History Main / SumoWrestling

This Trope is almost AlwaysMale. Traditional and religious customs prevent women from participating in RealLife sumo, and a fictitious DistaffCounterpart would likely look pretty silly. This has been challenged occasionally in modern times by some like Governor Fusae Ohta of Okinawa, but is unlikely to change in the near future.

* ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'': The Japanese tycoon Hai Fat has two statues of them on his manor grounds; when Bond comes at night on a dinner invitation, the statues are replaced with [[GiantMook real ones]] whom he has to deal with.

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Also, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to with several strict rules of conduct (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public, even though wrestlers, when interviewed, very often prove to be {{Gentle Giant}}s and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]]).

Believe it or not, sumo wrestlers were not always fat. Older sumo wrestlers, while large, were [[https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/the-skinny-sumo-wrestlers-of-Japan far leaner with more traditionally athletic builds.]] This began to change around the 80's, when heavier wrestlers became the norm due to their weight making them harder to throw and their fat and mass making them more resilient to impact. Even modern sumo wrestlers are less fat than they appear. Most sumo wrestlers only have around 15-20% body fat[[note]]While not impressive for most professional athletes, this is actually considered fit to average for men by the American Council on Exercise.[[/note]] and under that outer layer of blubber is [[HeroicBuild an astoundingly muscular physique.]] Many wrestlers that aren't particular tall tend to look like fairly ordinary and muscular people, while coaches [[BadassInANiceSuit tend to look both huge and dapper at once]].

[[folder: Film -- Animation]]

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

Believe it or not, sumo wrestlers were not always fat. Older sumo wrestlers, while large, were [[https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/the-skinny-sumo-wrestlers-of-Japan far leaner with more traditionally athletic builds.]] This began to change around the 80's, when heavier wrestlers became the norm due to their weight making them harder to throw and their fat and mass making them more resilient to impact. Even modern sumo wrestlers are less fat than they appear. Most sumo wrestlers only have around 15-20% body fat[[note]]While not impressive for most professional athletes, this is actually considered fit to average for men by the American Council on Exercise.[[/note]] and under that outer layer of blubber is [[HeroicBuild an astoundingly muscular physique.]]

Fictional sumo can be BigFun guys or {{Fat Bastard}}s, depending on their place on the moral spectrum, and tend to be {{Big Eater}}s. Almost always Japanese, much like real ones, although a few Brazilian, European, Slavic, Pacific Islander and later Mongolian wrestlers exist.[[note]]The top of the field as of this writing is often dominated by Mongolians, and has been for almost two decades now; there are a handful of Caucasian rikishi and they tend to be Eastern European where folk wrestling is still popular, with former Bulgarian ozeki Kotooshu noteworthy as the first Caucasian rikishi to become an elder and open his own stable.[[/note]] Tend to have their hair tied in topknots and rarely wear much other than a pair of shorts and sandals. Of course, real ones wear other garments when not competing or training.

Contrary to popular belief, actual sumo techniques and training regimes are far more complex than it looks, as the open nature of the ruleset allows for more or less all wrestling moves and judo throws, including those grabbing the opponent's loincloth (which is called ''mawashi'') for leverage. It also contains a rudimentary form of striking, as palm strikes, chops, elbows and forearm blows are legal, so knockouts can and do happen from time to time (they are still comparatively rare, though, because wrestlers are generally [[MadeOfIron tough fellows]]).[[note]]Also because fully committing to striking with the goal to achieve a knockout is AwesomeButImpractical, as anything done at the expense of wrestling leaves you open to be outwrestled. In fact, ''kicking'' is another form of striking technically allowed in sumo, only that is virtually never done because It means giving up your stability and making you easy to push or trip.[[/note]] Most notably, although there are minimum height and weight requirements, there are no weight divisions, meaning DavidVersusGoliath is an everyday scenario and a big factor on victory. Sumo wrestlers are called ''sumotori'' or ''rikishi'', and after a certain level they compete under a ''shikona'', a ring name formed by a given name (usually theirs, if they are native, or a Japanese traditional name if they are foreigners) and a surname with a [[MeaningfulName meaningful]], often [[RuleOfSymbolism poetically powerful]] composition (for instance, famous champion Asashoryu's means "Morning Blue Dragon", while Wakatakakage's means "Young Hawk Shadow").

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones, with plenty of non-specialized viewers. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to with several strict rules of conduct (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public even though wrestlers, when interviewed, very often prove to be {{Gentle Giant}}s and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]]).

Contrary to popular belief, actual sumo techniques and training regimes are far more complex than it looks, as the open nature of the ruleset allows for more or less all wrestling moves and judo throws, including those grabbing the opponent's loincloth (which is called ''mawashi'') for leverage. It also contains a rudimentary form of striking, as palm strikes, chops, elbows and forearm blows are legal, so knockouts can and do happen from time to time (they are still comparatively rare, though, because wrestlers are generally [[MadeOfIron tough fellows]]).[[note]]Also because fully committing to striking with the goal to achieve a knockout is AwesomeButImpractical, as anything done at the expense of wrestling leaves you open to be outwrestled. In fact, ''kicking'' is another form of striking technically allowed in sumo, only that is virtually never done because It means giving up your stability and making you easy to push or trip.[[/note]] Most notably, although there are minimum height and weight requirements, there are no weight divisions, meaning DavidVersusGoliath is an everyday scenario and a big factor on victory. Sumo wrestlers are called ''sumotori'' or ''rikishi'', and after a certain level they compete under a ''shikona'', a ring name formed by a given name (usually theirs, if they are native, or a Japanese traditional name if they are foreigners) and a surname with a [[MeaningfulName meaningful]], often [[RuleOfSymbolism poetically powerful]] composition (for instance, famous champion Asashoryu's means "Morning Blue Dragon", or Wakatakakage's ''shikona'' meaning "Young Hawk Shadow").

The sport is OlderThanTheyThink, with the current ruleset having undergone very little adjustment since the Edo period, and the bout before the emperor in 23BC between one Nomi no Sukune and one Taima no Kehaya is considered the UrExample of a "sumo" bout on record, though it was radically different from today's sumo (indeed, before the Sengoku period, "sumo" was instead known as ''Kakuriki''); No holds were barred, all techniques save for biting were allowed and fights were occasionally fought to the death. Nomi no Sukune [[FinishingStomp supposedly crushed Kehaya's spine and killed him with a stomp]].

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to with several strict rules of conduct (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public even though wrestlers, when interviewed, very often prove to be {{Gentle Giant}}s and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]]).

Contrary to popular belief, actual sumo techniques and training regimes are far more complex than it looks, as the open nature of the ruleset allows for more or less all wrestling moves and standing Judo techniques, including those grabbing the opponent's loincloth (which is called ''mawashi'') for leverage. It also contains a rudimentary form of striking, as palm strikes, chops, elbow and forearm blows[[note]]Kicking is ''technically legal'', but incredibly AwesomeButImpractical due to it meaning giving up your stability and making you easy to push or trip.[[/note]] are legal, so knockouts do happen from time to time, but are rare because [[MadeOfIron most Rikishi are more than ready to leave the ring a little roughed up]]. Most notably, although there are minimum height and weight requirements, there are no weight divisions, meaning DavidVersusGoliath is an everyday scenario and a big factor on victory. Sumo wrestlers are called ''sumotori'' or ''rikishi'', and after a certain level they compete under a ''shikona'', a ring name formed by a given name (usually theirs, if they are native, or a Japanese traditional name if they are foreigners) and a surname with a [[MeaningfulName meaningful]], often poetically powerful composition (for instance, famous champion Asashoryu's means "Morning Blue Dragon", or Wakatakakage's ''shikona'' meaning "Young Hawk Shadow").

Contrary to popular belief, actual sumo techniques and training regimes are far more complex than it looks, as the open nature of the ruleset allows for more or less all wrestling moves and standing Judo techniques, including those grabbing the opponent's loincloth (which is called ''mawashi'') for leverage. It also contains a rudimentary form of striking, as palm or forearm blows are legal, so knockouts do happen from time to time, but are rare because [[MadeOfIron most Rikishi are more than ready to leave the ring a little roughed up]]. Most notably, although there are minimum height and weight requirements, there are no weight divisions, meaning DavidVersusGoliath is an everyday scenario and a big factor on victory. Sumo wrestlers are called ''sumotori'' or ''rikishi'', and after a certain level they compete under a ''shikona'', a ring name formed by a given name (usually theirs, if they are native, or a Japanese traditional name if they are foreigners) and a surname with a [[MeaningfulName meaningful]], often poetically powerful composition (for instance, famous champion Asashoryu's means "Morning Blue Dragon", or Wakatakakage's ''shikona'' meaning "Young Hawk Shadow").

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to with several strict rules of conduct (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public even though wrestlers, when interviewed, very often prove to be {{Gentle Giant}}s and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]].)

* The toyline for ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' had [[http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Tattoo_(1991_action_figure) Tattoo]], an ally of the Turtles who had tried to be a Ninja, only to be "heckled for being humongous", and later join a society of Ninja Sumos. He eventually made it into one episode of the cartoon, where he was recast as a mutated hamster (who still looked like a human sumo).

* There are a few {{Fighting Game}}s entirely dedicated to this martial art, mostly seen [[NoExportForYou in Japan only]]. The website ''Spritted'' compiled the most famous games about sumo wrestling in [[https://spritted.com/en/news/sumo-in-the-history-of-videogames this article]]. Also Website/HardcoreGaming101 has their own article about sumo video games [[https://hg101.kontek.net/sumo/sumo.htm in its old website]].

* And about sumo video games, there's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo_Fighter:_T%C5%8Dkaid%C5%8D_Basho Sumo Fighter]]'', a PlatformGame for UsefulNotes/GameBoy that rarely was exported to Western audiences. In the game, there's a sumo wrestler named Bon-chan (aka Bontaro Heiseiyama) on his quest to rescue a beautiful DamselInDistress. Fittingly, most of Bon-chan's moves are based on actual sumo techniques.

** Tohru is a StoutStrength fighter who claims he turned to crime because he was "too small for Sumo", although his stated weight of 480 pounds is actually typical for the sport. He actually does participate in a sumo match in season 3's opener; the opposing sumo and his fellows later join Tohru in fighting the allies of the episode's main villain.

* Samurai Goroh from ''VideoGame/FZero'' has some shades of this, on account of being [[StoutStrength fat-yet-ripped]]. In fact, one of his idle animations in ''GX'' has him do some sumo stomps and hand-slapping techniques.

* Juzou the Drunkard from ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' was a former sumotori whose career was ruined by alcohol and became a ruthless bandit. Not only is he enormous and obese, but aside from his giant sword he also employ sumo-like attacks, including a deadly grab in which he grabs Wolf with one hand, slam him into the ground them uses the classical sumo stomp to crush his spine. Two other enemies share the same model, namely Tokujiro the Glutton and Shigekichi of the Red Guard.

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to and must uphold several strict rules (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public even though most wrestlers in interview are light-hearted {{Gentle Giant}}s and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]].)

* Juzou the Drunkard from ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' was a former sumotori whose career was ruined by alcohol and became a ruthless bandit. Not only he's enormous and obese, but aside from his giant sword he also employ sumo-like attacks, including a deadly grab in which he grabs Wolf with one hand, slam him into the ground them uses the classical sumo stomp to crush his spine. Two other enemies share the same model, namely Tokujiro the Glutton and Shigekichi of the Red Guard.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'' has a ''demonic'' sumo wrestler as the boss of the Sumo Sky Palace level. Beware when defeating him, for he'll leave a... [[{{Gasshole}} parting]] [[NoDeadBodyPoops gift]] as he dies.

** In ''VideoGame/ClayFighter 63 1/3'' and its {{sequel}} ''Sculptor's Cut'', there's Sumo Santa, a BadSanta that uses sumo as his fighting style as well he's one of the {{Big Bad}}s and {{Final Boss}}es of the game.

** In Creator/{{Psikyo}}'s ''Battle K-Road'', there're Mitsuji Tanimachi and Harimaoh (a half-Japanese half-Brazilian wrestler).

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to and must uphold several strict rules (including keeping up an attitude as TheStoic in public even though most wrestlers in interview are light-hearted GentleGiants and [[FriendToAllChildren Friends To All Children]].)

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, leverage, agility and clever technique, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to.

* Naturally, many professional wrestlers in Japan have been former sumo wrestlers, not only low-ranked ones (like Wrestling/GenichiroTenryu, Wrestling/JohnTenta, Nobutaka Araya, Toru Owashi and Ryota Hama) or amateur (like Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura and CIMA), but also grand champions (most famously Hiroshi Wajima, Wrestling/KojiKitao and Wrestling/{{Akebono}}).

It's SeriousBusiness in Japan, where it could be described as the national pastime, and it is often interspersed with traditional UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} rituals. Its rules are rather simple: you win by forcing your opponent out of the circular ring or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body except the soles of his feet. For this reason, matches usually only last a few seconds invested in big explosions of strength, making them short, dramatic and frequently spectacular, just what casual fans need to entertain themselves and keep watching. Indeed, although in the West it is often called a martial art and piled together with UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}, sumo wrestling could be much better described as a combat sport with religious undertones. While there are amateur associations in schools and colleges (as well as open circuits abroad), official sumo is a strictly professional competition which one dedicates his life to.