By Riley Johnson

History  Sumo has been played for over 2000 years  Originally performed to entertain their gods  Originated in Japan  It is a very religious sport to Japan, and priests bless the ring before and after every match.  It never really became a sport that people watched until around the 1600’s

 The object of the game is not let any body part other than your feet hit the ground.  OR not step out of the 15 feet(diameter) ring called a Doyho  Women are not allowed to step in the Doyho for any reason. Sorry bibs.  You can use any technique except for grabbing the opponent's hair, hitting his opponent with a closed fist, boxing his opponent's ears, or choking his opponent.  The fighters are called rikishi.

Diet  The main meal is Chanko nabe which is a broth that includes seaweeds, different meats, and may also include fish, vegetables, and noodles which makes a high calorie meal.  They eat late in the day. Going to bed with full stomachs their bodies must respond to the huge flood of nutrients with a rush of insulin, forcing their bodies to store some of it in the cells as fat instead of in the muscles and organs as nutrients.  Not all Sumos are fat, but most of the great ones are.  Also, they believe it is better to eat together in a social environment because it can make you eat up to 40% more food than you would have alone.

Akebono Taro  Akebono was born in Hawaii and became the first non-Japanese Sumo wrestler to be yokozuna(grand champion).  He was 6 feet 8 inches and weighed over 500 pounds.  He got to the stage yokozuna in an unbeatable record of only 30 competitions.  He had a total of 566 wins and 198 losses before he retired in 2001 after several injuries that occurred.

Other  Sumo is the quickest competetive sport in the world as it may take less than 10 seconds to finish a match.  The rituals before the match last around 2 hours  There aren’t any weight divisions in sumo.  Sumo was always performed outdoors until the first Kokugikan was built in Ryogoku, Tokyo in  Sumo wrestlers are banned from driving cars for traditional reasons.  The keshou-mawash (ceremonial aprons) are given to wrestlers by their fan clubs.

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