Actors as Sumô Wrestlers: Bandô Mitsugorô as Nuregami Chôgorô (R) and Nakamura Tokizô as Hanaregoma Chôkichi (L), Japanese, Meiji era, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Vertical ôban diptych, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, 11.21561-2.

Yokozuna Grand Champion Sumô Wrestler Abumatsu Rokunosuke Entering the Ring (Yokozuna dohyôiri no zu Abumatsu Rokunosuke), Japanese, Edo period, Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III), Japanese, 1786-1864, Yamaguchiya Tôbei (Kinkôdô), Japanese, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Ukiyo-e print, mounted in album; sumô, 2009.4991.155.

Sumô Wrestler Onogawa Saisuke of Kurume, Japanese, Edo period, 1857 (Ansei 4), 4th month, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Vertical ôban, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of William Perkins Babcock 00.889, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Daidôzan Bungorô, Boy Wrestler, Age Seven, Japanese, Edo period, about 1794 (Kansei 6), Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Hosoban, 12-13/16 x 5-3/4", Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection 11.18219, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
First floor
Japanese Gallery
Sumo, Japan’s Big Sport
November 10, 2007-August 3, 2008

From legendary prehistoric beginnings to the present day, sumo has dominated traditional Japanese sport. Like Kabuki actors and noted courtesans, wrestlers were idols of the urban popular culture of the 18th and 19th centuries, and appeared frequently in woodblock prints. This exhibition features portraits of famous wrestlers, scenes of their greatest bouts, and depictions of wrestlers as celebrities in everyday life, as characters in legends and Kabuki plays, and as animals or supernatural beings in fantasies where they enjoy wrestling just as humans do.

The sport originated in Japan and is popular there today, being the only country where the sport is practiced professionally. In contemporary history, there have been few non-Japanese rikishi, with fewer achieving yokozuna rank. Japanese consider sumo a gendai budo: a modern Japanese martial art, though the sport has a history spanning centuries. Sumo tradition is ancient, and today includes ritual elements, such as the use of salt for purification, from the when sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association. Sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal "sumo stables" where all aspects of daily life — meals to manner of dress — are dictated by tradition.

In addition to its use as a trial of strength in combat, it has also been associated with Shinto ritual, and even today certain shrines carry out forms of ritual dance where a human ritually wrestles with a kami (a Shinto divine spirit). It was an important ceremony at the imperial court. Representatives of each province were ordered to attend at court and fought. They needed to pay for their travels themselves. The contest was known as sumai no sechie, or "sumai party."

Sumo's popularity changed over recorded Japanese history, according to the whims of rulers and its need as a training tool in periods of civil strife. The form of wrestling combat likely evolved into one where the main aim in victory was to throw one's opponent. The concept of pushing one's opponent out of a defined area came some time later.

It is believed that a ring, defined by more than the area given to the wrestlers by spectators, came into being in the 16th century as a result of a tournament organized by the then-principal warlord in Japan, Oda Nobunaga. At this point wrestlers wore loose loincloths, rather than the stiffer mawashi of today. During the Edo period, wrestlers wore a fringed kesho-mawashi during the bout, while today these are worn only during pre-tournament rituals. Most of the rest of the current forms within the sport developed in the early Edo period.

Professional sumo can trace its roots back to the Edo Period in Japan as a form of sporting entertainment. The original wrestlers were likely samurai, often ronin, who needed to find an alternative form of income.

Other Eastern cultures feature styles of traditional wrestling that resemblr sumo. Examples include Mongolian wrestling, Chinese Shuai jiao, and Korean Ssireum. Chinese art from 220 BCE show wrestlers stripped to the waist, bodies pressed shoulder to shoulder.

Shimada Station: The Ôi River (Shimada no eki Ôigawa), from the series Fifty-three Pairings for the Tôkaidô Road, Japanese, Edo period, about 1845-46, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Ukiyo-e print; sumô, 11.22413.

Compendium of Sumo Matches (Sumo zukushi) from Ehagaki sekai, Japanese, Late Meiji era, 1907, Japan, 13.8 x 8.8 cm, Color lithograph; ink on card stock, Postcard; Ehagaki sekai, 2002.2016.

Three Big Girls, Japanese, Edo period, 1856 (Ansei 3), 4th month, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Vertical ôban diptych, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection 11.22015-6, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.