How a match works, in a minute
How a sumo bout works
- Sumo is Japanese wrestling in a raised clay ring. Two wrestlers, rikishi, purify the ring with salt and squat facing each other until both are ready.
- The bout starts with the charge, the tachi-ai.
- The first forced out of the circle, or touching the ground with anything but the soles of the feet, loses. A bout often lasts seconds.
- Professional sumo has six tournaments a year, each of 15 days. The best record wins the tournament, and results decide each rikishi's rank, up to yokozuna.