10 Amazing Facts about Sumo
What do you know about sumo wrestling?
Where is it practiced?
How old do you think sumo wrestling is?
Sumo Wrestler Fun Facts
What is Sumo
The traditional national sport of Japan - Sumo - began a long time ago. In sumo, there are two men who are wearing a mawashi (loincloth) and fight inside a dohyo (circular ring). The men try to push each other out of the ring.
The wrestlers are called rikishi and wear their hair in a topknot, while the referee wears clothing similar to that of the samurai from 600 years ago. Sumo has many different aspects of the Japanese culture in it. For example, one of the things that wrestlers do is throw salt into the ring before they start to purify it. Japanese paintings have pictures of sumo wrestlers from as far back as the third century, and legends and myths talk about sumo. In the eighth century sumo fights were performed to pray for good crops, and in later years the emperor had sumo fights at the imperial court to show strength. The first professional sumo fought to collect donations to build shrines, temples, bridges, etc. They also got money to pay the rikishi.
Sumo is a Japanese sport that has lots of tradition and the rikishi are cultural ambassadors when they travel overseas.