Sumo has a very old history, in Japan, sumo is already one of the national treasures, sumo is not only a one-on-one competition, but a deep historical and cultural atmosphere. It can even be said that sumo wrestling is a sport that begins with and ends with a ritual. From the perspective of the evolution, development, and ancient culture of sumo. Sumo is a competitive sport, and although it has brutal competition, there is a special ritual throughout its course that all power and sumo wrestlers strictly follow. As a thriving force, sumo has become the most representative cultural carrier in the world.
In fact, sumo wrestling originated in China at the earliest. The Shuyi Chronicle is the earliest record of the sport of "sumo wrestling". According to historical records, there was a war between the Yellow Emperor clan and the Xuanyu tribe five thousand years ago. The Xuanyu clan "uses horns to meet people" and is difficult to resist. Therefore, hitting with the head is the earliest origin of "sumo". "Book of Han, Emperor Wu of Benji": "Three years of the Yuan Dynasty, the spring equinox, the play of the horn, within three hundred miles to watch." "The gladiatorial drama is based on the gladiatorial fighting, and the hundred plays developed include acrobatics, song and dance, martial arts, and large-scale magic. At the beginning of the founding of the Jin Dynasty, a large-scale Chinese "sumo wrestling" was developed. Both men fought by grabbing each other's belts with their hands.
According to Tang Dynasty documents, in addition to court and folk performers, those engaged in the "sumo wrestling" movement were also acrobats who performed ancient tomb murals. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty loved to watch the "sumo wrestling" performances composed of the Divine Strategy Army, in addition, they also liked to recruit people who were good at "sumo wrestling" and held various competitions on a regular basis. For example, rulers of the Tang Dynasty would first watch a "sumo wrestling" performance before offering sacrifices to the heavens.
"Sumo wrestling" was greatly developed in the Song Dynasty. Sumo in the Song Dynasty already had a set of rules that were different from modern sumo wrestling: in a competition, two people could go shirtless or dressed, and they could use fists, wrestling, and wrestling, but they could not pull "zirch" (belt), nor could they use "crotch", let alone use dark weapons. Sumo wrestlers must not only fight with strength and courage, but also with skill and intelligence. Usually, as long as the opponent is knocked to the ground, it is a victory, and the winner is determined in three rounds.
In addition to the court dinner of "sumo", there is also the diplomatic dinner of "sumo". At the same time, the Song Dynasty women's "sumo wrestling" also rose. According to historical records, during the Shangyuan Festival, the custom of "sumo wrestling" for women naked in Kaifeng was very popular, and female sumo wrestlers wore short-sleeved costumes to perform "sumo wrestling". There are many people coming, it is very lively, even the emperor of the Song Dynasty will come to visit. However, Sima Guang, a well-known historian as an official of the imperial court, strongly opposed the performance of women's "sumo wrestling", believing that their "sumo wrestling" was indecent and unconventional.
Sima Guang once wrote a book calling for the ban on women's naked "sumo wrestling" movements. But "sumo" did not die; by the Southern Song Dynasty, women's sumo performances were still very attractive to audiences. The Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains, wrestling became the main form at that time, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty forbade foreigners to perform "sumo wrestling", and after the Ming Dynasty, "sumo wrestling" was gradually marginalized, and only the relevant records of "wrestling" were found in the literature, and the records of "sumo wrestling" could no longer be found.
There is a saying in the Encyclopedia of Japanese Sports: "Japanese sumo was introduced to the mainland from the Tang Dynasty." The Japanese Tonggou also mentions that Japanese sumo wrestling is very similar to the pattern on the walls of ancient tombs from the 3rd to 5th centuries excavated in Ji'an County, Jilin Province, China, and similar to the Chinese form of sumo wrestling in the Tang and Song dynasties.
Sumo was first used during the reign of the Japanese emperor. According to the Nihon Shoki, in order to receive envoys from Baekje, the emperor gathered sumo wrestlers together and let them play a game there. Emperor Yuanzheng retired for three years, and the first time he set up the "Pull Out Division", which was later developed as the "Sumo Wrestling Division", it can be seen that the sumo wrestling system at that time was very complete. When Emperor Shengmu arrived, the Emperor ordered the recruitment of sumo wrestlers from all over the world, because of the legend of Suzu sumo wrestling, so every year on july 7th Tanabata celebration ceremony, a grand sumo show was held at the gate of the imperial palace.
This is also the origin of the celebration of Sumo in Japan. At that time, the Emperor would let the literati write poems for the Tanabata Festival in preparation for the joy of poetry. It was not until the twelfth year of the Yan calendar that Emperor Huanwu of the Heian Dynasty made sumo a traditional activity in the palace. In July, a large sumo show is held in the imperial palace, which gradually evolved into a fixed ritual called "Sumo Festival".
After more than 400 years of history, the sumo festival has gradually become popular in the folk due to the decline of the Japanese imperial family, which has the ability to sacrifice, drive away evil spirits, celebrate harvests, and predict production. "Professional sumo" emerged in the 17th century and was widely promoted in Japan in the early 20th century, with a special arena set up in Tokyo in 1909 and a school sport in 1941. Since then, the status of the sumo wrestling community in Japan has been more recognized.
The Japanese consider sumo to be a noble cause, and sumo wrestlers are respected wherever they go. This is related to the traditional thinking of the Japanese imperial family, ancient sumo wrestlers could only perform in front of the emperor, and the "sumo festival" was a major event of the court, and ordinary people did not have the opportunity to participate, so sumo wrestlers were considered the glory of a lifetime and were also regarded as heroes. Over time, even during the shogunate period, this was the case. Modern sumo wrestlers must go through the training courses of the Sumo Society, including ideological cultivation, sumo techniques, sports medicine, etc. to become legal sumo wrestlers.
Sumo also has some well-established rules, such as sprinkling salt. In the Japanese impression, sprinkling salt is used to avoid ghosts. Sumo wrestlers sprinkle salt on the ground, which has two functions, one is to drive away ghosts, and the other is that salt can be sterilized, and salt is sprinkled on the surface, so that athletes can avoid being hurt before the game. In the process of holding the big sumo wrestling, the amount of salt used per day is as high as 45 kilograms. In addition, the winner can receive a "bounty" after the referee announces the victory, at which time the winner will use his right hand to receive three cuts to the left and right volleys, which is to thank the three gods.
Sumo wrestling is the oldest traditional sports culture in the mainland, but because the feudal ideas in the past were too serious, they gradually disappeared from the public eye because they felt that it was contrary to morality. Japan's cultural export through the mainland began to vigorously develop sumo culture. During the Yamato, Nara, and Heian periods, it was a form of development of court etiquette; during the Edo period, it was a skill in samurai society. With the decline of feudal society, the capital economy broke the self-sustainment of feudal society, and professional sumo gradually emerged, eventually evolving into a mass entertainment sport.
bibliography:
Li Yibing, "On the Development of Sumo Wrestling in Japanese Society"
Kang Jianmin, "Exploring the Evolution and Development of Ancient Sumo Wrestling"