Sumo Wrestling in Osaka, Japan

Some gaijin friends (from Kansai Gaidai) and I went to see a professional Sumo tournament in Osaka. It was very exciting! Hopefully I explain enough about the rules and traditions of the sport for you guys to get the picture. There's a lot of Shinto aspects to Sumo, such as purifying the ring with salt, chants, etc. Overall, an incredibly culturally rich sport.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• sumo
• wrestling
• osaka
• japan
• kansai
• gaidai
• professional
• tournament
• salt
• tradtion
• gaijin
• smash
• foreign
• wrestler

[groupjapan]

that was awesom, but i wanted to see the actuall footage..............the end clip looked really interestin.

[brotherannie]

@groupjapan You're the second person to mention that, I'll be sure to make a short video with longer clips of just the matches in the next few days. Thanks for letting me know!

[KylleDK]

nice video.

Here are a few infos, the number #1 guys in sumo have a rank called Yokozuna, and since 2003 they all where from mongolia, and my sensei told me that the japanese are not happy about that, but they are polite as always. and those gaijin sumo's are come mostly from eastern europe.

looking forward for your next adventure, maybe some hardcore volleyball :-)

[dzunku1]

The guy who you said sings between matches is actually calling or announcing next sumo wrestlers. He is called Yobidashi that means call out.

Here's a sample:

Higa~shi~, Koto~oushuu~~. Ni~shi~, Haku~hou~~.

(East, Kotooushuu. West, Hakuhou.)

He faces east first, then turns to west side, right?

I have never thought that that sounded like singing. Interesting.

[0102106kls]

you talk alot about nothing

[Hanssen69]

My wife really loves Sumo Wrestlers for some apparent reason.

[ddant92]

I think it is more or less that they believe Fighting in general to be an impure act. that could be why they purify it after every match and what not. Do not quote me though because I am just tossing out an idea strictly formed in my own head. But yeah.

[xhannz1234]

You probably get this question all the time, but when did you start learning Japanese? I'm 14 and from the UK. I really want to be fluent in Japanese and I was wondering if I should start learning now :)! Thank you.

[983027]

your adorable

[kensan0809]

One reason for scattering salt before each match is pray for no injury during the match by purifying the “dohyo”. To pray for something, you'd purify yourself and things around you. Another reason for it is to sterilize germs on dohyo in terms of hygiene, which’s good for sumo wrestlers who’re likely to get injured during the match, but I think second reason is a hindsight... By the way, the place we should purify the most now is “Nihon Sumo Kyoukai”. You should know the reason.

[bananfejja]

So what is unpure in a sumo ring? unpure things is defined by the "cleaner", sometimes its blood sometimes its poltergeist. In sumo, e.g woman on a dohyo is unpure. So what would happen to the dohyo if a woman would mount it, Im not sure but some people sais it would be broken down and built up again. A handfull of salt wouldnt be enough . I think it was last year some crazy woman tried to storm the dohyo during a basho day, maybe it was a protest of some kind. The clip is on youtube

[bananfejja]

lol you are such a sumo noob, a cute one, yet a noob =). One interesting thing concerning the sumo ring and its cleanliness, women are not allowed under any circumstances to mount the dohyo(ring). Usually the mayor of the city which holds the basho makes an appearance at the last day handing some price or whatever to the winner, some year ago the mayor of osaka was a woman (maybe still is). She didnt got to mount the ring because it would make the dohyo unpure.

[groupjapan]

@brotherannie cheers