One of the chief amusements of the Japanese wrestling matches. They are always taking place and attract large crowds. The wrestlers, strange to say, train to put on fat, rather than take it off, and the stomachs of some of them are simply enormous. Around these they wear a large band, which is intended for the opponent to catch hold of. I think, at least he generally does, and otherwise there would be no sense  in having them so strong. This band and small pieces of cloth around the waist and loins form the wrestling costume. These wrestling matches have something of a religious character to them as both sides before commencing go through a certain ceremony, as if imploring the aid of their patron saint, and then throw a little rice into the ring, which is about sixteen or twenty feet around, and is marked out by a circle of raised dirt. Each contestant has a referee. then there is always an umpire, who, to judge from the richness of his costume and the airs he gives himself, is the most important personage of them all.
    The wrestlers themselves are very amusing in the amount of style they put on. Always before beginning they go through certain motions supposed to limber the muscles and joints. Yet the wrestling, to any one brought up as we have been to matches taking the nerve, wind, endurance and muscles of the contestants, appear a perfect farce. In the first place, any kind of a throw counts, provided only the man touches the ground; second, if you push or back a man outside of the ring it counts the same as a fall; thirdly, if in the space of a minute and a half the wrestlers fail to throw one another, or to push one or the other out of the ring, then the umpire stops them, first noticing carefully the hold each one has. Then  they go to their corners and rest, and a drink of water is brought to them, with which they rinse out their mouths.
    After waiting a few seconds the umpire calls them into the middle of the ring, and sees that each have exactly the same hold that they did before having been separated. This goes on until one has been thrown or pushed out of the ring, which may take from twenty minutes to half an hour, during which time the crowd is in the wildest state of excitement. I wonder what they would think could they see one of our Greco-Roman matches, which, if more brutal in the way of hurting one another, is certainly much more interesting and exciting to watch, and demands more agility ad strength. The place where these matches take place is generally surrounded by a wooden gallery holding many persons, and having many seats for more underneath. This is made of wood, not nailed together, but simply bound together with straw, yet it seems to hold perfectly. - Samuel F. Farrar in Chicago Journal.