#ARE SUMO WRESTLERS HEALTHY HOW TO#
#ARE SUMO WRESTLERS HEALTHY FREE#

So I tell anyone who wants to quit to stay as long as they can” says Giuliano sighing. I had a regular paid job, a tatami to sleep on and always more than enough food. When I was part of the Sumo beya (stable), I didn’t have to worry about anything. There are a lot of competitors in this district and the rent is extremely high. But in the end, I found it more difficult to manage a bar. “Many of my juniors cannot put up with the severe rules and my ex-companions were jealous of me. Sumo had been his life’s work and his life’s dream. His father fell ill at this moment, so he returned to Sao Paolo. He was forced to give up Sumo after eight years in the ring, following an injury to his leg. He is planning to open another bar or club. Currently he owns a bar in the heart of Roppongi, a district known worldwide as the centre of Tokyo’s frantic, insomniac nightlife. Giuliano Kochinda Tsusato is a Brazilian of Italian origin, from Lucca. Now I am a father of two daughters so my restaurant brings food for my family.” When I see them enjoying my food, I’m more convinced of what I’m doing. When I hear people saying it is a beautiful dish for eyes and delicious in the mouth, I’m really happy. It is known as a typical Sumo food, part of a daily weight-gain diet. His speciality is Chanko-Nabe, traditional stew made with chicken, vegetables and tofu in a clay pot. After this long career he decided to open a new restaurant. I met Naoki Hino in his restaurant in Tokyo. Many have become real gourmets through the sport, their taste buds educated by endless opportunities to taste the different cuisines of Japan as the tournament traces a route around the country. And they must eat to become stronger competitors. In fact many wrestlers cook well, because it is one the first lessons they must learn to become part of Sumo society. Eating has been a small but unlimited pleasure throughout the rigours of their former lives.

Many former Sumo become chefs or open restaurants. But really these huge figures are fledglings, fragile little birds leaving their mothers nest and hoping to learn to fly through new, uncertain skies.

#ARE SUMO WRESTLERS HEALTHY FREE#

Once they leave the world of Sumo, they are free from its rigid, military standards of behaviour.

They need to make ends meet, find a new home and a new role in life. They need to organise their own life from scratch.

#ARE SUMO WRESTLERS HEALTHY HOW TO#

They have to choose what to eat, how to dress, how to arrange their hair: all daily details that they had never had to think about before. Their concepts of time and of society are different to the world they find outside the strictures of their sport and they must learn ways to adapt.įreedom is the first difficulty that every ex-wrestler encounters in their life post Sumo. But every single Sumo wrestler brings the particular experience of their sport with them into their second life and many struggle to establish a new social identity beyond the ring. Many start their new lives with a hopeful dream for the future. Some are forced to leave the ring after injury. Some leave the world of Sumo because they cannot bear the necessary discipline. Some Rikishi (Sumo wrestlers) choose to leave the ring because they’ve stopped winning.

Are sumo wrestlers healthy