Women in Sumo in WWII

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Dana Sheets
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Women in Sumo in WWII

Post by Dana Sheets »

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/get ... 0630f2.htm
He still remembers a women's sumo tournament he watched under a tent on a vacant lot in Ehime Prefecture around 1941, when he was a student in elementary school.

The trained women wrestlers fought in tournaments and "gonin nuki" matches, in which a wrestler beat five rivals in succession.

They also entertained audiences by staging popular shows called "hajikara" in which a wrestler would try to lift a bale of rice with her teeth or in events where steamed rice was pounded onto her abdomen into dough used for rice cakes.

In the early 20th century, pictures of women sumo wrestlers sold like hot cakes, and at one time women's sumo was more popular than the male version.

But out of consideration for men's sumo, there was no yokozuna (grand champion) in women's sumo.

Women's sumo is believed to have been created by Heishiro Ishiyama, an entertainment promoter in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, in 1880.
...fascinating....
-Dana
Did you show compassion today?
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Post by Guest »

Have you seen the commercial in which the chickens in the deli meat counter have a sumo bout ending in a "thousand hand slap? :lol:


Check this out. Scroll down opn page 3 of 23 to Image 55886097. It appeared in the Sunday Sports Section of the St. Petersburg Times. These sumo wrestlers have a hell of a stretch.

http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source ... &p=2&tag=1

Image 55886102
Grand Sumo Championship
People: Ishide; Kisenosato
9 Oct 2005
Getty Images Sport
By: Donald Miralle
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chef
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Post by chef »

Wow, hard to believe that guys carrying that much weight could be so flexible. Interesting!

Vicki
"Cry in the dojo, laugh in the battlefield"
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Post by Guest »

The photo of the three sumo men in full side splits was used in a St. Pete Times photo caption contest.

The winning response:

"Three Thongs don't make a rite!"
Wow, hard to believe that guys carrying that much weight could be so flexible. Interesting!

Vicki
"Fitness" must be one of those culturally based concepts that we Americans try to reduce to numbers and measurements. Large and heavy don't necessarily translate to slow, clumbsy and/or not flexible.

From my few years in Scottish Country Dancing, I know of a Canadian dance instructor who makes a living teachning Scottish dancing all over the world. His name is Ron Wallace and he is well over 300 lbs. He is light on his feet, quick and graceful. He's a joy to watch dancing. His technique, footwork and "handing" is refined and polished to a near perfect degree.

Some of the best lady dancers that I've had as dancing partners have been mama-san sized, but light and lithe and whose bodies respond to the music while some of the trim and fit looking lassies are stiff and metalic and as flexible as galvanized pipe.
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