Grand Sumo Homepage

Clash of the Titans

If huge men in thongs get you going, this is the site to visit. The heavyweight amongst sumo wrestling guides, it provides information on participants and gives results from the latest bouts of flab-battering and rice-scattering. Background information on this ritual will increase your understanding and enjoyment when watching a tournament 'in the flesh'. and there is a lot to see.

In the 'Beginner's Guide' Bone up on how the 1,500 year old sport started as "a form of ritual dedicated to the gods with prayers for a bountiful harvest." The sumo ring, or dohyo , resembles a Shinto shrine and is full of significant items such as straw rice bales buried in the floor, and tassels which hang from a central roof over the clay floor, each tassle denoting a different season. Strict rules prohibit such activities as eye-gouging or grabbing the particular part of the thong which covers the opponent's vitals. Hopefully, you'll see none of this and only lots of wrestlers or rikishi playing fair and throwing their weight around at any of the six Grand Tournaments held every year.

Find out who are the big guns in the sumo world, pay a visit to the sumo museum and book a ringside seat for the nest basho.

www.sumo.or.jp

Back to reviews