is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring () or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by throwing, shoving or pushing him down).
Sumo originated in Japan, the only country where it is practised professionally and where it is considered the national sport. It is considered a , which refers to modern Japanese martial arts, but the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from Shinto.
Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as , where all aspects of their daily livesfrom meals to their manner of dressare dictated by strict tradition. The lifestyle has a negative effect on their health, with sumo wrestlers having a much lower life expectancy than the average Japanese man.
From 2008 to 2016, a number of high-profile controversies and scandals rocked the sumo world, with an associated effect on its reputation and ticket sales. These have also affected the sport's ability to attract recruits. Despite this setback, sumo's popularity and general attendance has rebounded due to having multiple (or grand champions) for the first time in a number of years and other high-profile wrestlers grabbing the public's attention.
Etymology
The spoken word goes back to the verb , meaning 'compete' or 'fight' in Japanese. The written word goes back to the expression , which was a wrestling competition at the imperial court during the Heian period The first mention of sumo can be found in a manuscript dating back to 712, which describes how possession of the Japanese islands was decided in a wrestling match between the known as Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata.
Takemikazuchi was a god of thunder, swordsmanship, and conquest, created from the blood that was shed when Izanagi slew the fire-demon Kagu-tsuchi. Takeminakata was a god of water, wind, agriculture and hunting, and a distant descendant of the storm-god Susanoo. When Takemikazuchi sought to conquer the land of Izumo, Takeminakata challenged him in hand-to-hand combat. In their melee, Takemikazuchi grappled Takeminakata's arm and crushed it "like a reed", defeating Takeminakata and claiming Izumo.
thumb|259x259px|Haniwa sumo wrestler
The , published in 720, dates the first sumo match between mortals to the year 23 BC, when a man named Nomi no Sukune fought against Taima no Kuehaya at the request of Emperor Suinin and eventually killed him, making him the mythological ancestor of sumo. According to the Nihon Shoki, Nomi broke a rib of Taima with one kick, and killed him with a kick to the back as well. The first historically attested sumo fights were held in 642 at the court of Empress Kōgyoku to entertain a Korean legation. In the centuries that followed, the popularity of sumo within the court increased its ceremonial and religious significance. Regular events at the Emperor's court, the , and the establishment of the first set of rules for sumo fall into the cultural heyday of the Heian period.
Japanese Middle Ages (1185–1603)
With the collapse of the Emperor's central authority, sumo lost its importance in the court; during the Kamakura period, sumo was repurposed from a ceremonial struggle to a form of military combat training among .
Since 1868
thumb|Sumo match in Tokyo
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 brought about the end of the feudal system, and with it the wealthy as sponsors. Due to a new fixation on Western culture, sumo had come to be seen as an embarrassing and backward relic, and internal disputes split the central association. The popularity of sumo was restored when Emperor Meiji organized a tournament in 1884; his example would make sumo a national symbol and contribute to nationalist sentiment following military successes against Korea and China. The Japan Sumo Association reunited on 28 December 1925 and increased the number of annual tournaments from two to four, and then to six in 1958. The length of tournaments was extended from ten to fifteen days in 1949. The institutional expectation that all professional wrestlers should be heavy emerged only in the late Meiji era. Around 1903, the influential Dewanoumi stablethen home to the 19th Hitachiyama Taniemonwas inundated with new recruits and replaced individually prepared meals with communal hot pot dishes (), both for kitchen efficiency and to support rapid weight gain. The practice spread rapidly to other stables, and over the 20th century the systematic pursuit of bulk became central to sumo training, accelerating particularly after World War II as Japanese diets shifted toward greater protein and caloric density. Reflecting this shift, the average weight of top division wrestlers continued to increase, from in 1969 to over by 1991, reaching a record as of January 2019.
<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" caption="Gallery" heights="120px" perrow="3">
File:Grand-Kanjin-Sumo-Tournament-by-Utagawa-Kunisada-1846.png|Kanjin Grand Sumo Tournament ()
File:Kunisada sumo 1851.jpg|Sumo wrestling scene
File:Somagahana Fuchiemon restored.jpg|Somagahana Fuchiemon,
File:The_Mission_of_Commodore_Perry_to_Japan_in_1854_(BM_2013,3002.1_105).jpg|American sailors of the Perry Expedition examining a sumo wrestler (1854)
</gallery>
Rules and customs
thumb|[[Azumafuji defeating Tochinishiki via the "overarm throw" () technique, 1953]]
The elementary principle of sumo is that a match is decided by a fighter first either being forced out of the circular (ring) (not necessarily having to touch the ground outside the ring with any part of the body; see Shini-tai), or touching the ground inside the ring with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet. The wrestlers try to achieve this by pushing, tossing, striking and often by outwitting the opponent. The Japan Sumo Association currently distinguishes 82 (winning techniques), some of which come from judo. The most common basic forms are grabbing the opponent by the (belt) and then forcing him out, a style called , or pushing the opponent out of the ring without a firm grip, a style called . Illegal moves are called , which include strangulation, hair-pulling, bending fingers, gripping the crotch area, kicking, poking eyes, punching and simultaneously striking both the opponent's ears.
The , which is constructed and maintained by the , consists of a raised pedestal on which a circle 15 , equivalent to in diameter is delimited by a series of rice-straw bales. In the middle of the circle there are two starting lines (), behind which the wrestlers line up for the , the synchronized charge that initiates the match. The direction of the match is incumbent on the , a referee who is supported by five (judges). In some situations, a review of the s decision may be needed. The may convene a conference in the middle of the ring, called a . This is done if the judges decide that the decision over who won the bout needs to be reviewed; for example, if both wrestlers appear to touch the ground or step out of the ring at the same time. In these cases, sometimes video is reviewed to see what happened. Once a decision is made, the chief judge will announce the decision to the spectators and the wrestlers alike. They may order a bout to be restarted, or leave the decision as given by the . Occasionally the will overrule the and give the bout to the other wrestler. On rare occasions the referee or judges may award the win to the wrestler who touched the ground first. This happens if both wrestlers touch the ground at nearly the same time and it is decided that the wrestler who touched the ground second had no chance of winning, his opponent's superior sumo having put him in an irrecoverable position. The losing wrestler is referred to as being ("dead body") in this case.
The maximum length of a match varies depending on the division. In the top division, the limit is four minutes, although matches usually only last a few seconds. If the match has not yet ended after the allotted time has elapsed, a (water break) is taken, after which the wrestlers continue the fight from their previous positions. If a winner is still not found after another four minutes, the fight restarts from the after another . If this still does not result in a decision, the outcome is considered a (draw). This is an extremely rare result, with the last such draw being called in September 1974.
A special attraction of sumo is the variety of observed ceremonies and rituals, some of which have been cultivated in connection with the sport and unchanged for centuries. These include the ring-entering ceremonies () at the beginning of each tournament day, in which the wrestlers appear in the ring in elaborate , but also such details as the tossing of salt into the ring by the wrestlers, which serves as a symbolic cleansing of the ring, The historical evolution of wrestler size, and the modern training and dietary practices that produce it, are discussed below in the History and Life as a professional sumo wrestler sections.
Professional sumo
right|thumb|250px|Sumo wrestlers gather in a circle around the (referee) in the (ring-entering ceremony) (2014)
Professional sumo is organized by the Japan Sumo Association.
To turn professional, wrestlers must have completed at least nine years of compulsory education and meet minimum height and weight requirements. In response to this, the JSA stated that they would no longer accept aspiring wrestlers who surgically enhanced their height, citing health concerns. In 2019, reported that the height requirement was , and the weight requirement was , although they also claimed that a "blind eye" is turned for those "just shy" of the minimums. In 2023 the Sumo Association loosened the height and weight requirements, announcing that prospective recruits not meeting the minimums could still enter sumo by passing a physical fitness exam.
All sumo wrestlers take wrestling names called , which may or may not be related to their real names. Often, wrestlers have little choice in their names, which are given to them by their stablemasters, or by a supporter or family member who encouraged them into the sport. This is particularly true of foreign-born wrestlers. A wrestler may change his wrestling name during his career, with some changing theirs several times.
In addition to the professional tournaments, exhibition competitions are held at regular intervals every year in Japan, and roughly once every two years, the top-ranked wrestlers visit a foreign country for such exhibitions. None of these displays are taken into account in determining a wrestler's future rank. Rank is determined only by performance in grand sumo tournaments.
The topmost division receives the most attention from fans and has the most complex hierarchy. The majority of wrestlers are and are ranked from the highest level 1 down to about 16 or 17. In each rank are two wrestlers; the higher rank is designated as "east" and the lower as "west", so the list goes #1 east, #1 west, #2 east, #2 west, etc. Above the are the three champion or titleholder ranks, called the , which are only numbered if the number of wrestlers in each rank exceeds two. These are, in ascending order, , , and . At the pinnacle of the ranking system is the rank of . and a Japanese had not been named from 1998 until the promotion of Kisenosato Yutaka in 2017. This and other issues eventually led the Sumo Association to limit the number of foreigners allowed to one in each stable.
Women and sumo
Women are not allowed to compete in professional sumo. They are also not allowed to enter the wrestling ring (), a tradition stemming from Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that women are "impure" because of menstrual blood.
A form of existed in some parts of Japan before professional sumo was established. The 2018 film depicts female sumo wrestlers at the time of civil unrest following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Professional sumo tournaments
thumb|left|The sumo hall of [[Ryōgoku in Tokyo during the May 2006 tournament]]
Since 1958, six Grand Sumo tournaments or have been held each year: three at the Kokugikan in Tokyo (January, May, and September), and one each in Osaka (March), Nagoya (July), and Fukuoka (November). Until the end of 1984, the Kokugikan was located in Kuramae, Tokyo, but moved in 1985 to the newly built venue at Ryōgoku. Each tournament begins on a Sunday and runs for 15 days, ending also on a Sunday, roughly in the middle of the month. The tournaments are organized in a manner akin to a McMahon system tournament; each wrestler in the top two divisions () has one match per day, while the lower-ranked wrestlers compete in seven bouts, about one every two days.
Each day is structured so that the highest-ranked contestants compete at the end of the day. Thus, wrestling starts in the morning with the wrestlers and ends at around six o'clock in the evening with bouts involving the . The wrestler who wins the most matches over the 15 days wins the tournament championship () for his division. If two wrestlers are tied for the top, they wrestle each other and the winner takes the title. Three-way ties for a championship are rare, at least in the top division. In these cases, the three wrestle each other in pairs with the first to win two in a row taking the tournament. More complex systems for championship playoffs involving four or more wrestlers also exist, but these are usually only seen in determining the winner of one of the lower divisions.
thumb|upright|Sumo [[nobori flags in Fukuoka, 2006]]
The matchups for each day of the tournament are determined by the sumo elders who are members of the judging division of the Japan Sumo Association. They meet every morning at 11 am and announce the following day's matchups around 12 pm. An exception are the final day 15 matchups, which are announced much later on day 14.
Life as a professional sumo wrestler
right|thumb|Young low-ranking sumo wrestlers at the [[Tomozuna stable|Tomozuna Stable in Tokyo end their daily workout routine with a footwork drill (1998)]]
Daily life
A professional sumo wrestler leads a highly regimented way of life. The Sumo Association prescribes the behavior of its wrestlers in some detail. For example, the association prohibits wrestlers from driving cars, although this is partly out of necessity as many wrestlers are too big to fit behind a steering wheel. Breaking the rules can result in fines and/or suspension for both the offending wrestler and his stablemaster.
On entering sumo, they are expected to grow their hair long to form a topknot, or , similar to the samurai hairstyles of the Edo period. Furthermore, they are expected to wear the and traditional Japanese dress when in public, allowing them to be identified immediately as wrestlers. In recent years, however, this rule has been enforced less strictly than before. The type and quality of the dress depends on the wrestler's rank. in and below are allowed to wear only a thin cotton robe called a , even in winter. Furthermore, when outside, they must wear a form of wooden sandal called . Wrestlers in the and divisions can wear a form of traditional short overcoat over their and are allowed to wear straw sandals, called . The higher-ranked can wear silk robes of their own choice, and the quality of the garb is significantly improved. They also are expected to wear a more elaborate form of topknot called an (big ginkgo leaf) on formal occasions.
Similar distinctions are made in stable life. The junior wrestlers must get up earliest, around 5 am, for training, whereas the may start around 7 am. When the are training, the junior wrestlers may have chores to do, such as assisting in cooking lunch, cleaning, and preparing baths, holding a s towel, or wiping the sweat from him. The ranking hierarchy is preserved for the order of precedence in bathing after training, and in eating lunch.
Wrestlers are not normally allowed to eat breakfast and are expected to have a siesta-like nap after a large lunch. The dish is not made according to a fixed recipe and often contains whatever is available to the cook; the bulk is made up of large quantities of protein sources such as chicken, fish (often fried and made into balls), tofu, or sometimes beef, along with vegetables (daikon, bok choy, and others). While considered a reasonably healthy dish in its own right, is very protein-rich and is served in massive quantities. Modern wrestlers typically accompany the stew with copious amounts of rice — often five to ten bowls per meal — along with beer, in order to increase caloric intake. During tournaments, is made exclusively with chicken, the idea being that a wrestler should always be on two legs like a chicken, and not on all fours.
Body composition and health
Despite their size, active sumo wrestlers have been found to carry unusually low levels of visceral fat — the metabolically active fat stored around the internal organs — and instead store most of their body fat as subcutaneous fat just beneath the skin. Researchers have attributed this in part to the wrestlers' intense daily training, and to a diet that, despite its caloric load, is relatively low in sugar, processed foods, and added oils; as a result, active wrestlers tend to maintain near-normal blood glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels.
The negative health effects of the sumo lifestyle nevertheless become apparent later in life, particularly after retirement, when training stops but eating habits often persist. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of around 65, Many former wrestlers develop type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure, and they are prone to heart attacks owing to the enormous body mass and fat that they accumulate. Excessive intake of alcohol can lead to liver problems, and the stress on joints due to excess weight can cause arthritis. In the 21st century, the standards of weight gain became less strict for the sake of the wrestlers' health, and in 2023 the Sumo Association loosened its height and weight requirements for new recruits (see Professional sumo above).
Salary and payment
, the monthly salary figures (in Japanese yen) for the top two divisions were:
right|thumb| Asashōryū performing the distinctive of his rank (September 2003)
- : ¥3 million, about US$19,000
- : ¥2.5 million, about US$16,000
- : ¥1.8 million, about US$15,000
- : ¥1.4 million, about US$9,000
- : ¥1.1 million, about US$7,000
Wrestlers lower than the second-highest division, who are considered trainees, receive only a fairly small allowance instead of a salary.
In addition to the basic salary, wrestlers also receive additional bonus income, called , six times a year (once every tournament, or ) based on the cumulative performance in their career to date. This bonus increases every time the wrestler scores a (with larger giving larger raises). Special increases in this bonus are also awarded for winning the top division championship (with an extra large increase for a "perfect" championship victory with no losses or ), and also for scoring a gold star or (an upset of a by a ).
wrestlers also receive a relatively small additional tournament allowance, depending on their rank, and receive an additional allowance every second tournament, associated with the making of a new belt worn in their ring entering ceremony.
Also, prize money is given to the winner of each divisional championship, which increases from ¥100,000 for a victory up to ¥10 million for winning the top division. In addition to prizes for a championship, wrestlers in the top division giving an exceptional performance in the eyes of a judging panel can also receive one or more of three special prizes (the ), which are worth ¥2 million each.
Individual top division matches can also be sponsored by companies, with the resulting prize money called . Immediately after the match, the winner receives an envelope from the referee with half of his share of the sponsorship, while the other half is put in a fund for his retirement. but the number of wrestlers with a collegiate background in the sport has been increasing over the past few decades. reported on this trend in November 1999, when more than a third of the wrestlers in the top two divisions were university graduates. Nippon Sport Science University and Nihon University are the colleges that have produced the most professional sumo wrestlers. It has additionally been a feature of the World Combat Games since their inception in 2010.
The day before the 2025 Sumo World Championship was held in Thailand, International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry shared a message expressing her thanks to the host country and commended sumo for its "cultural roots".
United States
The sport has long been popular on the United States West Coast and in Hawaii, where it has played a part in the festivals of the Japanese ethnic communities. However the sport has grown beyond the sphere of Japanese diaspora and athletes come from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and sporting backgrounds. Amateur sumo clubs are gaining in popularity throughout the United States, with competitions regularly being held across the country. The US Sumo Open has been held by USA Sumo since 2001, and in 2025 hosted competitors from 9 countries and 4,500 attendees at the Walter Pyramid. The New York Sumo Club held its first annual sumo tournament in Industry City in 2025. Abroad, the United States is represented by the US Sumo Federation, a 501(c)(3) organization that runs the US National Championships as a qualifying event for the Sumo World Championships.
Europe
Amateur sumo is particularly strong in Europe. Many athletes come to the sport from a background in judo, freestyle wrestling, or other grappling sports such as sambo. Some Eastern European athletes have been successful enough to be scouted into professional sumo in Japan, much like their Japanese amateur counterparts. The most notable of these to date is the Bulgarian Kotoōshū, who is the highest-ranking foreign wrestler who was formerly an amateur sumo athlete.
Brazil
Brazil is another center of amateur sumo, introduced by Japanese immigrants who arrived during the first half of the twentieth century. The first Brazilian sumo tournament was held in 1914. Sumo took root in immigrant centers in southern Brazil, especially São Paulo, which is now home to the only purpose-built sumo training facility outside Japan. Beginning in the 1990s, Brazilian sumo organizations made an effort to interest Brazilians without Japanese ancestry in the sport, and by the mid-2000s an estimated 70% of participants came from outside the Japanese-Brazilian community. They have an official thickness and strength requirement. During matches, the wrestler will grab onto the other wrestler's and use it to help them make moves during a match. The they wear practicing versus in a tournament is essentially the same except for the material. The different that the wrestlers wear differentiate their rank. Top rated wrestlers wear different colors of silk during tournament, while lower rated wrestlers are limited to just black cotton. The topknot is a type of samurai hairstyle which was once popular in Japan during the Edo period. They must wear these traditional clothes all the time in public. What they can wear in public is also determined by rank. Lower rated wrestlers must wear a at all times, even in winter, where higher rated wrestlers have more choice in what they wear.