Evening star., 1901-11-04
WRESTLING IN JAPAN
A NATIONAL SPORT OF ANCIENT AND
HONORABLE ORIGIN.
Rules Prescribed for Contestants-
Champions Must Meet All
COmers.

What base ball is to the American, cricket
to the Englishman or golf to the Scotch,
wrestling is to the citizen of the flowery
Kingdom. 1t Is. par excellence. the national
sport. Unlike base ball, cricket or golf, It
Is OF most ancient and honorable origin.
The first match OF which there is any re-
ord took place In the year Caesars nephew
assumed the imperial crown and more than
twenty years before the founder OF Chris
tianity was born. In % B. c. Nomi-no-
Sukune wrestled in the palace at Nara with
one Kehaya, who prided himself on his
| great strength and threw him down with
such force that he died on the spot The
mikado covered the successful wrestler
with honors, and after his death Sukune
was deifed, and to this day is worshiped as
the patron of Japanese wrestlers.
While not enjoying today the immunities
and privileges which were his before the
restoration adjusted things in harmony
| with western views of civilization the
wrestler still continues to be in a Japanese
and consideration. Boys look up to him
with awe and veneration, while bashful
maidens divide their struggling affections
between him and the ever-popular actor.
The old folk see In him one of the represen-
| tatives of another order of things now rap
idly disappearing-the good old times" the
golden age for which every ancient
| worthy in every land and CLINE has sighed
downward course. He is an interesting
landmark, as it were, of Japanese civiliza-
ton, but not. l am bound TO say, hand
some one. Outside the ring he is easily
recognized by his enormous stature-enor-
nous as compared with that of his average
countryman, his extraordinary girth, his
waddling gait and the assumption of supe
riority over his fellow-beings with which
his physical proportions seem to inspire
him.
The Dress of WrestIers.
The European dress craze which in the
early sixties and for many years thereafter
appeared to have seized upon all classes
and both sexes has left the wrestler un-
touched. To this day he is the one man
who may be said, alone among Japanese of
distinction, to have consistently clung to
the national costume. He even goes SO far
as to retain his queue and a peculiar build
OF clogs that are not worn nowadays by
any one else.
Like other sports wrestling has had it's
ups and downs in the popular esteem. Ju-
kichi Inouye, in very instructive article
on the subject recently published, traces
the popularity which wrestling enjoys at
the present day to matches that were held
in 1881 on the occasion of the emperors S
visit to the eX-daimyo of Satsuma. Under
the Tokugawa dynasty-that is to say, dur
ing the period Of ''the great peace'-wrest-
lers enjoyed special privileges because their
art was still considered of military impor-
ldlCe anu lnelT services were nKely at any
moment to be required by the state. They
ranked next to the Samurai. They were ex-
empted from all tolls on public highways,
could order post horses at the same reduced
rate as the Samurai, and were permitted to
enter theaterS and other places of public
amusement as deadheads Their wide pop
ularity was, however, mainly due to the
patronage Of the daimyo or other great
feudatories. Every wrestler of the first
grade was backed by a daimyo with the
willing support of his retainers and his
honor was jealously watched by the whole
clan. When the restoration came the wrest-
lers special privileges were taken away
from him. His position became no higher
than that of any other professional In
deed, he is today compelled like the rest to
take out license for pursuing his calling
The treatment, in fact, to which he is now
subjected was part of that reaction against
militarism which ended in the retirement
to private life Of the shotgun and the re-
storatlon to power of the emperor He
found, 1T is true, among the hitherto de-
SplSed class of merchants patrons as mu-
nificent as ever he had had in the ranks of
the nobility, but his prosperity and the high
consideration once paid him are forever
gone.
Tokio's Ring.
Every large town has its wrestling ring.
The one in Toxic is a fair sample Of most.
Imagine a frame building, about $50 feet
long by $50 feet wide covered by a canvas
roof. Inside, on the four sides, are tiers
of seats and boxes which command a view
of the ring in the center. In the center is
the ring itself, formed, as a rule by heap
ing hardened earth, about thirty inches
high, in perfect circle Of twenty feet in
diameter The whole suggests except as
to size, the circus ring at home, or a pie
on an enlarged scale. The whole is sur
mounted, but so as not to obstruct the view
OF the audience, by dais supported by
four pillars. At opposite pillars are pals
of water for the wrestlers to drink from
before or during a bout. On the side OF
the pals are a basket of salt and a bundle
of paper slips. the former to purify the body
for the contest, which, it is said, may pos
sibly end in DEATH and the latter to wipe
the face. Near by Is little shrine dedicat-
ed to Nomi-no-Sukune the guardian deity
of the wrestlers, already referred to, be-
fore which offerings of rice and water are
made every morning while the matches last.
The water is afterward sprinkled to purify
the ring. Wrestlers come upon the ring
east and west, according to the side to
which they belong. The umpire stands on
the north side Of the ring and faces the
south.
pean or American colleague, doesn't train
down. but up" as it were. He not only
depends for success upon agility and mus
cular strength, but also relies upon weight
as factor likely to determine the issue of
struggle. The rules of the ring are Of
the Strictest. If a wrestler should fall,
touch the ground with the Knee hand or
any part of the body or step outside of the
ring he is declared defeated. Butting and
tripping are freely induiged in, and in
manner that would not be countenanced at
home, perhaps.
There are said to be no less than 10
ways of throwing an antagonist but / am
not enough Of an enthusiast to be able to
define them. Previous to closing in upon
each other there is much ceremony to be
observed. The contestants stretch out their
arms and clasp hands in token Of their
Willingness to abide by the umpire's de-
cision. They also stretch their leas AMI
stamp on the ground five times to give
elasticity to their limbs. They also drink
water, wipe their mouths with paper and
throw pinches of salt over their shoulders
All this is part of the traditi ons of the
profession and subject to the res esulatioEs
Of the guild Of wrestlers.
Umpire's Word Law.
There are no 'bleachers'' to dispute the
decisions of the umpire. So great is the
confidence of the public In his official IN
tegrity that his DEGREES are rarely, IL ever,
questioned. There is elaborate school
of theory and practice through which ne
has to go to qualify himself for the dis
charge of his duties. He decides when the
time has arrived to separate struggling
wrestlers. and 1t is part to his duties to