Sumo Wrestling - Japan National Sport

Sport is very important part of Japanese culture. Almost all popular sports are played in Japan and most of these sports are imported and have become popular in the country. There are many professional sports in the country such as tennis, golf, skating, rugby, soccer and baseball. But Sumo Wrestling and Martial Arts are the tradional sport of Japan, in which Sumo is the one that considered as Japan's National sport.

Sumo is often called "kokugi" in the Japanese media and by the population in general, and kokugi is a phrase that most 카지노사이트위키 dictionaries translate as "national sport." Also, sumo is held in a stadium known as Kokugikan - with “kan” meaning hall or stadium. Sumo wrestling is a full-contact sport played in a circular ring known as “dohyo. Sumo is just like 'Judo' and it is acknowledged as one of the ten officially recognized as Japanese Martial Arts, which was established in year 1987.

Sumo is said to have its roots in a Shinto dance ritual in which the most powerful men show their strength in front of the kami (gods or spirits) as a sign of respect and gratitude to bring a good harvest. It was later used as a way to compare strength and identify those warriors most skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

Each day of the tournament (basho), a ring entry ceremony is held, in which the body and spirit of each wrestler undergo purification. Yokozuna wears a mawashi with five white zigzag folded pieces of paper on the front, similar to those seen at the entrances of Shinto shrines. In front of all the mawashi are the sagari, which are pendants of twisted rope placed on the belt, and they represent the sacred ropes in front of the altars. The numbers of the strings are odd, between seventeen and twenty -one, which are lucky numbers in the Shinto tradition. And of course, the salt thrown in before each fight is an agent for cleansing and one of the most visible rituals of sumo.

The Origin and the Wrestler of Sumo

The origins of sumo wrestling go back nearly two thousand years, and are affiliated with the Shinto religion. There are Legends said that there's a clash between the two great kami (god), the one is "God of Thunder" and the other one is the "God of Wind". In the test of strength, the god of thunder was victorious, and claimed Japan as his dominion. The Japanese are said to be the worshipers of the god of thunder, who was brought to his new land.

Sumo wrestlers are called rikishi, literally "mighty men." Although we may think that a rikishi has to be fatty or large, it is a fairly modern trend. Sumo has no weight classes, so it is considered beneficial to be bigger than your opponent in a wrestling tournament.