We present on this page two very vivid pictures, representing Japanese wrestlers. The first showing them in training, the second, wrestling within a tent erected expressly for this purpose. They are bulky, but not unwieldy individuals, for they are famous for their activity as they are for their size. The nobels of the empire keep these men for their own amusement and that of the public, much as Roman gladiators were entertained of old. Their whole lives are spent in developing their muscle, their strength and there skill. The ring within which they encounter is formed by bundles of manilla, and a wrestler is vanquished if thrown within the ring, if forced out of it, or if made to disturb the circle by his antagonist. They are fierce fellows, and death not infrequently happens in the arena.

    In the "Americans in Japan," abridgment of the government account of Perry's expedition, we find a graphic account of the wrestlers at Yokuhama, in the Bay of Yedo. The attention of the commodore and his party was suddenly riveted upon their upon a body of monstrous fellows who came down the beach like so many huge elephants. They were professional wrestlers, and formed part of the retinue of the Japanese princes, who keep them for their private amusement and for public entertainments. They were twenty-five in all, and were men enormously tall in stature and immense in weight of flesh. Their scant costume - which was merely a colored cloth about the loins, adorned with fringes, and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the prince to whose service each belonged - revealed their gigantic proportions, in all the bloated fullness of fat and breadth of muscle. Their proprietors, the princes, seemed proud of them, and were careful to show their points to the greatest advantage before the astonished spectators. Some two or three of the huge monsters were the most famous wrestlers in Japan, and ranked as the champion Tom Cribs and Hyers of the land. Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of these, and paraded himself with conscious pride of superior immensity and strength. He was brought especially to the Commodore, that he might examine his massive form. The Commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should be minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscles should be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by the touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his arm, which he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the enormous neck, which fell, in folds of massive flesh, like the dew-lap of a prize-ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous exhibition of animal development, the monster himself gave a grunt, expressive of his flattered vanity.

    After this, the Commissioners proposed that the Commodore and his party should retire to the Treaty House, where they would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their professional feats. The wrestlers themselves were most carefully provided for, having constantly about them a number of attendants, who were always at hand to supply them with fans, which they often required, and to assist them in dressing and undressing. While at rest, they were ordinarily clothed in richly adorned robes of the usual Japanese fashion; but when exercising, they were stripped naked, with the exception of the cloth about the loins.  A circular space of some twelve feet in diameter had been inclosed within a ring, and the ground carefully broken up and smoothed in front of the building. As soon as the spectators had taken their seats, the naked wrestlers were brought out into the ring, and the whole number being divided into two opposing parties, tramped heavily backward and forward, looking defiance at each other, but not engaging in any contest, as their object was merely to parade their points, to give the beholders, as it were, an opportunity to form an estimate of their comparative powers, and to make up their betting-books. They soon retired behind some screens placed for the purpose, where all, with the exception of two, were again clothed in full dress, and took their position on seats in front of the spectators.

    The two who had been reserved out of the band, now, on the signal being given by the heralds, presented themselves. They came in, one after the other, from behind the screens, and walked slowly into the centre of the ring. Here they ranged themselves, one against the other, at a distance of a few yards. They stood for a while eyeing each other with a wary look, as if both were watching a chance to catch their antagonist off his guard. As the spectator looked on and beheld these overfed monsters, whose animal natures had been so carefully and successfully developed, and as he watched them, glaring with brutal ferocity at each other, ready to exhibit the cruel instincts of a savage nature, it was easy for him to lose all sense of their being human creatures, and to persuade himself he was beholding a couple of brute beasts thirsting for another's blood. As they continued to eye each other, they stamped the ground heavily, pawing with impatience, and then stooping their huge bodies, they grasped handfuls of the earth, and flung it with an angry toss over their backs, or rubbed it impatiently between their palms or under their shoulders. They now crouched down low, still keeping their eyes fixed upon one another and watching each movement, and in a moment they had both simultaneously heaved their massive frames in opposing force, body to body, with a shock that might have stunned an ox.

    The equilibrium of their monstrous persons was hardly disturbed by the encounter, the effect of which was but barely visible in the quiver of the hanging flesh of their bodies. As they came together, they had flung their brawny arms about each other, and were now entwined in a desperate struggle, with all their strength, to throw their antagonist. Their great muscles rose with the distinct outline of the sculptured form of a colossal Hercules, their bloated faces swelled up with gushes of red blood, which seemed almost to burst through the skin, and their huge bodies palpitated with savage emotion as the struggle continued. At last, one of the antagonists fell with his immense weight upon the ground, and being declared vanquished, he was assisted to his feet and conducted from the ring. These wrestlers are often so immense in flesh, that they appear to have lost their distinctive features, and seem enfolded in masses of fat. Their eyes are barely visible through a long perspective of socket, their heads are almost directly set upon their bodies, with only folds of flesh where the neck and chin are usually found, and from their herculean size are capable of great strength. Altogether they form a curious feature in Japanese life, and, as we have said before, are regarded in high favor.