JAPAN: WRESTLING : Japan's top sumo stars hold new year ritual

Record ID: 466859

  • Title: JAPAN: WRESTLING : Japan's top sumo stars hold new year ritual
  • Date: 8th January 2013
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 8, 2013) (REUTERS) (* BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) VARIOUS OF SUMO WRESTLERS ENTERING MEIJI JINGU SHINTO SHRINE VARIOUS OF MONGOLIAN-BORN WRESTLER HAKUHO PERFORMING RITUAL (CENTRE), FLANKED BY LOWER-RANKING WRESTLERS SUMO FANS WATCHING PERFORMANCE MORE OF HAKUHO PERFORMING RITUAL HAKUHO DEPARTING SHRINE WITH OTHER WRESTLERS HAKUHO ARRIVING TO ADDRESS MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MONGOLIAN-BORN TOP-RANKED SUMO WRESTLER HAKUHO, SAYING: "It was wonderful that the weather was so good today, although it was a little bit chilly. But it felt great that so many people turned out to watch me." VARIOUS OF HAKUHO DEPARTING SHRINE VARIOUS OF SUMO WRESTLERS ENTERING SHRINE VARIOUS OF SUMO OFFICIALS WATCHING RITUAL VARIOUS OF MONGOLIAN-BORN WRESTLER HARUMAFUJI PERFORMING RITUAL (CENTRE)
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Quirky,Religion,Religion,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9KA5L22P31VB4NI4S49AM6TEW
  • Story Text: Japan's top-ranked sumo wrestlers hold New Year ritual at Tokyo's Meiji shrine.


    Japan's sumo stars ushered in the new year on Tuesday (January 8) with a foot-stomping performance at Tokyo's Meiji shrine.
    Clad in nothing but loin cloths in the depths of winter, Japan's two top-ranking "Yokozuna" elite, Hakuho and Harumafuji, led the traditional new year ritual, flanked by lower-ranking wrestlers.
    Hakuho weighs 153-kilos (340 pounds) and stands 1.93 metres (6 ft 4 inches) tall, slightly larger than fellow Mongolian-born compatriot Harumafuji's 1.85 m (6 ft 1 inches) and 133 kg (290 pounds).
    "It was wonderful that the weather was so good today, although it was a little bit chilly. But it felt great that so many people turned out to watch me," Hakuho told journalists after the ceremony.
    Professional sumo now has more than 40 foreign-born wrestlers from nearly a dozen nations ranging from Bulgaria to Brazil.
    The participation of foreigners has raised eyebrows in the conservative sumo world, with a Japanese wrestler denied the top spot since 2000.
    But the rivalry between waves of foreign competitors -- the Hawaiians in the 1980s and the Mongolians in the 1990s -- and their Japanese counterparts has also been credited with halting a decline in the sport's popularity.
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