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Sumo Procession, Niigata
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Iron flowers of Japanese manhood, sumo wrestlers are living icons—heroes of a national sport framed by religious symbolism. Once supported by the patronage of emperors, sumo has roots going back nearly 1,500 years. Before an exhibition tournament in Niigata, competitors trussed in ceremonial aprons enter the arena in the stately and ritualized dohyo-iri procession.
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Sumo Match
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
BANZAI! The initial clash brings combatants flying toward a thunderous embrace. The object: Topple your opponent or knock him out of the dohyo, or ring. Each may grab and pull his opponent's mawashi belt, but not the strap girding the groin. Short but intense, most matches last less than a minute. The grandly attired gyoji is more than a referee; if wrestlers lock into weary stalemate, he barks encouragement.
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Hall of National Skill, Tokyo
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Exalted by a Shinto shrine replica hung above the dohyo, Tokyo's Kokugikan, or Hall of National Skill, draws zealous fans to a championship. Some sit rapt for ten hours straight.
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Sumo Wrestler
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Poised for entry, a rikishi, or wrestler, awaits his call. Falls are cushioned by body fat and topknot, a fashion dating from the 1600s.
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Sumo Breakfast
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Practice. Eat. Sleep. Repeat daily to build a contender. At Tokyo's Izutsu Beya, a sumo stable, apprentices train from 5 to 11 a.m., then have breakfast.
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Sumo Apprentices
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
After a nap, television entertains the apprentices until they eat dinner and retire. Gorging and then sleeping promotes weight gain. Though lighter wrestlers outmaneuver heavier foes, mass plus agility almost always wins.
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Grand Champion Akebono
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
First foreigner to make grand champion, Hawaii-born, 485-pound (220-kilogram) Akebono is sponged off by a novice, who also runs errands and does laundry. Top-level sumo wrestlers average 350 pounds (160 kilograms). The heaviest rikishi ever topped 600 pounds (270 kilograms).
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Sumo Training
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
His ear scarred from wrestling, Shoeito powers up with curls.
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Sumo Drills
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Hard-learned lessons in how to fall jar the bones at Tokyo's Musashigawa Beya. Endless repetitions and ruthless hazing build mental and physical stamina. With an arsenal of 70 maneuvers, a rikishi may shove, slap, even trip his foe, but never kick or strike with a closed fist.
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Sumo Fans
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Solid, stolid, and adored, Asanowaka lumbers past admirers in Niigata. In counterpoint to their slightly built fellow countrymen, rikishi are fat, but—with their intense exertions—not necessarily unhealthy, and to many Japanese women they are most definitely not unattractive. At retirement, usually around age 30, some open their own training stables. Others slim down and embark on second careers.
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Novice Wrestler
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Willowy sapling meets hulking oak in Nagano. The master instructs in jabbing the palms under an opponent's armpits. A novice will typically enter the almost feudalistic world of the sumo stable at age 15.
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Autographed Handprint
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Boyish hands may grow up to adorn a tegata, a champion's autographed print that sells for thousands of dollars.
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Shinto Shrine
Photograph by Robb Kendrick
Toil and sweat done, an apprentice meditates before a Shinto shrine. It sits on a mound he formed from sand spread earlier to allow wrestlers' feet to slide. The ring was then purified with salt. After that ritual it is not to be trod upon until practice resumes the following morning, though the young wrestler unthinkingly entered to pay his respects. Such regard is emblematic of sumo's stature as kokugi, the "national sport" of Japan.
