Two large, shirtless men bowed respectfully and then charged at each other in a violent pas de deux that ended in victory in just a few seconds.
But the setting for this controversy on Saturday night was not Tokyo or Osaka, but the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There, a rowdy, nearly full crowd got to see live sumo wrestling, an ancient Japanese sport rarely seen in the states.
Before the matches began, Melinda Wilkerson, who like most of the crowd was seeing live sumo for the first time, said she was looking forward to meeting “some talented athletes.” Her husband, Brett, clarifies: “Some big talented athlete.”
They did. Twelve wrestlers weighing between 210 and 397 pounds compete under the auspices of the Sumo World Championship, which is organizing a series of exhibitions in the United States.
Despite the title of “world champion”, the participants are still inferior to the wrestling champions in Japan’s top tournament, which holds six events per year.
But among the wrestlers present was the favorite to win the tournament, Oosuna Arashi, known as Sandstorm, an Egyptian who competed at the highest level from 2013 to year 2017.
Originally a bodybuilder, he took up sumo at age 14. “I didn’t understand it at first,” Arashi said. “But there’s no other sport like this. Any other sport, if you lose a point, you can get back up, you can get your points back. But in sumo it’s just one shot – you win, you lose.”
In a sumo match, two competitors meet in a ring and each tries to throw the other out of the ring or to the ground. After a few grabs, twists and throws, the fight was over in a flash.
In Japan, tournaments last 15 days and wrestlers compete only once per night. To attract thrill-seeking spectators and to have the tournament concluded in one evening, the World Championship version of Sumo consists of four rounds, in which a competitor must win two out of three rounds, meaning the wrestlers can participate in 12 rounds in a match. night in an altered format.
If the rules are somewhat different from traditional sumo, the atmosphere is even more so.
Wrestlers only bow briefly before their matches, instead of the elaborate rituals familiar in Japan, including stomping their feet to drive demons out of the ring and throwing salt to destroy bad spirits.
The crowd chanted “USA” for the American wrestlers. Sideline interviews include a healthy dose of boasting that has more to do with mixed martial arts or professional wrestling than sumo. And there’s a lot more swearing than you’d find in polite Japanese affairs.
The ring announcer lived up to his exaggerated role. There even seems to be an exchange of words between the combatants before a match. And hugs are as common as post-match bowing ceremonies.
According to organizers, Arashi is a big guy: 6 feet 2 inches tall and 355 pounds. But some top sumo wrestlers weigh up to 450 pounds. Even so, the smallest guys still have a chance. The little man of Saturday’s card, Mohamed Kamal, known as Black Horse, checked in at 210 pounds, but used tricks and positioning to advance to the semifinals.
To maintain his figure, Arashi said he consumes 8,000 to 10,000 calories in 3-5 meals a day. He said, for his main meal, he eats 2 pounds of meat, like chicken or beef. “When it comes to fish, I weigh 2 to 3 pounds,” he said. But he avoids sugar: “Sugar kills muscles.”
You can’t just eat your way to the championship. Arashi said his daily workouts last two to four hours. “Eighty percent of our workouts are working our legs,” he said. “The most important thing for us is lower body training. Must be flexible. Must be so strong. Must be huge.”
In the 2010s, Arashi competed in sumo at the highest level. “I fought the biggest names in the world in sumo,” he said. He said he dropped out of the top circuit in Japan partly because of the sanctions he faced after fender-bending. The problem was not the accident but the fact that he was behind the wheel – the Japan Sumo Association does not allow wrestlers to drive.
“In Japan, as a sumo wrestler, you can’t drive, even if you have a license,” Arashi said. “You’re a god, and gods can’t drive.”
Crowds in New York on Saturday were delighted by the novelty of the spectacle. “It was awesome to see a different sports culture,” said Chris Frommeyer, a fan in attendance. “You think of big guys, but their mental ability to know how to maneuver their opponents is crazy to me.”
In the final, Arashi met Soslan Gagloev, an imposing Russian boxer known as Big Bear, who in the first round carried his opponent and carried him out of the ring with ease.
But Arashi dismissed his enemies. “Big Bear is a teddy bear,” he said, offering a warning: “You want to go home or rest in peace.”
He backed up his words in the final. In the first round, after a brief struggle (by sumo standards) while holding each other’s belts, Arashi pushed Gagloev out of the circle. In round 2, the Russian hooked his leg to win. But in the deciding match, Arashi turned on Gagloev and threw him out of the ring.
Americans seem to have a rare view of the traditional sport. But the mid- and post-game soundtrack in New York is a little different — unless they’re playing “Rock and Roll Part 2” and “Who Let the Dogs Out” in eighth-century Japan.
