A Sumo match (Ozeki Kaio vs. Tamanoshima in May 2005). is a competition contact sport where two wrestlers or rikishi face off in a circular area. The sport is of Japanese origin and is surrounded by ceremony and ritual. The Japanese consider Sumo a gendai budō: a modern Japanese martial art, even though the sport has a history spanning many centuries.

The Sumo tradition is very ancient, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt for purification, from the days Sumo was used in the Shinto religion.

Winning a Sumo bout

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The winner of a Sumo bout is mainly determined by two rules:

1. The first wrestler to touch the ground with any part of his body other than the soles of his feet loses.
2. The first wrestler to touch the ground outside the circle loses.

On rare occasions the referee or judges may award the win to the wrestler who touched the ground first; this happens if both wrestlers touch the ground at more or less the same time and it is decided that the wrestler who touched the ground second had no chance of winning as, due to the superior sumo of his opponent, he was already in an irrecoverable position. The losing wrestler is referred to as being shini-tai (“dead body”) in this case.

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