I like sumo! Sumo is a stylized form of Japanese wrestling where two extremely large, often obese men wearing very little clothing try to force each other out of the ring or onto the ground.
The rules are simple. When anything other than the soles of a wrestlers feet touch the ground or if he is forced out of the Dohyo they lose. They can’t hit with a close fist or pull hair but other than Even the uniform of sumo is pretty simple.
Sumo wrestlers do not wear much. Their only uniform is a Mawashi. A Mawashi is a 10 yards long, 2 feet wide silk cloth wrapped around the belly and groin of the Rikishi (wrestler). That’s all they wear to wrestle and train.
The ring where the wrestlers wrestle is called a Dohyo. The Dohyo is a ring about 15 feet in diameter, on a specially constructed square platform of clay 2 feet high off the stadium floor, with the platform about 18 feet on each side. Inside the Dohyo, very large men perform a series of Shinto rituals until they are ready to wrestle. Sumo matches typically last just a few seconds, but sometimes they last longer.
The Gyoji is the referee who officiates at each bout, in addition to other duties, including the closing ceremony. The Gyoji wears a kimono similar to those worn by samurai (warrior) from the Kamakura Period in Japanese history, and a hat which is like a Shinto priest’s hat.
Sumo wrestlers are VERY LARGE. They get that way by training hard, then eating a BIG MEAL, often followed by drinking a lot of beer and then taking a nap to let the calories do their work.
I spent 3 ½ years living in a town where two sumo groups lived and trained for the summer tournament. On days when I had no classes to teach, I would often ask my principal if I could go watch them train. Generally, the principal would not allow his staff to leave the building, nor would his staff even ask to leave work, but I think he got such a kick out of the fact that I was interested in sumo he would let me go. I got to eat chunko nabe (a soup with all sorts of meat and vegetables thrown in) with sumo wrestlers and see how they trained.
I like Sumo not because it features really obese men half naked, but because it combines Japanese cultural and tradition with king on the mountain which is a game I used to play as a kid on the big snow pile of rural Wisconsin.
There are so many cool and unique games played around the world.