Sumo Exposed: The Invention Of Tradition In Japan's National Sport

27 Pages 6746 Words

Sumo Exposed: The Invention of Tradition in Japan's National Sport

I: Introduction and Theoretical Remarks

"Even today in Japan’s highly industrialized and modern society, sumo is generally perceived as a quintessentially Japanese sport, in which history, tradition and even religion are intermingled to form a unique sport of pageantry and splendor perhaps matched by no other country’s national sport" (Sandoz 1992:8).


One hardly needs to emphasize the popularity and status sumo enjoys as Japan’s kokugi, or national sport. Three years ago, I lent my copy of Aerosmith’s Big Ones CD to my Japanese friend Aya, and was quite fascinated with the reaction Aya, normally quite a demure girl, made when she saw the picture of the sumo wrestler on the back of the CD. Her face lit up and he exclaimed, "Oh, this is Konishiki. This is so funny." At the time, I did not know who Konishiki was, yet Aya’s reaction indicated to me that sumo wrestlers must really enjoy popularity in Japan (why, otherwise, would a 19-year old Japanese girl so readily recognize the obese man on the back of a CD?).

One of the reasons that sumo is so popular in Japan is undoubtedly the belief that sumo is a unique combination of sport and ritual peculiar to Japan. The Japanese author Uchidate refers to sumo as a "realm of tradition" (1998:41). Cuyler, an American scholar, similarly emphasizes the fact that sumo is more than a sport – it is "a ritual of timeless dignity and classical form. It is a glimpse of ages past, of the history of Japan. Repeated interaction with Shinto religious belief and practice from the early centuries of the Christian era left a profound and indelible mark on the sport" (1985:13). Tradition in sumo has also prominently figured in Japanese nationalist discourse. For instance, a small book published by the Board of Tourist Industry of the Japanese Government Railways in 1940 as part of a series intended to familiarize foreigner...