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COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 3, 2014

Tokyo: What do you make of the Japan Sumo Association's decision to charge fans $120 to watch live tournaments online?

The Japan Sumo Association has just introduced a pay-per-view system for live streams of top tournaments. Costing $10 per day and $15 for the final day, or $120 for the entire tournament, the concept drew sharp criticism from overseas fans.
SUMO
Mar 23, 2020

Asanoyama achieves goal of promotion to sumo's second-highest rank

Following news of his impending promotion to ozeki, Asanoyama said Monday he had accomplished one of his career goals.
Japan Times
SUMO
Jul 10, 2019

Sumo 101: Kokugikan

Three of the six yearly Grand Sumo tournaments are held in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2007

Tardy decision by sumo executives

The Japan Sumo Association has dismissed stable master (the former) Tokitsukaze in connection with the death of 17-year-old sumo wrestler Tokitaizan in July shortly after a practice session. The unanimous decision by JSA executives is their heaviest punishment: Tokitsukaze will be expelled from the sumo...
SUMO
Jul 12, 2019

Sumo 101: Wakanohana-Tochinishiki rivalry

As with boxing, wrestling, MMA or any other activity where two contestants face off in a ring, great rivalries are the lifeblood of Japan's national sport.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 3, 2016

'Bull sumo' on the subtropical island of Tokunoshima

It was 5 p.m. when my plane touched down onto the small airstrip at Tokunoshima, an island in Kagoshima Prefecture that, in its climate and fauna, bears a strong resemblance to nearby Okinawa.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 2, 2008

God forbid if sumo goes the way of pro wrestling

In March 2007, Shukan Gendai published an article naming top-ranked sumo wrestlers who it said had been involved in match-fixing in the past. Three of the wrestlers and the Japan Sumo Association subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against the publisher, Kodansha Ltd., and several weeks ago one of...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2010

Sumos and the yakuza

OSAKA — Perhaps no other sport is pursued as religiously as sumo wrestling. Before a match, referees — who double as Shinto priests — purify the seaweed, salt and sake. Wrestlers wash their faces, mouths and armpits before entering the dohyo (ring), on whose sacred sand neither shoes nor women...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 15, 2010

Silent but deadly in the RAW ring

There is a saying among pro-wrestlers that your true opponent is not the person facing you in the ring, but everyone outside the ring — in other words, the spectators in the stadium and, for some bouts, the millions watching on television.
Japan Times
SUMO
Aug 18, 2021

Sumo makes its way to Cambridge as former U.S. wrestler studies sport's ancient role

Colton Runyan, 31, has gone from taking on Tobizaru and Daiamami in the ring to tackling ancient and abstruse Japanese texts in Cambridge's vast and sprawling library system.
SUMO
Jan 21, 2003

Injured Takanohana retires from sumo

Yokozuna Takanohana brought an illustrious but injury-plagued sumo career to an end Monday after his comeback bid ended in failure at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 12, 2000

The life and times of a sumo giant

Continuing The Japan Times' exclusive interview with yokozuna Akebono, 30, in which he talks about his life and relationships in sumo.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 8, 2023

In sumo, size doesn't matter (much)

The lack of weight classes in Japan's national sport makes it unique among combat sports such as boxing, where smaller competitors would quickly find themselves overpowered.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 12, 2003

All's fair in love and sumo

Here's how my mind works . . .
SUMO
Mar 21, 2020

Kototenzan struggled with sumo lifestyle, but found stardom in pro wrestling

When the 2020 NFL Draft gets under way on April 23rd, Joe Burrow is widely expected to be the first overall pick after leading Louisiana State University to the National Championship, winning the Heisman Trophy and having one of the best seasons for a quarterback in college football history.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 19, 2015

Student wrestlers learn the ropes ahead of university 'battle royale'

Want to be a lawyer? Go to law school. A doctor? Med school. But where do you enroll if you want to learn how to fly off the top rope to deliver a brutal body slam?
SPORTS
Oct 23, 2022

Antonio Inoki: A career remembered in an open-hand slap

The late former wrestler was known for taking on the likes of Muhammad Ali with his own brand of combat, but his personality ensured he always had something to offer his fans.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 26, 2011

Foreign sumo fans have their say on yaocho

In reaction to the yaocho (bout fixing) fracas enveloping sumo at present, many journalists in Japan and overseas have recently jumped on the sumo coverage bandwagon. Many have criticized the sumo association, the participants and their lifestyle and called for punishments, suspended basho and the like,...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Apr 29, 2009

Is sumo truly the Japanese national sport?

For the 140 or so years non-Japanese have known of the existence of sumo, many have referred to it as Japan's national sport. But are they correct about the status of this ancient form of wrestling found only in these islands, misinformed entirely, or just partly right?

Longform

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