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Sumo
Sumo is a fresh and funny introduction to the fascinating world of sumo, Japan's national sport. Author David Benjamin peels away the veneer of sumo as a cultural treasure and reveals it as an action-packed sport populated by superb athletes who employ numerous strategies and techniques to overcome their gargantuan opponents. Sumo provides an engaging, witty, behind-the-sc...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
March 10th 2010
by Periplus Hong Kong
(first published 2010)
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In this revised edition of his classic book, David Benjamin gives the newbie Sumo fan everything they need to know to enjoy Japan's most famous sport.
Benjamin's approach is this - strip away the culture and mystic and sumo is a sport where two fat guys try to push each other down. So what does all that mystic and culture do for the game and which bits of it are important and what does it all mean anyway?
By using gently mocking nicknames for the wrestlers, and by constant...more
Benjamin's approach is this - strip away the culture and mystic and sumo is a sport where two fat guys try to push each other down. So what does all that mystic and culture do for the game and which bits of it are important and what does it all mean anyway?
By using gently mocking nicknames for the wrestlers, and by constant...more
Read this book before my first sumo match at the Kokugikan. Includes a nanosecond-by-nanosecond blow-by-blow of a very important match between 2 sumo greats that spans 8 pages and useful translation of sumo interviews (Wsrmsht = I don't remember). Fwah! Sumo is all drama - posturing, death glares, leg lifting-squat-stomp, bitch slapping, throat grabbing and jiggling mounds of flesh. And it's over in seconds! It is my new favourite sport.
Fun, insightful, totally irreverent introduction to the world of sumo. A true fan's guide, this one's probably not for the self-proclaimed Japanophiles bound by sumo's entrenched rituals and religious pomposity. This book explores details of sumo in a way rarely done in typical (Japan Sumo Association-approved) books on the sport. Although the numerous references to US sports like baseball, football and basketball can get annoying at times if you don't follow them, the comparisons made do provid...more
funny, irreverant and insightful. a must read for aspiring sumo nerds
Tony Derricott
marked it as to-read
Linda Bernier
marked it as to-read
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