Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts. Andrew Zerling
Kesting
Grapplearts.com founder
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
Combat submission wrestling instructor
Majapahit martial arts instructor
Kajukenbo karate black belt
Thirty-two-year martial arts veteran
After witnessing a live professional grand sumo tournament in Japan, I became even more enthralled by this well-known but misunderstood martial art. The barrel-like physique of the sumo wrestler contrasts strikingly with the lean, muscular physique of the average combat sports athlete. Because of this, many see sumo as spectacle devoid of real athleticism. But make no mistake: professional sumo wrestlers are easily on par with Olympic-level athletes.
When I explored sumo more carefully, I found that it is just as deeply technical a martial art as judo or Western wrestling. In applying its techniques to my own diverse grappling martial arts training, I have gained an even greater respect for this underestimated martial art. I wanted to share my insights with the martial arts community, so I wrote a seventeen-page academic article titled “Sumo Wrestling: Practical Techniques for the Martial Artist” that was published in the final issue of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. The encouraging feedback spawned my idea of significantly expanding my sumo article and making it a book.
Clinches and takedowns are the most overlooked aspect of many martial artists’ game. My book, Sumo for Mixed Martial Arts: Winning Clinches, Takedowns, and Tactics, solves this problem. Sumo wrestling’s little-known but ancient proven clinches, takedowns, and tactics offer a fresh, new perspective. Martial artists who stand to benefit from this book include mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, practitioners of all arts that involve grappling, self-defense practitioners, nongrappling martial artists, and serious sumo fans in general.
In this book, I first offer an overview of sumo wrestling. Second, we will examine sumo “case studies” to show in detail how a sumo wrestler can technically win a match. Third, we will take a close look at sumo from an MMA perspective. And finally, I will illustrate many sumo techniques relevant to MMA with photos—not line drawings—of actual martial artists performing them. This book is organized so the reader can progressively build on the information as it is presented in a logical order. To gain the most benefit, then, this book should be read from the beginning to the end.
The link between sumo and other martial arts has never before been deeply explored in a book. Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA are two of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and sumo has much to contribute to both. Many think they know what sumo is, but what they know is only the surface. This book goes far beyond the surface to uncover theory and techniques that can be of tremendous benefit to many martial artists. I sincerely hope this book brings sumo into the spotlight as a traditional and practical martial art to be studied by all types of martial artists.
—Andrew Zerling
CHAPTER 1 Sumo Wrestling Overview Introduction
Suddenly after an intense staring contest, two huge men powerfully collide in an earthen ring. They are thickly muscled, flexible, highly trained martial artists; they are sumo wrestlers (rikishi). The initial collision of two rikishi can generate an incredible one ton of force or even more. All other things equal, the bigger rikishi usually wins. But rarely are all other things equal. Throughout sumo’s history there have been smaller rikishi who, with the proper technique, have toppled mountain-like men. A sumo historian once said the earthen ring where sumo takes place (dohyo) is circular to help a smaller rikishi angle away from a larger rikishi. This allows for more interesting matches, and it also shows that in some ways, sumo roots for the underdog.
Japan’s ancient and popular martial art is greatly overlooked in the West. This book focuses on sumo’s winning moves, with special emphasis on how smaller players can win against larger players. Because sumo techniques allow a small rikishi to take down larger rikishi, there are clearly benefits in sumo for other martial arts, particularly in mixed martial arts (MMA) and other grappling arts. Modern MMA grew mostly out of jujitsu, and sumo can be seen as the root of jujitsu. Sumo, then, is ultimately one of the major roots of modern MMA. Sumo and modern MMA may look vastly different, but if it were not for the great technical fighting advancements of ancient sumo, there probably would be no MMA as we know it today.
Sumo wrestling predates jujitsu by many centuries.1 Sumo goes back about fifteen hundred years, while the first recorded jujitsu school was not formed in Japan until about five hundred years ago. Considering that sumo was an integral part of the Japanese culture for many centuries before the numerous refined empty-hand techniques of jujitsu were introduced, it would be logical to think sumo had a strong influence in the development of jujitsu.
Sumo can been considered the earliest codified form of jujitsu. Many of the kimarite, sumo’s winning moves, are similar to modern-day jujitsu and judo techniques. They also have similar names. Sumo’s one-arm shoulder throw, ipponzeoi, has a counterpart in jujitsu’s full shoulder throw called ippon seoi nage. Sumo’s koshinage, a hip throw, is similar to jujitsu’s o-goshi or full hip throw, and the same goes for sotogake, sumo’s outside leg trip, and jujitsu’s kosoto-gake, or small outer hook.
Sumo can be seen as one of the oldest and most primal and powerful of the Japanese martial arts. So it is not hard to understand why we may view sumo as the root of jujitsu. Some other martial arts, such as judo, aikido, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), are all modern-day forms of jujitsu,2 each having different objectives and associated techniques that have changed over time to coincide with those objectives.
Some well-known martial artists have studied sumo. The founder of judo, Jigoro Kano, studied not only jujitsu but also a great variety of martial arts, including sumo, to help formulate his modern-day judo.3 When Kano wanted to beat a competitor, he would study everything available, along with sumo techniques and even training books from abroad. Early on, Kano used his knowledge of a sumo shoulder-throw technique to help him create the shoulder-wheel throw (kata-guruma), which is similar to Western wrestling’s fireman’s carry. He used this new throw to defeat a tough opponent. Kano collected nearly one hundred transmission scrolls (texts containing the secrets of the system) from many different schools of martial arts, including sumo.4
In Okinawa, karate master and pioneer Gichin Funakoshi in his youth engaged in sumo-like wrestling called tegumi, which he recounts in his book Karate-Do, My Way of Life. Funakoshi mentioned in his book that he cannot be sure how much tegumi helped his karate mastery, but it definitely had a positive impact. His tegumi training helped him gain muscular strength, which is very beneficial in karate. Also, Funakoshi is certain that tegumi assisted in fortifying his will, an attribute every martial artist needs.5 Tegumi branched off in two directions: the self-defense version, karate, and the sport version, Okinawan sumo. Hence, many Okinawan karate masters also practiced tegumi.
The founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, started his first real training in the martial arts with sumo. In Abundant Peace, Stevens describes the grueling conditioning Ueshiba endured during his sumo training. Even while in the Imperial Army as a young man, Ueshiba was still remarkable at sumo. Ueshiba’s early training in sumo, which focused “on keeping one’s center of gravity low,” probably had an influence on the development of aikido in his later years.6 All three profoundly influential martial arts masters, Kano (1860–1938), Funakoshi (1868–1957), and Ueshiba (1883–1969) saw the great importance of adding sumo to their martial arts training routine.7
More recently, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida,