Because of the enormous stature and girth it has often been assumed by foreigners that Japanese wrestlers are a race apart, a strange little group of native giants handed down from antiquity. As a mater of fact the wrestlers, recruited from the fishing, farming and forester classes, have splendid physique to begin with, and become strong and muscular through their long training and the encouragement that is given to their voracious appetites. Friends are very fond of giving them bug banquets and are amused to see how much they can eat. One prominent trainer, when invited by his backers to a dinner took all his students along with him, saying, "All my followers come along with me who can drink a gallon of sake apiece." There is a touch of Rabeiasian in it, especially when one contrasts it with the usual foreign impression of the dainty tea-sipping, cherry-feting Japanese.