Most countries have a national pastime of some sort - a sport that they can truly identify themselves and their people with.  In America, baseball directly equates with a sense of national pride.  In Western Europe, fans go berserk at soccer matches and tournaments.  However, in Japan, sumo is the game of choice.  A time-honored tradition with deep roots in religion, ritual, and tradition, sumo is an integral part of Japan’s present-day culture, and one of the island nation’s strongest links to its past.

	Sumo, in principle, is quite simple.  Two wrestlers, or rikishi, attempt to force each other out of a circular arena.  This can be accomplished by grabbing an opponent’s belt, or through open-handed pushes and slaps.  The sumo wrestler’s sizable bulk is a rather notable asset, but - surprisingly enough - his agility can make or break a match.  A bout is over and a winner is declared when one player is forced from the ring.  Throughout it all, a referee - resplendent in the colorful robes traditional to his position - animatedly shouts encouragement to the contestants.

	Much of sumo’s appeal is lost on a Western audience, whose experience with wrestling ends with pro wrestling-style bouts, which are much more violent melodrama than physical sport.  A rikishi, though entitled to celebrity status, is not an actor.  The athletes of sumo dedicate their entire lives to training and preparing themselves for their matches.  The sport also encompasses a great deal of ritual from Japan’s Shinto religion.  In fact, a player may spend more time paying homage and performing purification rites than actually grappling with his opponent.  This deeply cultural aspect of the sport is one of the primary stumbling blocks to an embrace of sumo by Western society.  However, if one can understand sumo’s significance to Japanese culture of the past and present, the true nobility of the game will shine through any cultural differences that obscure it.