Sumo

Sumo is unsurprisingly awesome!

I got lucky, and happened to be in Nagoya during day 3 of the tournament.

Each match starts with “cold warfare” – a stare down, where each wrestler gauges the other and decides when to strike. There`s a time limit of 4 minutes before the match must start, and they usually use all of it to mentally prepare themselves. The opponents often walk away from each other to take hand fulls of salt and throw it into the ring; a Shinto ritual to make sure no harm comes to the competitors. It probably also helps to psyche out the other 300 – 400 pound man in the ring. False starts are rare but they do happen, and while most matches end by one wrestler being pushed out of the ring, throws are the most exiting (and skillful) way to win sumo.

Defiantly a sport worth seeing.