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CHAPTER 2

Born Sumoists

It is a hotly debatable question whether or not baseball has supplanted Sumo as the national sport of Japan.

Undoubtedly in such great centers of population as Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, one sees more youths with bat, ball, and glove than one sees practicing the land's ancient and traditional sport. In many parts of the country, nonetheless (particularly true in the case of the farming villages of the north and the fishing villages), the reverse is to be found. The rustic Sumo ring often takes the place of the urban baseball diamond.

There are quite a number of reasons for Sumo's popularity with the country boys, one being, of course, that the rural areas have enjoyed much less frequent contact with Western influences. In many districts feudalism is still rife, apparent if one but scratches the surface, and the great Japanese professional baseball squads in their provincial tours never touch these remote areas.

Another reason is economic. The farmers in the north eke out a bare living, the land is poor, crop failures are not uncommon. They have little money to spend on their sons' pastimes. Consequently, the boys take up the cheapest sport they can find. Sumo, of course, fills the bill perfectly. All that is required is a simple ring and a loin-cloth, and the latter, it is unnecessary to add, need not be studded with diamonds. Just something to spare the sensitivities of the country maidens.

Incidentally, it is no mere coincidence that so many of Japan's grand champions hail from Hokkaido or the northeastern districts, areas throughout the long winter under a blanket of deep snow, trudging through which strengthens the hips-a vital part of every wrestler's anatomy. The same thing may be said of youths from the mountains. It is natural that they should be able to develop stronger hips than the lads who walk only on the flat, non-hip-developing plains. In rowing, too, the hips come into much play. Thus, the sons of fishermen often turn out to be good wrestlers. The greatest sumoist of modern times, Futabayama-now retired and, under the name of Tokitsukaze, head of the Japan Sumo Association-is a fisherman's son from the Kyushu prefecture of Oita, in southwest Japan.

Of the three reigning grand champions only one, Tochinishiki (see Plates 6, 7, & 10), was born and brought up in a city. He is the son of a Tokyo umbrella-maker. The remaining two are from the snowy north, Chiyo-no-yama (Plate 5) from the northern island of Hokkaido and Waka-no-hana (Plates 8, 15 & 16) from Aomori, at the extreme northern tip of Honshu, Japan's main island. A similar proportion may be found among the lower-ranking grapplers. The life of the city slicker is evidently not conducive to the production of a great wrestler.

The Japanese race as a whole, however, may be said to be well adapted to the sport of Sumo. The reason is that the Japanese, if I may be permitted to use such an ungraceful term, are rather "low in the water." By this I mean, of course, that they have been endowed by Mother Nature with long bodies and short legs.

In Sumo the point of balance or fulcrum must be as low as possible. It makes a man so much more difficult to topple. Generations of squatting on the tatami (straw mats used to cover the floor) instead of sitting on chairs have perhaps more than anything else developed the Japanese type of body. In this connection it is of interest to note that an improved diet through the increased intake of meat, bread, and dairy products, together with a greater use of chairs, is producing a taller and more massive breed.

A consequence of this has been a gradual raising of the standard required of Sumo novices. At the end of the Meiji era (around 1910) the requirement was a minimum weight of a little over 132 pounds. There was no limitation on height. By the beginning of the Showa period (1926) the standard had risen to about 160 pounds and a lad had to be at least five feet five inches in height before he could be accepted. Since May, 1957, the standard of height has been five feet seven inches and of weight 166 pounds. There can be little doubt that with the gradual improvement in Japanese physique these standards will go on rising.

The elephantine Odachi, who retired early in 1958, ranks with the Sumo giants of all time. He stepped into the ring at dose to 390 pounds and tipped the beam at six feet four inches, a veritable colossus. And that's not all. He slimmed down from well over 400 pounds, the heaviest ever, maybe. Anyway, it's an enthralling question, with such monsters as Dewa-ga-take in the field. This lad, who got as far as sekiwake (junior champion) in the 1920's, towered to a height of six feet five inches and fluctuated in weight between 360 and 430 pounds. He was so strong that certain of the regular sixty-eight holds were barred to him after he had, accidentally of course, caused the death of an opponent in the ring. The Japan Sumo Association no doubt heaved a sigh of relief when this behemoth retired just before World War II.

As for height, the modern "Eiffel Tower" is the prognathous demoted champion, Ouchiyama, who can lay claim to six feet seven and one-half inches. But way back in the 1820's there was a wrestler boasting the picturesque name of Ozora (big sky) who really was a sky-scraper, if figures don't lie. He was a staggering seven feet three inches and would have been worth his weight in gold to any basketball team. The first grand champion, Akashi, who flourished in the seventeenth century, is said to have reached seven feet five inches. But this, like most facts about this gentleman, should perhaps be taken with a big grain of salt.