Harper's New Monthly Magazine, August 1869 (Volume 39, Issue 231, pages 317-8)

PICTURES OF THE JAPANESE

JAPANESE WRESTLER



    Wrestling is very popular amusement all over Japan, and is practiced universally throughout the country. Wherever a village can boast of a temple a portion of its grounds is devoted to the promotion of single-stick and of wrestling. Traveling professionals exhibit their prowess in matches which afford a very popular amusement to the natives. It was our good fortune to witness one of these performances in Yokohama.

    An ichiboo apiece admitted us to the amphitheatre, which was built of bamboo, and just sufficiently covered to keep out the sun and, rain. Within, it was constructed very much like a circus; consisting of an inner circle kept clear for the performers, and around it rows of seats rising in tiers one above the other. When we entered two burly fellows had just stepped into the arena, and were walking around stretching their arms and legs, and showing their muscle to an applauding crowd, who shouted as loudly for their respective favorites as the hackers in an Anglo-Saxon horse-race. They were tall and enormously fat, weight being accounted a greater desideratum in a Japanese wrestling match than muscle, inasmuch as being pushed out of the ring counts as a fall. Their dress consisted of a cloth twisted around the waist. After strutting about to their satisfaction, each took a pinch of salt from a cup handed to him by an attendant, received a final sponging, and proceeded to challenge by placing a hand on each thigh just above the knee, then stooping slightly, lifting each leg in turn, at the same time raising the hand and replacing it with a loud smack as the foot came sharply to the ground. In this way they went on slowly and deliberately in front of each other for about a minute. Then keeping their hands still on their thighs, they squatted on their heels face to face and about a foot apart. The match was evidently one which excited much more interest than common. The two wrestlers were the champions of their respective districts; and, as both were strongly represented among the spectators, the house seemed to divide itself into two parties, and the betting was spirited in the extreme. It was not till after two or three false starts that the men buckled to in earnest, giving forth short, quick shouts as they struggled for a grip. The chief aim of each, in addition to obtaining and preventing a hold, was to push the other beyond the confines of the circle, and they shoved and butted at each other for some time before getting together. At last they were locked in a close grasp; and as they swayed backward and forward, round and round, the party spirit became uproarious, and the pit shouted lustily to their champions.

    For a time it looked as if the bigger man would force the other down by sheer weight and strength; and at one moment he all but got him in his power, when, with a quick effort, the latter released himself, threw his weight in with a sudden push, and his adversary's foot went beyond the ring—an unexpected turn in the tide of battle which was received with the most enthusiastic applause from his party. The second bout resulted in the larger man fairly throwing his late conqueror, amidst the encouraging cheers of his friends. The third, being the deciding fall, the wrestlers took longer than before in their preparation, and it was not until the second call to time by the umpire that they took their places in the arena. The excitement was now tremendous. The blood of the wrestlers was thoroughly up. They closed at once without shouting, for neither could afford to lose any breath. Twisting and writhing, they struggled from side to side—first one obtaining a momentary advantage, then the other. Now the taller one all but succeeded in repeating the throw of the previous round; now, in his turn, he was all but tripped off his legs; and now, without relaxing their grasp, the two stood motionless for some seconds. The heavy weight, though, was too fat to last, and finally his wirier antagonist, getting a good undergrip, doubled him over his leg, and the giant staggered and fell, the other on the top of him.

    At this juncture it seemed as if one-half of the assembled multitude had gone mad. Yelling, dancing, and singing, they testified their joy in the wildest conceivable way. Scores of coats, obis, and shoes were cast in to the conqueror—one man actually stripping himself to his waist cloth to swell the list of gifts. The victorious hero himself seemed intoxicated with his success, strutted about the ring, “challenging” fiercely an imaginary adversary, slapping his thighs, arms, and breasts, and behaving altogether like a barn-door warrior when he returns triumphant from the fray.