Women's Sumo Vid

[Tetsuzukiyama]

Really good quality documentary of the 2005 World Championships.

[Ratpack]

Really good quality documentary of the 2005 World Championships.

Its good to see the sport moving accross gender boundries.Thanks for the link.

[sumolady]

Thanks for posting this; it's the first women's sumo that I have seen, and it's very interesting.

I can't figure out all the ways in which it is different. Their tachiais (sp?) are slower and more hesitant than the men's, even the largest of ladies. And it's interesting how many more throws there are, no slapping and not so many wins by kimarite such as oshidashi as in men's sumo.

I will show this to everybody! Sumoladies rock!

Angie, nice and warm in Texas, US

[Sasanishiki]

This is by a documentary film-maker, Boaz (from TX, I think), who was at the 2005 WSC in Osaka. He was an interesting guy who wants to show a different side to amateur sumo, one that has yet to be captured on film. I'm just off to watch this now...

Edit: I thought this was pretty good. As much as showcasing women in amateur sumo, it shows the atmosphere of the World Sumo Champs quite well. I enjoyed it and would like to see the finished product!!

Edited July 20, 2006 by Sasanishiki

[Itachi]

I saw it too. Not bad. I was half expecting it to be more of a novelty show than a real competition but this wasn't for novelty.

I have heard that there have been some efforts to have sumo included as an olympic sport. There is a lot of internatioal interest in sumo and even a modest amount of international participation at both the professional and amateur level. One of the obstacles seems to be the gender equity issue. There seems to be some rule that new olympic sports should have both genders involved. The rarity of women in sumo would seem to eliminate it from consideration.

If women's sumo is as good as this and if it can be popularized enough then perhaps sumo could become an olympic event one day.

Let's see more of this.

[Sasanishiki]

One of the obstacles seems to be the gender equity issue. There seems to be some rule that new olympic sports should have both genders involved. The rarity of women in sumo would seem to eliminate it from consideration.

No. Yes. No.

You talk here about both ozumo and amateur sumo. Only amateur sumo is being considered for the Olympics, so the ban on women on the dohyo does not hold here. Thus, sumo is not eliminated from consideration.

Far more likely to hinder sumo is its lack of numbers of competitors full stop - there aren't that many men and women competing throughout the world in amateur sumo.