Sumo?!

[Jimmy Francoeur]

Hi

I was wondering where does Sumo fit in the japanese terminology. It is certainly not a Gendai art. Maybe a koryu, but does Sumo have been created in the ryu form? I hope this question is not too stupid...
:)

[Anders Pettersson]

Hi Jimmy.

Actually the Japanese Sumo Federation (Nippon Sumo Renmei) is a member of the Nippon Budo Kyogikai along with the other Gendai Budo (Aikido, Judo, Karate, Kendo, Jukendo, Naginata, Shorinji Kempo, Kyudo).

There is a chart over this at: http://www.nipponbudokan.or.jp/soumu/html_1/index8.html

But the origin of Sumo sure is not modern, but I guess there are other people more qualified than myself that can give details about this.

[Aaron Fields]

I have no answer to the question, but I can say Sumo is really, really fun. I first did Sumo in Mongolia, while practicing Mongolian folk wrestling, with a Mongolian who was a pro Sumo wrestler in Japan. At the club I train in we put on the mawashi (for those of you who know what I look like laugh now :p, ) throw out a ring and have a go at it on a regular basis. Good times, good exercise, good mai-ai, and good waza practice. All that and you get to be really close to naked.