The Essential Guide to Sumo

Sumo, Japan's national sport, includes elements of Shinto ritual, Chinese Confucianism, and court pageantry of the Heian Period. It maintains traditions of the sumurai martial arts and has adapted to 'TV pageantry.' These elements make it one of the most exciting and, at the same time, most

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frustrating spectator sports. How do you know when the sumotori will actually clash? What is the referee yelling? What do the passing of water to the next combatant, the throwing of salt, and the staring and glaring mean? The Essential Guide to Sumo explains these and other mysteries in cross-referenced Japanese and English glossaries of over 500 terms. Additional help is provided in sections that group terms by category, provide stable addresses and chanko nabe recipes, and explain the banzuke hyo and the names chosen by sumotori. Photographs and line drawings illustrate many of the terms, and a bibliography provides sources for further reading.

Dorothea N. Buckingham was introduced to sumo while working as a librarian in Hawai'i. Two years later, living in Japan, she attended her first basho and became an instant fan. Her own struggles to overcome language and cultural barriers and learn everything she could about the sport led to the writing of The Essential Guide to Sumo.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Japanese terms
Terms related to...
Apparel
Banzuke
Dohyo
Earnings
Gishiki
Practice
Rank
Sumo divisions
Scoring
Stable and stable life
Stable personnel
Sumo association
Techniques
Tournaments
What people are saying
Historic terms
Banzuke Hyo
Names
Ichimon
Addresses
Chanko Nabe
Bibliography

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