Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament 2025
- April Dykes
- 3月9日
- 読了時間: 6分
Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament 2025
The Osaka sumo tournament is a part of a bigger series of sumo tournaments known as ‘The Grand Sumo Tournament’ held by the Japan Sumo Association. The Grand Sumo Tournament is comprised of six tournament series held throughout different parts of Japan in January, March, May, July, September, and November. They are held in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and in Tokyo three times. The Haru Basho, the spring tournament, is held on the second Sunday every March at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. This year, the 15-day event falls on March 9th and ends on March 23rd. Osaka’s Sumo Tournament wasn’t always held in March nor was it always a part of a group. Japan’s national sport has a long history that existed before the Grand Sumo Tournament and the Japan Sumo Association.
In case you are unfamiliar with what sumo is, allow me to give you a brief description. It is a form of wrestling where the wrestlers are called rikishi. While wearing a mawashi, a loin cloth, they compete within a ring called a dohyo. The ring is 4.55 meters and 66 centimeters above the ground. Before each grand tournament, a new dohyo is made by the yobidashi, a sumo all-purpose working staff. It is said that this process takes 3 days. The goal is to push your opponent outside of the ring. Only the soles of the wrestler's feet are allowed to touch the ground once the match begins. If any other body part touches the ground, they lose. Aside from a body part other than the feet touching the ground, the wrestler can also lose if they don’t follow the rules and approved techniques. “The mawashi is not merely a piece of clothing but a crucial part of sumo wrestling tactics. Wrestlers grip and hold onto their opponent's mawashi during a match, using it to gain leverage and advantage” (TokudAw).
Now that you know what sumo wrestling is, let’s talk about who a sumo wrestler is. Over the years, the qualifications for a wrestler have changed. However, there is one very important rule, women are not allowed to participate. While there are women who practice sumo, they are not allowed to participate professionally. According to TokudAw, there was a form of female sumo that used to be common as early as the 18th century. Present day, wrestlers must be at least 167cm tall and weigh at least 67 kilograms. However, if you have a dream to become a sumo wrestler all hope isn’t lost. You can still become a wrestler if you pass the physical fitness test that all wrestlers are required to go through. These tests are held 6 times a year, before the tournament you will be allowed to participate in.
Can a foreigner become a sumo wrestler? Yes. “Historically, sumo stables had the freedom to recruit multiple foreign wrestlers, leading to a more diverse range of athletes within the sport. However, a pivotal moment occurred when a stable recruited six Mongolian wrestlers simultaneously, sparking concerns and leading to a significant shift in policy. In response, the Japan Sumo Association imposed a restriction that now limits each stable to only one foreign wrestler at a time” (TokudAw).
There are 6 divisions within sumo: makuuchi, juryo, makushita, sandanme, jonidan, and jonokuchi. Makuuchi is the top division that has the top 42 wrestlers. This is the division that most of us are familiar with as it receives the most media attention. The second-highest division is the juryo, which has 28 wrestlers. The 3rd division is the makushita that has 120 wrestlers aiming to become a juryo. The 4th division is called the sandanme that has about 200 wrestlers. The 5th division is called the jonidan that has about 260 wrestlers. The 6th and final division is called jonokuchi that has about 80 wrestlers. The goal of every sumo wrestler, regardless of division, is to reach yokozuna, grand champion, status. The rise of division is only possible through successfully winning their match, which is only possible at the Grand Sumo Tournaments. The top 2 divisions compete every day of the 15-day tournaments, while the lower 4 divisions only compete 7 days.
Together with the makuuchi, the juryo are called sekitori. They can be distinguished by the color of their mawashi and the way their hair is styled. The sekitori are assigned lower ranking wrestlers, tsuke-bito, who act as servants during practice and tournaments. Their responsibilities include carrying the sekitori’s belongings, toweling him off, and being at their call for whatever they may need. While all sumo have a distinct hairstyle and clothing, every aspect is significant.
Their topknot hairstyle, mage, is created using a special hairwax called bintsuke that is applied to their hair daily by tokoyama, special sumo hairdressers. There are 2 versions of the mage, top knot hairstyle, the chonmage and the oicho. “The regular style that is worn by everyone in training and by men in the lowest four divisions during tournaments as well as a more elaborate vertically spread-out style called oicho. That name refers to the leaf of the ginko tree, whose shape the topknot closely resembles and the style is worn by wrestlers in the top two divisions for official bouts” (The Japan Times). The chonmage is worn by the lower divisions while the oicho is worn by the top two ranks. The mage is essential to the sumo lifestyle and once a wrestler retires, his hair is cut strand by strand by important people and the final important removal of the mage is done by his stablemaster.
Now that we have covered the basics of sumo, let’s take a look at the history of sumo. According to Web-Japan, there has been a variation of sumo in Japan as early as the Kofun period (300-538). “When it was time to plant rice, sumo bouts were performed as a way to pray for a bountiful crop or to predict whether that year’s harvest would be good. In the Nara period (710-794) and Heian period (794-1185), sumo became an event conducted at the imperial court, and bouts were performed in front of the emperor” (Web-Japan). However, the sumo that we know today was refined during the Edo period (1603-1867). After sumo tournaments started being held to raise money for shrines, village repairs, etc, it became popular among the citizens, when before it could only be enjoyed among the nobility.
As its popularity grew, so did the frequency of its matches. Rules were eventually introduced due to the “constant arguing and fighting that came with the sport”. Those rules are the 48 kimarite, winning techniques, that are still used today along with 34 additional kimarite approved by the Japan Sumo Association. Kimarite are techniques that determines which wrestler wins. There are 4 types of movements “sori (backward bend), hineri (twist), nage (throw), and kake (trip)—which, when multiplied, give a total of 48” (Nippon). The addition of the rules didn’t slow down the public’s enthusiasm for sumo and it soon became a national sport.
Professional sumo groups were used to keep up the demand for sumo. Among those groups were the Osaka Sumo Associatio. “In Osaka sumo, the rankings were issued in a horizontal two-sheet format with the East and West sides printed on separate sheets of paper until 1868. In contrast to the vertical one-sheet format of Edo (Tokyo) sumo, the horizontal two-sheet format is a major feature of Osaka sumo” (Japan Sumo Association).
The Japan Sumo Association, initially the Edo Sumo Club, was formally established in 1925. By 1927, the Osaka and Tokyo Sumo Associations joined this national association solidifying it as the central for all things sumo. Since its creation, the Japan Sumo Association has had the same mission “to maintain and develop the traditions and order of sumo by:
holding tournaments and tours
training the personnel who will carry out these activities
instructing and popularizing sumo
preserving and utilizing sumo records
promoting international friendship
maintaining, managing, and operating the facilities necessary for these activities
(Japan Sumo Association)
In case you’ll be missing the Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament, you still have opportunities to catch the May (11th- 25th), July (13th-27th), September (14th-28th), and November (9th-23rd) tournaments. Be sure to buy your tickets in advance through the official website. Observe sumo tournament etiquette; no talking, don’t touch the wrestlers, use the restroom before the match begins and during intermission and don’t bring outside food or drinks, and have fun.
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