Pounds ‘n’ poundings!

IIPM PUBLICATION

Can’t get bigger than a Sumo, and not better either!

The Americans are obese. Okay, what’s new? That they have an excuse… Sumo! Hey wait, isn’t that Japanese? Yes, but so what? End of talk.

The gaijins have galumphed into the 2000-year old bastion of the Japanese giants. As the World Sumo League (WSL) 2006 Mega Tour pounds across the earth, there is little doubt that the national sport of Japan has won a ‘large’ (what else?!) fan following even in countries that don’t consume sushi for staple! Launched on May 19 and currently in its American leg, the WSL Mega Tour pits champion sumo wrestlers from Japan (of course), Ukraine, Estonia, Netherlands, Mongolia et al in competition for a total prize money of a million dollars, with the finals scheduled for October at the Madison Square Garden, NY. Contending for a place in the next Olympic Games programme, this sport-gone-global is one that has evolved from the gods-be-placated rituals of Fujiland’s regular religion, Shinto.


A fairly simple religion pervading the life of most Japanese, the culminating sport was only wont to be that, simple: Two massive masses of flesh thunderously thwack against each other trying to either oust the opposition from the ring or floor him in three rounds, the longest hardly lasting more than three minutes. Even with the pre-bout ceremony of saltstrewing in the dohyo (the clay-sand-straw wrestling ring) to keep evil spirits at bay, or the pseudo-roof – tsuriyane – suspended above the ring like at a Shinto shrine, the influence of the religion is ubiquitous. The pecking order among sumo wrestlers, too, is strikingly evocative of the strong hierarchy in the Nihon society. But in sharp contrast to Shinto – restricted to this Sea of Japan archipelago – the sport has gone further with followers from far & wide. In fact, the reigning Yokozuna – the highest rank of sumo wrestling – is Asashoryu Akinori, a 326 lb Mongolian! Little wonder the common refrain about religion requiring to be more ‘sporting’!

For Complete Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :- IIPM Editorial, 2006, Editor - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri