The Social System of the Sumo Training School

Abstract

Western sports began to be introduced into Japan in 1868. Rather than being wholly western, even today sports organizations in Japan retain certain charac teristics of traditional Japanese institutions. The description of a traditional sports organization, therefore, may provide clues in understanding the cultural context of Japanese sports organizations. For this reason, this monograph about pro fessional Japanese wrestling (Sumo) articulates the characteristics of social re lations in a traditional organization. Professional wrestlers' organizations were first established in the mid-18th century. Elders established a number of training schools which socialized and trained novices to become professional wrestlers. In such a school, the social system resembled the Japanese household (Ie) and the clan (Dozoku) in which seniority and brotherhood are the axes of social relations. In contemporary sports organizations in Japan, social relations of the same or of a similar quality can be observed.