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(★)(Sumo´s grasp on the imagination as a sport and mass entertainment is as powerful now as it was in the days of Japan´s feudal past. The first matches, steeped in Shinto ritual, were held to ensure that the gods would provide bountiful harvests. The Edo period (1603-1868), with the advent of polychrome woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e, created mass media for the national sport. Sumo champions became immortalized by the ukiyo-e artists ; they were as famous then as the great Kabuki actors or courtesans of the demimonde. Today Japan´s public television and radio broadcast the six, fifteen-day tournaments each year to millions of fans, including an ever-growing number of foreign residents intrigued by the drama of sumo. Exhibition sumo bouts held abroad during the off-season draw capacity crowds. But apart from entering sumo to compete --a path taken by a growing number of non-Japanese-- how does one begin to understand what it feels like to belong to this most enigmatic Japanese world? One way is to reveal the sense of presence, or essence, of life in sumo seen and interpreted by someone who fell in love with the sport and has earned the trust and confidence of sumo world members willing to share their candid experiences. It is these stories, and her insights, that Lora Sharnoff shares in a personal, intimate portrait. This book is a journey into a world thought to be the living presence of a bygone era. The author tells the story of sumo´s colorful history, the organization of the sumo stables into powerful competing affiliations, the drama of the grand tournaments, and life on the road during off-season bouts. Yet she never loses sight of those men who have chosen sumo as a way of life --the personalities of the men who face each other in the ring, the dramatis personae of referees and announcers, and behind-the-scenes activities of people such as the sumo hairdressers, coaches, and attendants to the upper-division men. Drawing upon her knowledge and lore of sumo life, she describes in detail how, and some of the reasons, men enter the sport, life in the sumo stables, the arduous road leading to success or failure, and the pathways open to those who decide to remain in the sumo world after retirement from active competition. Today´s celebrated, upper-division competitors and the foreigners who have struggled to make their names in the sport are captured in vivid profiles that enhance the book as a guide for active fans. The story is highlighted by pastel and charcoal drawings by Lynn Matsuoka, whose artwork has the verve and poignancy of sumo once captured by the ukiyo-e artists. The Glossary provides concise definitions of the terms and expressions, and The Record Book and List of Yokozuna (grand champions) reinforce the book´s reference value. ◆Lora Sharnoff is a Tokyo-based writer and translator whose interviews and articles on sumo have been published regularly for over ten years in The Tokyo Weekender and Sumo World. From 1984 to 1986, her live commentary of the sumo tournaments was broadcast by Fuji Television. She is a graduate of Barnard College and received her M.A. degree in Japanese literature from Columbia University. A sixteen-year resident of Japan, she has written and translated a broad range of works on Japanese culture and society.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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