The rituals, customs, and ceremonies of sumo have a long history and are still a huge part of the sport today. Martins, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ![]() There are lots of ways of ‘winning’ a match, or kimarite(winning techniques), as well as a few that can get you disqualified. As previously mentioned, the way that a wrestler wins a match is by getting their opponent out of the ring or getting any body part other than the soles of their feet to touch the ground in the ring. There are many rules/rituals in Sumo that have their roots in religion, most relating to Shintoism. From here on out small rules/additions were put in place and it became the sport it is today. Sumo had its ups and downs over the next few hundred years but made a big comeback in the late 1800’s when a tournament was organized by Emperor Meiji. It is said that the famous daimyo and one of the ‘Unifiers’ of Japan Oda Nobunaga became a big fan of the sport and even held a tournament in the 1570’s in which 1500 wrestlers participated! This is thought to be where the Dohyo (ring) made its first appearance, which is a major part of the sport today. Once it started to get bigger and more popular among the public, it wasn’t uncommon for daimyo to sponsor individual wrestlers. Stuart Rankin, (CC BY-NC 2.0), via flickr Before this, the sumo was repurposed from a performance for the gods to a form of combat training that was used by the samurai. However, sumo didn’t actually become a form of public entertainment until the 16th century, especially during the Edo Period. Legends say that sumo was practiced by the gods, before being handed down to the people long long ago. In ancient times sumo originated as a performance to entertain the Shinto deities. To put it simply, the name of the game is trying to force your opponent out of the ring or get any body part other than the soles of their feet to touch the ground. ![]() Sumo is a form of competitive contact wrestling that originated in Japan and is said to have first started hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
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