Sumo Wrestlers

Japan is a sports-minded nation. Baseball, tennis, golf, and skiing are all popular. Indeed, baseball is almost the national sport, and professional and amateur teams are followed with wild enthusiasm. One traditional Japanese sport is sumo, an ancient form of wrestling. Sumo wrestlers are generally very big and heavy. A wrestler's hair is tied up in a coiled knot on top of his head. He wears a type of loincloth so that the audience can see every muscle in his body. The match is lost by the wrestler who first steps outside the ring or touches the ground with anything but the soles of his feet. Two other traditional sports are karate and judo, which are also useful for self-defense. In karate, one uses the hand, either open or closed; the elbows; and the feet. In judo, the student is trained to use the movements of an opponent to achieve the momentum needed for a throw.