Sumo fact files
In a sumo match, only the feet touch the ground. If another part of the body touches the ground or is outside the ring, the wrestler loses the match.
Many sumo matches only last for four or five seconds. Some matches can last two or three minutes.
Sumo wrestlers have to be big and heavy. But they also have to move very quickly and have very good balance.
Sumo wrestles eat about 20,000 calories a day. (A normal man eats about 2,500 calories.)
Sumo wrestlers usually train for ten to twelve years before they start fighting professionally.
Read an interview with a sumo wrestler in training.
Yasuo Yamato is seventeen and he weighs 115 kilograms. He is a young sumo wrestler. Sports Magazine asks him about his life.
Q: Hello, Yasuo. Tell me about a day at the sumo school.
A: Well, we get up at five o’clock and start training. We train for five hours. It’s very hard work. When we make a mistake, the teachers get angry with us and hit us with long sticks.
Q: Oh, dear! What do you do after training?
A: We have lunch. We usually have lots of fish, meat, rice and vegetables. We drink beer, too. Then we sleep for four hours. This helps us to get fat!
Q: What do you do after sleep?
A: We study school subjects because we have to finish our education. I’m really interested in history but I’m not really good at maths.
Q: What do you do after the lessons?
A: We have dinner. Fish, meat, rice and vegetables again. I’m a bit bored with the food!
Q: What time do you go to bed?
A: We go to bed early – at about nine o’clock. There are twelve students and we all sleep in the same room. It isn’t much fun.
Q: Why do you want to be a sumo wrestler, then?
A: Well, I’m good at wrestling. And my family are proud of me. Sumo wrestlers are very important people in Japan and champion wrestlers are very rich. I want to be a champion one day!
