JAPAN: Japan's sumo grand champion stamps before thousands to perform New Year's rites

Japan's Mongolian-born sumo grand champion performs new year's rites at a Tokyo shrine in his first public appearance this year. Japan's sumo grand champion performed traditional new year's rites at a Tokyo shrine Friday (January 5), stamping powerfully before thousands of sumo fans and visitors. Wearing only a white loin cloth in the depth of winter, Mongolian-born Asashoryu, who holds the highest rank of yokozuna, offered the sacred rites along with two other sumo wrestlers at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine. The 140-kilo (or some 300 pound) wrestler is now the 68th grand champion of Japan's ancient sport, which some historians say dates back 2,000 years. Sumo has religious roots that remain strong even if its grand champions are no longer Japanese. Professional sumo now has nearly 60 foreign-born wrestlers, like Asashoryu, from more than a dozen countries ranging from Bulgaria to Brazil. For many of the 4,500 people that crowded the shrine, seeing a yokozuna up-close was a rare experience. "He is a yokozuna, the grand champion. So everybody is curious to see him first-hand," said Shichiro Arisaka, a 78-year-old sumo fan who watches sumo matches regularly on TV. Children also seemed impressed by the sight. "It was amazing to see his huge body," said nine -year-old Moe Nukaga. Sumo has been hit by waves of foreign competitors, first by the Hawaiians in the 1980s, then by the Mongolians in the 1990s and now by the Europeans. The latest additions are mostly from Eastern Europe. While the participation of foreigners raised eyebrows in the conservative sumo world in the past, opposition has faded in recent years and the rivalry between Asashoryu and Kotooshu is being credited with a slight recovery in the sport's popularity. END.

ITN Source | January 13, 2007

Tags:. .thousands. .recent. .fans. .fan. .body