ColumnScreaming young female fans show ancient sport of sumo can still fight off MMA in Japan
The sport’s popularity waxes and wanes but is on an upswing now as new stars keep emerging
Cynicism. It’s hard to reconfigure the modern sport follower’s factory setting. But sometimes the chance comes to shift it just a little.
A little after lunch time last weekend outside Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan people of all ages were standing in wait. Fathers were holding their sons, pointing and whispering into their ears when the cars rolled up and the huge shapes emerged into view.
The last day of the 2017 Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament might have been robbed of a number of its superstars – three of the sport’s four yokozuna (sumo’s highest rank) pulled out of the 15-day event before it even started – but no matter.
Japan still clings to its sumo heroes as it has for around 2,000 years, and a rare chance to take in the action presented sport in one of its purest forms.
The day before, at the Saitama Super Arena just outside the capital, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is the entirely modern version of combat sport, rolled into town with all its bells and whistles, but the two worlds collided as two sumo greats passed by the Octagon on the way to their seats.