In my previous post about babies' Sumo on the September 24th, I mentioned that Sumo Wrestling was originally started as a Japanese Shinto ritual for gods. The history of Sumo is really long and apparently some ancient earthenware having drawing of Sumo have found as excavations from the Kofun period (3rd-7th century) and it is said that the basic rules which we can see today were formed in the 8th century.
Since it was started as a ritual, wrestlers' manner and courtesy have been really important in Sumo, thus when a wrestler's attitude lost respects to gods and the opponent he will be accused of very severely. This kind of dignity is also required for all Sumo wrestlers to get higher ranks. In a sense Sumo wrestlers are not just athletes.
Let's see outward appearances of Sumo which keep aspects of Japanese Shinto. As you can see in the upper left hand side photo above, the Sumo ring has a roof structure that looks alike Japanese Shinto shrines. Moreover, Yokozuna (the highest rank) wrestlers wear Shinto's sacred rope when they show their ring-entering performance(the thick white rope with papers hanging down in the lower right end photo), and they clap their hands with a big gesture just like worshiping at Shinto shrines. Also all wrestlers scatter salt before they have a match because salt is an item for purification in Japanese Shinto.
In addition, each Sumo wrestler stomp their legs up and down straddling the legs after they entered the ring for their match, in fact it is not only for a warming up because in ancient time it was believed that these big stomping can push over evil spirits. It has been one of the important functions for ritual Sumo.
So, clearly it still keeps elements of offering performances for gods. When you have an opportunity to check Sumo competitions, you would be able to recognize these ritual actions and items there!
In these days, Sumo wrestling is usually featured as "The National Sports of Japan", but originally it was started as a ritual for gods in ancient times. The matches were offering performances for gods in the early days. Thus, professional Sumo wrestling still has many aspects as a ritual in the manners and rules.
Also, as the original style of Sumo, Sumo-related rituals has been kept at many local shrines all over Japan. Today, I'd like to introduce an annual local event called "Cry Sumo" which is held in Koyasu Shrine located near Hachioji Station. This event has been well-known locally, so, on last Wednesday, autumnal equinox day, many families visited this shrine and applied to the Sumo even in rain.
A you can see in the photos, the contestants of this "Cry Sumo" are babies. Actually it is a Shinto ritual to pray babies' healthy growth, therefore many parents who have babies come to join this Sumo to get a blessing to their child.
What is the rules of "Cry Sumo"? At each match, about 5-6 adult Sumo wrestlers line up side by side and each wrestler holds a baby on the wooden stage on the shrine ground. Then two Gyoji (Sumo wrestling referee) try to make the babies cry, by yelling at the babies like "You cry!" as shown in the photo (1). However, please don't think "Oh, poor babies!".
For these Cry Sumo matches, babies who cry quicker and louder would be the winner. It is said that gods would hear babies' crying voices and give them a blessing. So cry louder would be better. After winners were decided, a Shinto priest pray for each baby's health with a traditional golden hummer and a shrine stuff put a red stamp for good luck on each baby's forehead as you can see in the photos (2)-(4).
Apparently more than 700 babies joined this Cry Sumo event this year. Wish the cute Sumo wrestlers healthy growth and happy life!
Sumo Wrestling has 6
competitions throughout a year. In May one of the competitions is held in Tokyo
and it’s just finished yesterday. A rising young wrestler, Teruno-fuji, became
the champion.
Around the Sumo stadium “Kokugikan”, there was an open-air market during the
competition and those who came to watch Sumo can also enjoy shopping.
If you can't see the slideshow, please click here!
