Word: sumo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...love Sumo," says Levan Gorgadze, 18, a former judo champion from Tbilisi, Georgia. And he's good at it too. Gorgadze hit the amateur European sumo tour two years ago, and in this year's Junior World Sumo Championship in Tokyo he finished second in heavyweight competition. With a small-town boy's big-city dream, he hopes to move from amateur to professional in the sacred rings of sumo in the sport's motherland. "The only place to reach the top is in Japan," he says. For the past two months, the 6-ft. 3-in., 276-lb. teen...
Those gods--who rule the Japan Sumo Association--have long felt that there has been a bit too much foreign infusion. Indeed, in the past two years, the only wrestler to hold the highest sumo rank of yokozuna has been Asashoryu, a 25-year-old sensation from Mongolia (where he was born Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj). Asashoryu has won the past six grand sumo tournaments, and he appears to be on track to win his seventh, which would be a record. One of the most popular up-and-comers today is Kotooshu, 22, a Bulgarian (born Kaloyan Stefanov Mahlyanov) with quick feet...
...Japan, however, sumo is not just a sport but also a revered institution, an intrinsic part of the national genome. A number of its esoteric rituals are rooted in Shinto, the native animist religion, and its training emphasizes ancient Japanese virtues, such as duty, fortitude and respect for elders, as much as it does pure athletic prowess. Even though the foreign invasion has reignited public interest in the stagnating sport, many elders at the clubby and hidebound Japan Sumo Association have become fearful that admitting too many hungry foreign upstarts will dilute what they routinely rhapsodize as professional sumo...
Since most sumo stables have filled their quota, there are very few that can even consider taking on Gorgadze, no matter how bright his prospects. Wearing the traditional mawashi loincloth and taping his feet just before a recent practice, Gorgadze says, "I know I would do well if I were given a shot." If something doesn't open up soon, he says, he will be forced to return to Georgia in January when his temporary visa expires. And that will probably be the end of his dream. "I don't really understand why the rule exists," he says with...
...course, there will be action figures. A popular one might be Hawaiian-born Kaleo, a former champ in Japan's pro league who, at his peak, weighed 345 lbs. He came out of retirement to compete, bulking up with an old sumo trick: eat chanko nabe, a rich stew, then promptly go to sleep. But size ultimately matters less than technique--there are 70 moves a wrestler can use to get his opponent out of the ring. "I'm a pusher, a thruster," says Kaleo, who fights for Japan. "I come out like a boo rush." An all-American sumo...