Sumo
相撲A Japanese wrestling sport in a dohyo ring in which the loser steps out or touches the ground. A professional form has no weights, an amateur one has weight categories.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Sumo
Sumo is a Japanese wrestling sport in which the loser is the one who steps out of the dohyo ring, 4.55 m in diameter, or touches the ground with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet. Punches, chokes, hair pulling, kicks and eye poking are forbidden. Since 2001 the Japan Sumo Association has recognized a total of 82 winning techniques, kimarite, the most common being yorikiri, pushing the opponent out of the ring in a grip.
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The earliest mentions are contained in the chronicles Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), and the first historically documented bouts took place in 642 at the court of Empress Kogyoku. The circular ring appeared at Oda Nobunaga’s tournament in 1578, professional sumo developed in the Edo period, and today’s Japan Sumo Association arose from the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka organizations in 1925. Sumo has two forms. Professional sumo has no weight categories, the wrestlers live in heya stables and advance through six divisions. Since 1958 six tournaments a year of 15 days each have been held. The highest rank, yokozuna, is recommended by a council and approved by the board of the association. A yokozuna cannot be demoted, but with permanently weak results retirement is expected. Women do not compete in professional sumo or enter the dohyo. Amateur sumo is run by the International Sumo Federation, founded in 1992, which has weight categories for men and women, and women have competed at the world championship since 2001. A review of injuries among professional wrestlers from 1982–2007 (4,849 injured) reports 51.2% of injuries to the lower limbs. Among wrestlers of the top division, a higher BMI was a significant predictor of death.
History
Written mentions of sumo are contained in the chronicles Kojiki of 712 and Nihon Shoki of 720, which describe legendary bouts, among them the bout of Nomi no Sukune. The first historically documented bouts took place in 642 at the court of Empress Kogyoku for a Korean delegation. In the Heian period regular sumai no sechie bouts were held at the imperial court. In 1578 Oda Nobunaga held a tournament of 1,500 wrestlers with circular rings, from which the dohyo developed. From 1684 tournaments were allowed to be held on shrine grounds. In 1757 the organization Edo sumo kaisho arose, the predecessor of the Japan Sumo Association, whose present form comes from the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka organizations in 1925. The title of yokozuna first appeared on the banzuke ranking in May 1890 and was officially recognized as the highest rank in February 1909.
Technique
Bouts are fought in a dohyo ring 4.55 m in diameter. The loser is the one who steps out of the ring or touches the ground with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet. Since 2001 the Japan Sumo Association has recognized a total of 82 winning techniques, kimarite, and five ways of winning without a technique, although only about a dozen of them are commonly used. Yorikiri, pushing the opponent out in a grip, decides 32.4% of professional bouts. Some kimarite come from judo, for example ipponzeoi. The forbidden acts, kinjite, include, among others, chokes, punches, kicks and hair pulling. The ruling of the referee, the gyoji, may be reviewed by the judges, the shimpan (mono-ii), who may order a rematch. A bout in the top professional division lasts at most 4 minutes, after a mizu-iri break a new round follows, and after another inconclusive result a draw, hikiwake, last seen in September 1974. We have not found the bout length and scoring in amateur sumo under the IFS.
Training
Every professional wrestler must belong to a heya stable, led by a former wrestler, the oyakata. Novices may be trained only by oyakata who hold one of the 105 kabu shares. Novices for six months, foreigners for a year, first attend the sumo school in the Kokugikan and enter the official divisions through maezumo. Lower-ranked wrestlers get up around 4 to 5 o’clock to do chores and prepare meals and train on an empty stomach, and sekitori arrive at training last. A skipped breakfast, a large lunch and sleep are meant to help with gaining weight. We have not been able to document the specific exercises of the morning training or the training of amateur clubs.
Ranks and progression
Professional sumo has six divisions: makuuchi with at most 42 wrestlers, juryo (28), makushita (120), sandanme (180), jonidan (about 200) and jonokuchi (about 50). The wrestlers of the two top divisions are called sekitori. Position on the banzuke ranking is decided by results in six tournaments a year. Promotion to the rank of yokozuna does not follow fixed rules. Since April 1950 a candidate has been recommended by the lay Yokozuna Deliberation Council and the decision is made by the board of the Japan Sumo Association. The usual yardstick is two consecutive tournament titles at the rank of ozeki, and dignity, hinkaku, is also assessed. A yokozuna cannot be demoted, but when permanently unable to compete at the top level, retirement is expected. We have not been able to find amateur dan grades or student grades in the sources.
Who it suits
Women do not compete in professional sumo or enter the dohyo. They have competed in the International Sumo Federation since 2001, and the first national amateur women's championship in Japan was held in 1997. The IFS has four weight categories plus open for both women and men. Junior weights for boys are up to 80 kg, 80 to 100 kg and over 100 kg, for girls up to 60 kg, 60 to 75 kg and over 75 kg, always with an open category. Applicants enter professional sumo after completing compulsory schooling (a rule since 1973), usually under 23 years of age. In January 2024 the association abolished the minimum height of 167 cm and weight of 67 kg, and since April 2024 an athletic test has applied. Foreigners need two guarantors and a work visa. Children aged 5 to 15 take part in the Hakuho Cup children's tournament. In 2019 the Japan Times described the first national wanpaku sumo championship for girls in grades 4 to 6, with helpers standing around the dohyo to guard against hard falls. We have not found children's rules or a study of children's injuries.
Competition
The professional honbasho tournaments have been held six times a year since 1958, in January, May and September in Tokyo, in March in Osaka, in July in Nagoya and in November in Fukuoka. They were extended to 15 days in 1949, having lasted ten days before. After the organizations merged in 1925, the number of tournaments rose from two to four a year. The International Sumo Federation World Championships were first held in 1992 in Tokyo, and the women's competition began there in 2001 in Aomori. Men compete up to 85 kg, 85 to 100 kg, 100 to 115 kg, over 115 kg and in the open category, women up to 65 kg, 65 to 73 kg, 73 to 80 kg, over 80 kg and open. Professional sumo has no weight categories. Sumo was on the World Games program from 2001 to 2022 and was dropped from the next program for unsportsmanlike behavior and organizational problems. It has been part of the World Combat Games since 2010. We have not found the bout length or the scoring under IFS rules.
Gear
The wrestler wears a mawashi belt about 9 m long, tied with a knot at the back. The highest-ranked professionals wear a coloured silk mawashi in tournaments, lower-ranked wrestlers only black cotton ones. Amateur sumo does not use the ceremonial kesho-mawashi. Men may wear elastic shorts under the mawashi, women must wear a leotard, a rule that according to Sumo Fan Magazine is meant to respect different religions and cultures. At the wanpaku sumo championship, girls wore the mawashi over shorts and a T-shirt. The dohyo ring is a raised circle 4.55 m in diameter marked out by straw bales, tawara. Amateurs wrestle on a clay dohyo like professionals, or on a dohyo of plastic sheeting with attached tawara laid on mats. We have not found other mandatory protectors.
Philosophy
During the entrance ceremony dohyo-iri, the yokozuna wears the tsuna rope, which according to the Japan Sumo Association weighs 11 to 15 kg. The first ceremony of a new yokozuna is held at the Meiji shrine in Tokyo. From 1684 tournaments were permitted at charity events on the grounds of Shinto shrines, and the first one permitted was held at the Tomioka Hachiman shrine. Women do not enter the dohyo, and the ban is justified by Shinto and Buddhist notions of impurity. According to Sumo Fan Magazine, amateur sumo places less emphasis on religious elements and equipment than professional sumo. We have not been able to confirm the purifying salt or other ceremonies and their interpretation.
Styles and schools
Sumo has two forms with different rules. Professional sumo (ozumo) is run by the Japan Sumo Association. It is divided into six divisions, makuuchi, juryo, makushita, sandanme, jonidan and jonokuchi, and has no weight categories, so a wrestler may face an opponent twice as heavy. Wrestlers of the two top divisions compete every day of the fifteen-day tournament, while lower divisions have only seven bouts in a tournament. As of March 2021 there were 652 wrestlers in professional sumo, and 11 of the 42 wrestlers in the top division came from abroad. Women do not compete in it. Amateur sumo is run by the International Sumo Federation, founded on 10 December 1992. Its predecessor was founded by Japan and Brazil in July 1983, and today it brings together 88 countries and territories. Men and women compete in five weight categories including open. The federation recognizes 70 basic winning techniques kimarite and 10 ancient ones, while the Japan Sumo Association lists 82. The 2025 World Championships in Bangkok featured the 26th men's and the 17th women's competition. The ban on women entering the dohyo applies only in the professional league, and according to the Japan Times women were allowed to wrestle at local shrine festivals.
Today
The International Sumo Federation is a sumo organization recognized by the IOC and WADA, and it received provisional IOC recognition in 2001 and full recognition in 2018. Sumo is not an Olympic sport and Olympic status is the federation's main goal. The Hakuho Cup children's tournament, founded by the yokozuna Hakuho in 2010, was for boys only until 2025 and has had girls' weight categories since 2026. The average weight of wrestlers in the top division rose from 125 kg in 1969 and reached 166 kg in January 2019. Kanda et al. (J Sports Sci Med 2009) compared 73 deceased and 73 living wrestlers who had reached the top division between 1926 and 1989. Higher BMI was a significant predictor of death. Kimarite also adopt techniques from judo. Kaio, who had previously practiced judo, defeated Musashimaru in November 2000 with an ipponzeoi throw, and in 2001 the Japan Sumo Association extended the list by 12 kimarite.
In culture
Sumo is bound up with Shinto. The tsuna rope worn by the yokozuna at the entrance ceremony is, according to the Japan Sumo Association, a well-known religious symbol of the kind hung in shrines and above household kamidana altars. The roof over the main ring in Tokyo's Kokugikan hall was replaced in 1931 with a Shinto-style roof resembling the Ise shrine. According to tradition the first sumo wrestler was Nomi no Sukune, who on Emperor Suinin's order defeated Taima no Kehaya, but this is a legend.
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A clay figurine of a sumo wrestler from the late Kofun period, found at the tomb Iabe Hachimansan Kofun, is a protected cultural monument of Wakayama city. In the 18th century, according to London's Victoria and Albert Museum, woodblock prints of wrestlers became popular. They were made by artists of the Katsukawa school, among them Shunsho, Shunko and Shunei, and in the 19th century by the Utagawa school led by Kunisada. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art owns Shunko's woodblock print Three Sumo Wrestlers from around the 1790s. According to the V&A museum, wrestlers in the service of lords were allowed to wear two swords like samurai. The Sumo Museum was founded in 1954 with the completion of the Kuramae Kokugikan hall, and since January 1985 it has been housed in the Ryogoku Kokugikan hall, collecting woodblock prints, banzuke rankings and ceremonial aprons. The film Sumo Do, Sumo Don't by director Masayuki Suo from 1992, about a university sumo club, is listed by Britannica among his notable works.
Did you know
The time limit for a bout was first introduced in 1928 at ten minutes and was gradually cut to today's four minutes. The competition mawashi of coarse silk is about 9 m long and 80 cm wide, and the wrestler wraps it around his waist four to seven times. According to the Japan Sumo Association, ceremonial silk aprons kesho-mawashi cost from roughly one million yen. The ring dohyo is a square with sides of 6.7 m, 60 cm high. Bouts are watched by five judges shimpan, who can overturn the decision of the referee gyoji, and a bout with a yokozuna may be refereed only by the highest-ranking tate-gyoji, whose rank is revealed by the color of the tassel on his fan. Wrestlers' names shikona most often end in -yama (mountain), -kawa or -gawa (river) or -umi (sea). The closing ceremony yumitorishiki, in which a wrestler twirls a bow, arose in the Edo period, when the winner received a bow as a prize. The wrestler Ikuzuki Geitazaemon (1827–1850) was famous for his 229 cm height. From 1833 tournaments in Edo were held twice a year on the grounds of the Ekoin temple in the Ryogoku district, and the admission fees paid for repairs of buildings or bridges. According to the Japan Times, the ban on women entering the ring was never a written rule.
Styles & Branches
Frequently asked questions
What is sumo?
Sumo is Japanese wrestling in which the winner pushes the opponent out of the ring or throws him to the ground. A wrestler also loses if he touches the ground with anything but the soles of his feet. According to the Japan Sumo Association, it has about 1 500 years of history and began as a ceremony for the gods with prayers for a good harvest.
How much does a sumo wrestler weigh?
Professional sumo has no weight categories, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs states an average wrestler weight of around 150 kg. Amateurs compete in weight categories, men from under 85 kg to over 115 kg, women from under 65 kg to over 80 kg, and in an open category.
What do sumo wrestlers eat?
The staple is chanko-nabe, a one-pot stew with vegetables, meat, fish, seafood and tofu. According to NPR there are at least a hundred kinds and every stable has its own. Andrew Freund, president of the American sumo federation, estimates that professionals eat 5 000 to 8 000 calories a day.
What is the history of sumo?
From the 8th century sumo became part of imperial court ceremonies. After Japan was unified under the Tokugawa in 1603, professional groups arose from which today's Japan Sumo Association emerged, and sumo became the national sport. From 1833 tournaments in Edo were held twice a year at the Ekoin temple in the Ryogoku district.
Who is the heaviest sumo wrestler?
In 2020 The Japan Times named Orora, who weighed 294 kg in 2018, the heaviest wrestler in sumo history. We have not found the official maximum of the Japan Sumo Association in the available sources. According to Slate, the earlier record holder Konishiki weighed around 286 kg at the peak of his career.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.