Two-panel screen depicting wrestlers
date: label: Date
content: 17th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
notes: label: Label
content: Pairs of wrestlers in a walled courtyard engage in practice bouts of sumo, the ancient Japanese form of wrestling that became a professional sport early in the Edo period (1615-1868), when this screen was painted. Still practiced today as Japan's most famous national sport, sumo has a history of some two thousand years, and formal matches retain many of the rituals established in ancient times.
label: Label
content: Observed from a slightly elevated building, wrestlers ranging from youths to mature contenders practice the holds, rushes, and throws that determine the winner in sumo matches. The objective in a match is to force the opponent to touch the ground or to push him outside the rope marking the boundary of the circular ring. A judge in the foreground carefully watches one match as a wrestler is about to be thrown to the ground. This screen provides a realistic view of sumo training in the seventeenth century, as young wrestlers drawn mainly from rural communities prepare for this rigorous sport.
label: Provenance
content: To 1903
label: Provenance
content: Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1903 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1903 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1903 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Screen List, L. 70, pg. 18, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Games, Contests and Artful Play in Japan (March 19 to October 23, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: sport
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1903.100
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color and ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 170 x 178 cm (66 15/16 x 70 1/16 in)