"There are not many sports that can keep an audience enraptured through 45 minutes of ceremony before the first point is even contested. And yet, the intricate traditions unfolding in a small clay ring - virtually unchanged in hundreds of years - managed to do just that. Welcome, then, to the Grand Sumo Tournament - a five-day event at the Royal Albert Hall featuring 40 of the very best sumo wrestlers showcasing a sport which can date its first mention back to 23BC."
"London's Victorian concert venue has been utterly transformed, complete with six-tonne Japanese temple roof suspended above the ring. It is here the wrestlers, known as rikishi, will perform their leg stomps to drive away evil spirits, and where they will clap to get the attention of the gods. And above all this ancient ceremony, a giant, revolving LED screen which wouldn't look out of place at an American basketball game, offering the audience all the stats and replays they could want."
"It was a "random video" which first caught Sian Spencer's attention a couple of years ago. This was quickly followed by the discovery of dedicated YouTube channels for a couple of the sumo stables, where rikishi live and train, waking up early to practise, followed by a high protein stew called a chankonabe, and then an afternoon nap - all in the service of bulking up. Then she discovered the bi-monthly, 15 day championships, known as basho, and from there, she was hooked."
The Grand Sumo Tournament at London's Royal Albert Hall presents traditional sumo ceremonies in an adapted Victorian venue. The clay ring remains virtually unchanged, topped by a six-tonne Japanese temple roof and accompanied by rikishi performing leg stomps and clapping to ward off spirits and invoke the gods. A large revolving LED screen supplies stats and replays, merging ancient ritual with modern spectacle. Sumo's strict behavioral codes persist while the sport gains international fans. Some viewers discover sumo through online videos and stable channels, learning training routines and chankonabe meals; others travel to see the bi-monthly basho and live events.
Read at www.bbc.com
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