the most enthusiasticof all fans, and, quite naturally, the wrestlersreciprocate. Who could be so churlish as to blame them? Coming to wine-in the broad senseof the term-rumor has it that the demoted,elongated,prognathousex-championOuchiyama is secondto none, although ex-grand champion Yoshibayamacan give him quite a good run for his money. On the other hand, there are those who have foresworn the demon rum. The handsome Shinobuyamais one, and it's a sure thing his wife is happy. For, in no country more than in |apan do inebriated husbandspresent sucha problem, the more so becauseusually the wife herselfdoesn't drink.

86

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

Most Sumo men, just as they weigh more and, of course,eat more than you or I, also drink more, on the average.And they always have a perfect alibi, for they can claim, "Oh, we're just drinking to put on weight, highly desirablein a wrestler." As to what they drink, beer'sa steadyfavorite, but a lot of them prefer the local brew, sak€,with whisky a very poor third and the others also-rans. A word or two now as to the big money-earners. Above the mae-gashiramen are the top-ranking san-yaftu; among them, ftornusubi and seftiwaftewalk away with a monthly pay check amounting to seventy thousand yen. Ozefti can lay claim to a hundred and ten thousanda month, while the men at the top of the tree, the yoftozana, bring along a suitcaseand cart away a hundred and fifty tlousand. With this kind of money they can aflord to marry, so it is not surprising that all three of the present grand championsare living in double harness. The championsstill are the hirsute Asashio and.Koto-gaenjoying single blessedness hama. Grand Champion Chiyo-noyama, who is six feet four inches tall and, with thoselong arms of his, resemblesa giant spider,is married to an Osaka girl, the daughter of a restaurateur. She is as short as he is long. They have,at the moment of writing, one small daughter, and when, after drinking, Papa returns to the nest with the usual present as a peaceoffering, he invariably wakes up the tot to give it to her. This is consideredbad form, but, it is claimed, husband and wife have not had a singlequarrel sincethey were wed. The Tokyo-born grand champion, Tochinishiki, left the ranks of the bachelors comparatively late. He led his bride, like Chiyo-noyama's the daughter of a restaurateur, to thc altar when he was

"Off

Dutyn

87

trventy-nine. They have not, at the moment of writing, been blesse with offspring. Tochinishiki is a great believer in the value of sleep and his wife reports that he even embarrassesher by snoring at the movies. Tochi, however, drinks moderately. Grand Champion Waka-no.hana, the ever-popular hero of the movie The llafta-no-hana Story rn which he himself played the leading role, was dealt a cruel blow when his only son, a fouryear-old boy, upset a steaming pot of. chanfto-nabe,or wrestler' stew, over himself and was scaldedto death. As a consequenc Waka sworeofr.chanftofor severalmonths, thus weakeninghimsel to such an extent that his form plummeted. The reader may be curious to know what goes into wrestlers'stew. |ust about every thing, as a matter of fact. Fish, fowl, meat, eggs, vegetablesare all tossedin and sugar and soy sauceadded. The caloric conten must be tremendous. Champion Matsunobori,he of the bullish mien, was the lates to take to himself a wife, at the advanced age of thirty-two. As with all wresders,the affair was arrangedthrough the good offices of a go-between.

CHAPTER 15

The Charm of Sumo "Grotesque,"one fancies,would be the 6rst epithet to come to a Westerner'smind after his first viewing of Sumo. And, lacking the patienceof the Oriental, he might very well lil feel inclined to leave it at that, maybe after taking a picture or t\ilo for his album. Should he, however,be tempted to give it a second * I I look oi a third he would probably change the label. "Bizarre" it "spectacular." perhaps, even "colorful" or or "exotic"; might become, But first he has a barrier to clear, a srumbling-blockthat foils a large percentageof non-Orientals,namely the preliminary shiftirinaoshi (Plate 2) that precedesthe bouts. There are two possible ways of handling this siruation. One is to cultivate an interest in the goings-onand uy to figure out what it all means;it doesmean something,of course,for the men are not going through their routine merely to kill time. The other way is to study the audience. That fellow in the beret; he's there everyday. How can he sparc the time? Looks like an artist of some sort. Ah, he's making sketches; must be from some newspaper or other. That girl in ftimono in the third row, always there, and always alone. What

The Charm

of Sumo

89

a goodJookerl Could be she's a geisha or something; shouldn'r bc surprisedif she was the light of lovc of one of the wrestlers. Or, televicwers might check their watchcs and give themselvesexactly four minutes. That's how long thc wre$tlers are allowed for their preliminaries. Having by this time cleared the hurdle, tle Western viewer can sit back comfortably and begin to enjoy the time-honored art. His epithet by now should bc "interesting" at least. Or perhaps ,,quite a showt" And finalln if the thing gets a hold on him, he may find himself muttering "thrillingr" "wonderful," even .'terrific.,' If hc reachesthis exalted stage,he will know wherein the charm of Sumo lies. In comparing Sumo with allied sports onc can see at once why it has,inevitably, a much wider appeal. Take the color, for instance, and the pageantry. Thcre is nothing like it in boxing or in Wcstern-type wresding. The grunt and groaners, it is true, makc a feeble attempt at imitation with the silken gowns thcy afiect as tley appear in the ring. But Sumo has the tremendous advantage of a long tradition, which makes all the ceremonial seem not a whit out of place. The ceremonial lends a dignity to the proceedings which is surely one of tfie principal sourcesof its charm; without such digniry the label "grotesque" might with justice be applied, as it undoubtedly can to all-in wrestling. Together with its color and dignity one should notc the cleanliness of Sumq clcanlinessin both its literal and figurative senses Boxing, few would denn is dirty in both sensesof the word, and a boxer, his face smearedwith blood and resembling a piece of raw meat, is a most repulsive sight Blood is seldom drawn in Sumo; if evcr it should bc, all uaces of it are at once removed. As for

90

Sumo:

Sport and Tradition

fair plan it may be said to be the keynote of fapan's traditional sportl there is no hitting below the belt. Without a doubt there are pervertedpeople who are not content unlessa certain amount of dirt is thrown into their sport. Sumo is not for them; they would be well advisedto stick to pro wrestling, where they can have all the dirt they want. A Sumowrestler is a good loserwho never betraysdissatisfaction, whether in word or deed, with the referee'sdecision. And he is courteoustoward his opponent,howeverroughly he may be slapped or flung about. The sameapplies,with a few rare exceptions'to rugby football. It should be remembered,however, that most of the participantsin this sport, in Britain at least, come from what one might term good families. Sumo men, on the other hand, are in ninety-nine casesout of a hundred the sons of poor farmers or fishermen,which makes their extreme courtesyand gentlenessall the more remarkable. In p
The Charm

of Sumo

9L

morning; then, as the afternoonwears on, wrestlersof higher and still higher rank are matcheduntil the show reachesits climax toward evening with the appearanceof the grand championsthemselves. These, after hours of suspensefor the fans, are the final pulsating moments. And it is not only a single day but the entire fifteen-daytournament that is packedwith drama. The interestmounts day by day as candidatesfor honorsdrop out one by one until a mere handful are left in contention. As often as not the issueis in doubt until the very last day, which comesto a closewith a bout betweentwo grand championsas a fitting finale. The drama ends with the presenta tion to the victor of the Emperor's Cup and the championship flag and with the playing of the stirring national anthem, the Kimigayo.

Index Akagi, Mt., 82 Akashi Shiga-no-sukc, 8, 15,53 Aki-no-umi, 52,54 Anncnyama, 28, 30-31,73, 82,92 Aomori, 13,50 Asashio, 30,8l-82, 86,92 Ashi-tori, 4l Awa, 81 Awa1i,82 Azuchi Castle, 63 Antmaf.uji, 52-54

Basho, tournaaents, 8-9r 23-25 at al Baseball,12,65

Cobb, Ty, ll Collins, Eddic, 11

Daimyo, fcudal lord, 56 Daitenryu, 8l Dcwa-ga-take,14 Dewaminato, 41 Dewa-no-umi (Tsunc-no-hana),10, 47,52,54 Dohyo-ii, ring ccrcmony, t1,26, 56-59,63,67 Drama, 90-91 Drinking, 85-86

Edo period, 23 Edo (Tokyo),9 Ceremonial,56-64,89 Chan\o-nabc,wresdcrs'stew,51, 87 Chiba, 25,82 Chiyo-no-yama, 13, 30, 36, 41, 1749,54,63,76,93,96,92 Chon-magc,top-knot, 27

Fukuoka, 23-24 Fukushima, 82 Futabayama (Tokitsukaze), 9, ll, 13,5l-52,54,71,76

94 Futatsuryu, 8l

Ganzaemon,64 Gentlemanliness, 74-75, 90 Gino-sho,prize for skill,29,49 Gohei, paper stream.ers, 62,72 Gumma, 82 Gyoji, reterce,29, 32, 34,57, 65-68

Index Kagamisato,9, 30,42, 49-51,54,83 Kansai era, 23 Kanto-sho,ptize for fighting spirit, 29 Karate, 35 Kcnsa-cho,chief judge, 70 Kcnsa-yafti,judges,33,69-71 Kesho-mauashi, ceremonialaprons,

)/

Kcta-gari, 4l Kimari-tc, winning holds, 34,36Haguroyama (Tatsunami); 52, 54, 46 Kimigayo, national anthem, 9l 83 Hai-do,21,27 Kimura referecs,66,68 Hajikami, 8 Kita-no-nada,92 Ha\ama, formal skirt, 69 Klem, Bill, 66 Hanakagogym., 50,83 Kokusai (International) Stadium, Haori, lormal coat, 69 16.24 Haruna, Mt., 82 Komasabi,27-28,86,92 Koto-ga-hama,30,44,45,82, 86,92 Hata\i-ftomi, 4l Height, weight standards,14 Kotohira, 82 Hidari-yotsa, 42 Kabi-nage, 49 Kuramae Kokugi Hall, 7, 1l Hirohito, Emperor, 7 Ky ot o, 9, 23, 56 Hitachiyama,10-l l, 53 Hokkaido, 13,47 Maedayama(Takasago),55, 83 hira, 27-28, 85, 92 M ae-gas Mac-tatcmits*,35 M aft*-uchi, L0,26, 61,85 Iwate, 82 Matsudo,82 Matsunobori,30,45,8l-82, 87,92 |apan Sumo Association, 10, 13, Mawashi,belly-band,44,45 t 5, 24, 47,71 Meals,2L-22,87 Meiji cra, 10,14,52 Jimmaku,11,53 Migi-yots*, 44 l t -ryo, 26, 33 Mitsuneyama,30,82 Miyako, 82 Kagamiiwa, 83 Miyanishiki, 8l-82

95

Index Mono-ii, judges' pow-wow, Myogi, Mt., 82

70

Nagasaki, 9 Nagoya, 12,23-24 Naruto, 8l Narutoumi, 81 Nikko, 56 Nio Nidaya, 9 Nisho-no-seki gym, 50 Nomenclature, 76, 81-83 N omi -no-sukune, 7,l 0

S al ari es,68 . 85 Salt-scattering, 72-73 S an-yaftu,27,86 S asa-dera,9, 23 S crubs, 16, 21-22, 24, 33, 85 Sc\i-waftc, junior champions, 14

27,86,92

Odachi, 14 Oda N obunaga, 8,63 Ohi kan, 92 O-icho-magc, stylish top-knot, 27 Oita, 13,76 Omi , 8 Osaka, 8, L2,23-24,48 Otayama, 64 Ouchiyama, 15, 30, 49, 85 O z e fti, champions, 10, 27-28, 86, 92 Ozora, 15

Pan American Airwqs, P ri zes,29 P'trification, 72-7i

Raiden, 10 Raftida eatth,25 Ranking, 26-31,66 Rikidozan, 35,50,53

Roosevelt (" Teddy "), l0 R yogoku, 1 6,24

29

Scndai,9 Shihai, Emperor's Cup, 29,92 Shikimori rcferees,66,68 hi, 32-34,36,67, 88 Shi ftiri-naos Shikoku, 8l-82 Shinobu,Mt., 82 Shinobuyama,30,82, 85'92 Shionishiki,81 Shiranui I, 53 Shiranui II, 53 Shiranuistyle, 63 45 Shitate-nage, Shuftun-sho,outstanding achiev ment prize, 29 Soto-ga\c,45 Suiiin, Emperor,7 Sumo Museum,l0 Sumo ring, 25

Taboos, 35 Tachi-ai, 34 Tachimochi, 58 Tachiyama,52,54 Taema-no-kchaya,7 Taisho cra, 52

96 Takasago,scc Macdayama Tamanishiki,50,J2, 14,82 Tama-no-umiI, 82 Tama-no-umill, 30.82,92 Tanikaze,9,11,53 Tatsunami, scc Haguroyama Tcchniqucs,36,41-46 Tensho era, 63 Tcrukuni, 11,54 Tochigiyama (Kasugano),52, 54, 82 Tochihikari, 30,82 Tochinishiki, 13, 30, 34,41,48-50, 54, 63,91-92,96-97,92 Tokinishiki, 81-82 Tokitsuyama, 30, 45, 82,92 Tokushima,81 Tori-naoshi,70 Ttaining, 2l-22 Tunc-no-hana,scc Dcwa-no-umi Tsappari, 36 Tilri-dash?, 45 Ts*yuharai, 58

Index Uchi-gaftc, 45 Ume-ga-taniII, 10,53 Unryu, 53,58 Unryr stylc,58,63 Uttchai, 45 Uutatc-nagc,45

Other TUT BOOKS available: BACHELOR'S

Wakabayama,30,41 Wakahaguro,30,83,92 Wakamaeda,30,83,92 Waka-no-hana, 13,30,45,50-51,54, 63,83,87,92 Yobi-dashi, announcer,29, 57, 72 Yoftozuna,grand champions,8-ll, 13,26, 28, 47-55,58, 63,92 Yori-ftiri, 42 Yori-taoshi, 42 Yoshibayama, 30,42, 49,51, 54, 8586,92 Y,rmitori-shi ki, bow ceremony,6364

HAWAII by Boyede Mente

BACHELOR'S JAPAN by Bojte d,eMente BACHELOR'S MEXICO by Boye de Mente A BOOK OF NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS AND FOLK LORE by SamuelAdams Drake TI{E BUDDHA TREE by Furnio Nipa; tra,nslatedb! KennethStrong CALABASHES AND KINGS: An Introduction Hawaii by Stanley D. Porteus CHINA COLLECTING Earle

to

IN AMERICA by Alice Morse

CHINESE COOKING MADE EASY hy RosyTwng CHOI OI!: The tighter Zid,eb

Side of Vietnam by Tony

CONFUCIUS SAY fu Leo Shaw

THE COUNTERFEITER and Other Stories by Yasushi Inoue; translated.by Leon Picon CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS by Alice Morse Earle

OF BYGONE DAYS

CUSTOMS AND FASHIONS IN OLD NEW ENG. LAND by Atice Morse Earle DINING IN SPAIN by Gerrie Beeneand Lourd,esMiranda King

( continuedfrom insidefront cover)

cal associationsof Sumo. For behind the ritual po' sturing and gesturingthat seemto constitute a major portion of the Sumo contest and lead up to the sud den head-on clashingof two gigantic figures,therelies a world of picturesque meaning and time-honored tradition that, properly understood,is bound to enhance the appeal of the sport to the non-Japanes readerand sportslover. Black and white photographic plates and line drawings provide illustrations ol Sumo's various aspects.

I

I

t

It

J. A. SARGEANT's name is already a familiar one both to those enthusiastic sport fans and student of the English languagewho read his newspapercol' umns. Born in Lancaster, England, in 1903, Mr. Sargeant finished his education at Cambridge Uni' versity. He is a long-time resident of Japan, having lived here since 1934, taking part in educationa activities which included teaching English at the former Imperial Naval Academy, the Tokyo Foreign Language School, and Waseda University. He is presently lecturer in English at Tokyo University. Other activities prominent in his busy life include that of Sports Editor for the Asahi Evening News and writer of the popular languagecolumn "Brusb Up Your English" for the same newspaper.Previously publishedworks by Mr. Sargeantinclude "Brush Up Your English," "Polish Up Your English" and the co-authorship of a number of English textbooks As an ardent and observant Sumo fan himself, Mr. Sargeant is well qualified to present us with the vivid closeups in his column "Sumo As I See It" and in this book.

Charles E. Tuttle Company Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan

ABA/NACS

GAMES

"This is the book the foreign fan of sumo (Japanese wrestling) has been waiting for . . . ideal for the armchair enthusiast who finds himself almost hypnotized in front of his television set during the six annual tournaments but wishes he knew a little more about what he is seeing." -Today's Japan ". . . Said to be the only English-languagework on the subject, it explains the exciting sport, its history, its pageantry, its nomenclature, its techniques, its charm. . . ." Advertiser -Honolulu "For those of us who know just enough about Sumo to know the difference between tlrc shimenawa and the o-icho-mage, or a tsuri-dasii from a tottari or tsuppari, this is a useful book; for those of us who know even less, it is a necessaryone'" Daily News -Mainichi "Sumo is probably Japan's most spectacular spectator sport. Dating back to before the Christian Era, Sumo is enjoying today increasing popularity in Japarr and abroad. For the first time, an authoritative book has been published solely for Western readers. . . ." -Air Force Times ". . . The difficult climb from a salaryless apprentice to grand champion is described by the author with many behind-the-scenes highlights. The reader is also given interesting sidelights as to the significance of the pageantry of the six 15-day qournaments held throughout the year." -Navy Times "Sumo, 'the sport of emperors' in Japan. . . dates back beyond the Christian era.... This book not only explains this strange sport but also tells of the little known facets of the wrestler's Life hehinrl t]le

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