The Sumo Scene / While Not Part of Olympic Agenda, Sport Has History of Connections with Games

By Kuniyuki Kamimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

12:01 JST, July 24, 2024

As the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament steams toward a thrilling conclusion that will bring the curtain down on the venerable Aichi Prefectural Gym as a venue, the world’s eyes are focused on the grandest of sporting events about to start on the other side of the globe in France.

The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics will be held Friday, just after the matches finish on the 13th day of the Nagoya tournament.

That weekend, sports news will be filled with the conclusion of the championship race in Nagoya and a hopeful rush of gold medals for Japan in Paris.

Even including the amateur side of the sport, sumo and the Olympics exist in separate worlds, although there have been various times when their paths have crossed.

There is evidence that at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, amateur wrestlers participated in a sumo demonstration to introduce the sport to the world. Much more fresh in the memory are scenes from the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

With the object of heralding sumo as Japan’s national sport, the top wrestlers played a featured role in the opening ceremony in Nagano, serving as placard-holders for the national delegations during the march into the open-air stadium in frigid temperatures. What really gained world notice was yokozuna Akebono’s dynamic performance of the ring-entering ceremony.

The original plans for special events in conjunction with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics included holding a major sumo tournament for the purpose of introducing the traditions and culture of the sport to foreign visitors attending the Games. The “Grand Sumo” tournament was to provide a golden opportunity to appeal to a wide global audience.

But as we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Games back a year and, with no spectators allowed, related events were canceled. Grand Sumo become the tournament that never was.

Among the wrestlers, many have backgrounds in sports that feature prominently for Japan at the Olympics such as judo and wrestling. During an Olympics, the chatter in dressing rooms at sumo tournaments often focuses on what is going on at the Games, with the wrestlers displaying a remarkable amount of expertise.

I can clearly remember how yokozuna Kakuryu (now stablemaster Otowayama) would talk about soccer, basketball and other sports during his active days.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was a well-known fan of sumo and often attended tournaments during trips to Japan. As the start of the Paris Olympics draws near, such thoughts came to my mind as I watched the action in the ring in Nagoya.

— Kamimura is a sumo expert.