Surprise, surprise!! I really enjoyed watching sumo wrestling!  Today we attended the Grand Sumo Tournament here in Tokyo, one of the six big tournaments of the year.  The event is organized so that the best contestants compete at the end of the day.  I uploaded to YouTube a video (taken by Doug) of the reigning champion, Hakuho.  This win continued his undefeated record for this event. He has three more days of competition but I am betting he will hold the title. Take a look! 
Video:  Hakuho_January 23, 2014

The legend of how sumo wrestling began goes something like this...
In ancient times ownership of the Japanese islands was determined by  a sumo match between two gods.  And the current Emperor of Japan allegedly traces his ancestry back 2,500 years to the victor, the god Takeminakata!

Sumo was used to strengthen warriors for battle and also has meaning in the Shinto religion where humans are believed to sometimes wrestle with spirits called kami.  Eventually sumo became both a sport and an occupation of the Samurai warrior class.  Oda Nobunaga, the first great unifier of Japan, took a particularly keen interest in sumo and it became a highly-developed form of entertainment thereafter. 

The goal of sumo is to force one's opponent out of the circular ring or cause him to touch the ground with any part of body other than the soles of his feet.  A bout lasts anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes.  Because weight classes do not exist, there is often a big difference in the weight of the two contestants but the smaller competitor can still win with greater skill and speed.   Prior to each bout, ancient rituals are still practiced and include much clapping, mouth-rinsing, salt-throwing (lots of it!), slapping, leg-lifting and squatting.  When contestants finally wash their faces and arm pits, the crowd goes wild with cheers and shouts because the bout is about to begin.