In Japan wrestling is what bull fighting is in Spain, the popular amusement. It not only provides entertainment for the masses, but is also patronized by the nobility, who avoid the theater as vulgar and fit only for the common people. In the reign of the Emperor Suinin, about the year 23 B.C., there lived a man of unusual strength at Toma, in the province of Yamato. He was renowned for his power of kicking, and was therefore known by the name of Kehaya, which means "quick kicker.” The Emperor, hearing of his wonderful strength, summoned another strong man named Nomino-Sukune, a native of Idzumo, and commanded the two men fight. Sukune killed Kehaya, and was rewarded by the gift of land which had belonged to Kehaya, and entered the imperial service. He is regarded as the tutelary deity of wrestlers, and shrines are erected in his honor. This is the first mention of wrestling in the history of Japan, and the combat in this instance was probably rather a kicking contest than wrestling proper. In the year 859 A.D. when the Emperor Buntoko died, there were two claimants for the succession. Prince Korehito and Prince Koretaka. Instead of gathering armies and shedding blood, the two aspirants to the throne agreed to put the matter to the test at a wrestling match. The champion of Prince Korehito was the victor, and Korehito therefore became Emperor, writes a Japanese expert.
    Until the establishment of the Shogunate, or military government, of the country, as distinguished from its imperial, or titular, and sacred rule by the Mikado, wrestling was not especially organized, and its practice was dependent principally upon the caprice of the Emperor. Upon the establishment of an essentially military regime, however, in the year 1185, by Yorimoto, wrestling became one ot the necessary accomplishments of the samurai or fighting men, who were trained in wrestling as well as in horsemanship and the use of weapons. From this time until the year 1603 wrestling remained a military accomplishment, useful in the wars which were continually raging. In the year 1603 the statesman lyeyasu established the Shogunate in his own, the Tokugawa family, where it remained until the restoration of the Mikado to supreme power in 1868. During this period of more than 250 years there was peace throughout the country, which also remained isolated from the outside world.
    Wrestling, from being the accomplishment of the warrior, became the sport of the daimio and feudal lords of the land. These patronized wrestling much in the same way as the “manly art of self-defense" was nurtured and encouraged by the "nobility and gentry" of Great Britain during the first half of the nineteenth century. Many daimio supported troupes of wrestlers as part of their regular establishments and took the keenest interest in the success or failure of their protégés. With the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the disestablishment of the feudal system, in the year 1868, the wrestlers were thrown out of employment and became dependent upon the general public for their support. This is the condition of things today, but the wrestlers also depend largely upon the liberality of individual patrons.
    The wrestlers are about 400 in number, and, taking into consideration the umpires, managers, criers or yobidashi, who announce the various matches, and the many hangers-on and assistants, there is a body of 600 men or more who gain their livelihood directly of indirectly through wrestling.
    The general management of all wrestling affairs is entrusted to a body of wrestlers who have been retired from active work by reason of age and who are known as toshiyori. They are about eighty in number and are divided into classes – those known as bukata and those who are not. To become a bukata a retired wrestler must pay 50 yen, about $25. The bukata share the profits and sustain the losses attached to the annual matches.