The Japan Sumo Association's highest authority is the chairman of its board of directors. The current occupant is 56-year-old Hakkaku, who has been in power since 2015. Like the majority of his predecessors, Hakkaku is a former yokozuna. Known as Hokutoumi when at that rank, he won ...
Sumo 101: Non-traditional training
Sumo is often described as a lifestyle rather than a sport. As regimented as a military and requiring the total immersion of a religious order, it's certainly much more multifaceted than any other activity that makes the sports section of this paper. For many in sumo, ...
Sumo receives extensive coverage year- round in the Japanese media. While it may not get the column inches that baseball does (understandable when you consider the respective sizes and number of participants in both sports) it's still a significant amount of media attention. To facilitate that, ...
Sumo is a life built around the carrot and stick approach. The higher a rikishi rises up the rankings, the easier his life becomes. Changes are incremental and consist of things like better quality yukata, less chores, being allowed to own a cellphone, etc. The biggest jump ...
An oft-heard refrain from fans new to sumo is that wrestlers get paid huge sums for just a few seconds work each day. It's one of the more common misconceptions, along with thinking that success in Japan's national sport is just a matter of eating ...
Sumo 101: Futabayama's win streak
Sumo fans these days have the privilege of being able to watch the greatest rikishi of all time live in the ring. For a sport that's been around for a couple of millennia in one form or another that's no small thing. While Raiden may have ...
Kids sumo offers wrestlers an early start
As outlined in a previous Sumo 101, joining sumo is often a matter of just getting in touch with a stable. Experience in the ring or a background in the sport aren't prerequisites, as virtually anyone with Japanese nationality will be accepted into sumo. The reality, ...
There are two parallel white lines in the center of every sumo ring known as shikiri sen. Ninety cm in length and 6 cm wide, they are painted directly onto the clay surface using enamel paint. Rikishi must stay behind the line on their side before ...
Virtually every athlete on teams like Real Madrid or the Chicago Bears came up through a youth system or showed promise while playing in high school or college, with many of them already well versed in their sport of choice by the time their ...
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. While it's true that sumo is a lifestyle more than a sport, and its day-to-day practices and rituals are ...
There are many ways to purchase sumo tickets. As with other sports, phone or online sales, as well as specialized ticket agents account for a large proportion of seats sold. The best seats in the house at five of the six yearly Grand Sumo tournaments, however, ...
Three of the six yearly Grand Sumo tournaments are held in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. The large structure, located next to the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Sumida Ward, opened in 1985. It also houses a sumo museum as well as the offices of the Japan Sumo Association. The ...
