First, some information about sumos:
There are approximately 616 Sumos around the world. While the majority of Sumos are born and live in Japan, there are at least one from Egypt, one from USA and one from Brazil.The life of a sumo begins at the tender age of 15, where boys wanting to enter a training stable are required to pass a physical test - measure over 173cm tall and weigh over 75kgs. It is this physical test that encourages Sumo wannabes to drink lots of water prior to the weigh in and occasionally get implants to increase height. If a sumo is accepted, he can never again cut his hair...until the day of his retirement, when an emotional hair cutting ceremony takes place.
Once accepted into a stable, junior sumos are responsible for all the grunt work - cooking and cleaning, handing out towels and dusting sand off senior Sumos during training etc.
Much like the "up or out" culture we experience working for our big corporates, sumos either bow out due to lack of skill or injury or move up the rungs within the stables, eventually reaching sufficient seniority to receive a salary. If you're wondering if you're reading that right, you are - sumos starting out receiving no payment or remuneration until they are good enough to participate in tournaments.
The pinnacle of the sumo career, reserved for a select few, is the rank of Grand Champion. At this level, the Sumo receives a monthly salary of approximately 2,000,000 Yen (~AU$20,000). While it is an impressive take home salary, especially for one who is provided with food, board and training, most Sumos don't get paid in the first years of training and retire in their early 30s. Upon retiring, a select few Grand Champions then go on to become Stable Masters, training the next generation of Sumos.
Training: Sumos train for three to four hours, seven days a week. After a tournament (six per year) the Sumos get a week off from training but every other day usually training consists of morning exercise, a huge brunch (a big stew dish), several hours of rest and then a huge dinner.
At the stables, Tim is given "strict" instructions to not take any photos unless he can sneakily do it without anyone seeing.
This is followed by the black belt Sumos, squatting while rushing in a figure eight through the training circle (sand-floored area). The white belt Sumos continue doing exercises on the outside of the circle. Unlike karate, black belt is junior, white belt is senior. The black belt Sumos are younger and smaller than the white belts, not having had time to eat enough, nor build up strength.
Next the black belt Sumos sweep the floor of the circle before having training bouts under the observation of the white belts. The goal during a bout is to push your opponent out of the circle or have part of their body (aside from their feet) touch the ground.
It should be noted that at some point during the training the local Grand Champion (born in Mongolia) arrived and all Sumos stopped their activity briefly to pay their respects. The same thing happened when the Stable Master arrived.
Once the black belts have finished their bouts, they again sweep the area and stand at the sides to assist the white belts whenever needed. This could be running them bottles of water in-between their bouts, providing injury tape, dusting off the Sumos after a fall on the hard packed sand etc. Occasionally Sumos will purify the arena with salt (the entire sport is ritualistic). The thumping sound as two Sumos clash for the first time is quite amazing and only gets louder as the Sumos get bigger.
While bouts are going on, the other white belts and the odd black belt, lift weights, or push logs, or hit tyres with hammers. Strength, as well as technique, is clearly important. Sumos are built for huge bursts of strength and energy, not endurance. Each bout only lasts seconds before a win. There was an exciting, yet sad moment, when one of the white belts rolled his ankle during a bout. He proceeded to sit on the floor and ice his injury, until he was told off by the Stable Master. My tour guide translated that the Stable Master said "get up and train or go back to stables... don't just sit there". The white belt got up, with his head bowed, and made his way back to the stables.
Eventually the Grand Champion (after finishing his warm up exercises) entered the arena, however he didn't participate in any bouts. Instead he had the biggest white belt Sumo (approx 2 metres tall and huge) attempt to stand still, while the Grand Champion repeatedly pushed him from the centre of the ring to the edge. Given that 90% of the Sumos had at least one body part that was injured, it makes sense that the Grand Champion builds his strength and only participates in bouts occasionally. After the training, the Grand Champion hugs some children and signs autographs.
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