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Sep 29 2009 3 Comments

Sumo saunter

Sumo’s autumn tournament has just recently finished in Tokyo, with Mongolian Yokozuna Asashoryu winning with a hugely impressive and almost effortless record of 14 wins and 1 defeat; silencing his many critics with a dominant, and thankfully almost controversy free, display.

Yet as regular as the wrestlers look in the ring, whether it be live or from the living room, out in the real world and mingling with the masses, they still sort of fit in,

Sumo wrestler

but yet at the same time rather fascinatingly don’t.

Sumo wrestler

Especially so considering the strict controls over their clobber.

Sumo wrestler

Along with not only their heft, but more often than not, height.

Sumo wrestler

And, for the higher ranked rikishi at least, their hairstyles.

Sumo wrestler

All of which, despite the sport’s worryingly waining popularity among the nation’s youth, still makes them mesmerising to many.

Sumo wrestler

Mask or no mask.

Categorized: Photography, Sports

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debs says

    9/29/2009 at 9:57 pm

    The last picture is so sweet! 🙂

    Reply
  2. adam says

    9/30/2009 at 4:56 am

    Lee,
    I love the third shot…I love that white mystery mammal yearning for the moon on his garment. That image would look completely ridiculous on anything else…but here it looks awesome

    In my trips to Japan the Sumo culture is one aspect of Japan I have missed everytime…which I think I can live with…but what I would like to see are their childhood photos as a skinny Japanese kid to these full blown behemoths. The transformation must be unreal.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      9/30/2009 at 12:22 pm

      Totally agree Adam. Probably tacky would be a kind word to describe the design if it happened to be on a t-shirt, but as it is it’s fairly passable, and not even the first thing I noticed.

      I’ve never thought to seek out pictures of wrestlers in their youth, but now you mention it, it could certainly throw up some interesting comparisons.

      Reply

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