Round 40 wrestlers will likely be competing within the nineteenth Annual Texas Traditional Sumo Match on August 30.
Houstonia’s The Should Checklist tells you about one thing occurring in Houston that you just completely can not miss.
There’s a balletic high quality to sumo wrestling: Two opponents should lock into an embrace collectively and, utilizing nothing however their wits and our bodies, attempt to pressure the opposite exterior of the ring. Crossing the boundary—even with out touching the bottom—means defeat. Like all the perfect athletes, sumo wrestlers pull double responsibility as artists. The traditional apply and nationwide sport of Japan prizes technique over power, self-discipline over energy. Houston has its personal small however devoted neighborhood, with wrestlers congregating at Shōgeki Sumo Dojo, a martial arts coaching house within the Heights. Since formally launching in 2022, the dojo has gained followers throughout town, and has carried out at occasions such because the Japan Pageant and Asia Society Texas Heart’s night time markets. On Saturday, August 30, Houston’s high sumo opponents return to Asia Society’s stage for the 19th Annual Texas Traditional Sumo Match.
“Folks have computerized pleasure and curiosity in sumo wrestling. They’ve heard of it, however they don’t actually know that a lot about it,” says Michael Buening, Asia Society’s director of performing arts and tradition. “[Shōgeki’s] method is giving an academic cultural background to the game and its significance in Japanese tradition. It’s enjoyable, it’s thrilling, but it surely’s additionally a cultural studying expertise.”
That is the occasion’s second yr at Asia Society. Tournaments have been beforehand held in San Antonio, a metropolis with a 20-year legacy of nurturing sumo traditions. When that neighborhood shifted its priorities away from internet hosting, Shōgeki stepped up to ensure Texas wrestlers may nonetheless compete. Dojo director Nicholas Tôn estimates 40 contributors yearly, together with six from Shōgeki.
Asia Society Texas Heart’s stage will function the event’s ring.
For wrestling followers extra used to American types, sumo’s lack of weight lessons could appear a little bit complicated. Rivals of all sizes compete in opposition to each other, and Tôn notes that this highlights simply how a lot ability and devotion to the sport can create a sumo champion. Within the ring, uncooked physicality solely goes up to now. “It’s everybody versus everybody,” Tôn says, “…It’s even higher everytime you see the a lot lighter particular person win. Simply seeing an enormous upset like that, seeing somebody throw twice or extra of their physique weight, that’s what’s very thrilling for lots of people.”
The viewers loves having their expectations performed with, too. Sumo’s popularity as a few heavyset males in loincloths (mawashi) and topknots (chonmage) stems from the assumption {that a} bigger dimension makes a wrestler more durable to push exterior the ring. However a go to to the event or Shōgeki throughout a apply session reveals that the artwork of sumo extends previous the acquainted iconography. Courting again to 712 CE, sumo is rooted deeply within the Shinto spiritual custom. The primary wrestlers have been deities: Takemikazuchi, the god of swords and thunder, and Takeminakata, a god whose area encompassed agriculture, water, and wind. It later turned a coaching approach for samurai, members of a warrior class stored as retainers for rich landowners. Such a profession concerned equal elements mind and brawn, making sumo a super apply to maintain the swordsmen sharp (pun meant). “Sumo is a glimpse into the previous… It’s extraordinarily conventional in the way in which they attempt to protect a lot of their custom…the way in which they speak, the rituals that they do,” Tôn says. “Even within the ring, that displays loads of the stuff that was executed up to now.”
Each Shōgeki and Asia Society additionally use the event to spotlight sides of Japanese tradition past the ring. Attendees can browse distributors promoting Japanese clothes, crafts, toys, and meals. A number of the wrestlers may even serve chankonabe, a hearty fish or rooster stew that, whereas deemed wholesome, was created to be consumed in giant portions to assist facilitate weight achieve. At sumo colleges, junior college students put together it for his or her seniors, consuming solely after the others have had their fill. On the event, Shōgeki’s group plans to dish up the nice and cozy consolation meals to followers. Wrestlers are anticipated to dwell by the credo referred to as shingitai, a Japanese phrase that finest interprets to “coronary heart, physique, and approach” (“thoughts” and “spirit” are generally swapped in for the phrase “coronary heart”). Service to visitors is taken into account an act of “coronary heart,” additional extending sumo inside its broader Japanese context. It’s a deeper side to the game, revealing what sumo means past an athletic spectacle.
“Folks come away with an actual appreciation for the game,” Buening says of the event. “Final yr, once we held the championships right here, so many individuals got here out, and [said], ‘I didn’t know what to anticipate,’ or ‘I by no means knew this about sumo,’ or ‘I’m not into sports activities, however I really like this.’”
Know Earlier than You Go
The 19th Annual Texas Traditional Sumo Match will likely be held at Asia Society Texas on Saturday, August 30. For tickets and extra data, go to the web site.
1370 Southmore Blvd, Museum Park, 77004
