Screaming Babies

[Asojima]

A scene from the annual Naki Sumo (Crying Sumo) Baby Screaming Contest held a Senso-ji temple in Tokyo. College sumo athletes participate in the ceremony which supposedly promotes children's health.

Edited April 29, 2006 by Asojima

[Odoriou]

A picture of the kettei-sen bout: (In a state of confusion...)

The rikishi in pink won the yusho with 138 decibel. :-)

[Cammy]

138 decibel...wow that is pretty loud...now I know that babies will cry/scream, when held by people they don't know, but man does every kid have the same reaction when the rikishi hold them?

[Odoriou]

... but man does every kid have the same reaction when the rikishi hold them?

This article says that babies nowadays often refuse to cry - those lazybones prefer to sleep instead. With such a lack of motivation among Japanese youth it's no surprise that Ozumo Oyakata these days find so few hard-working Japanese recruits... (Help me...)

Loudest wailer wins championship at Japan's crying sumo tournament

1 May 2006, TOKYO - Seventy-four babies born last year were made to cry on Monday at one of Tokyo's most popular tourist town of Asakusa while nearly 900 spectators cheered on.

In the nationwide traditional ritual called 'Naki-zumo', or crying sumo in Japanese, two babies are held in the arms of university sumo club members and brought to the ring.

The one that wails loudest wins the tournament and is also granted long and healthy years to come, following the Japanese proverb 'the more babies cry, the healthier they grow up.'

The presenters who hold the babies try their best to make the contestants cry by making scary faces, putting masks of monsters or raising the babies higher.

Babies are crying less and less every year, and the presenters are having more difficulties to make them wail, according to Mainichi Shimbun Monday.

On the other hand, there are babies who began laughing or remained asleep.

( http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle...ection=theworld )

[Itachi]

Man, I should've entered my daughters! They were seriously loud (but I didn't have the equipment to measure the decibels).

My son isn't nearly as loud fortunately. Or perhaps I just can't hear properly anymore.

[Otokonoyama]

Tip o' the hat to Japan Probe. ;-)

[Sashohitowa]

What was that, a double fusenpai? Both babies had quite a good time there, and didn't bother to scream...