The first Sumo tournament of the year is being held.

Banner flags with ring names of sumo wrestlers written on them rise proudly in the background of Sumo Arena in Tokyo.

Sumo grand tournaments are held six times annually: in Tokyo, three times in January, May and September, in Osaka, once in March, Nagoya, once in July and in Fukuoka, once in November. I watched the Tokyo tournament(12th-26th of January, 2025) live in person. 

The massive arena named "Ryogoku Kokugikan" accommodates 11,000 spectators. Recently, sumo has gained more popularlity all over the world so tickets will be sold out soon before the tournament. I applied for a pre-reservation online and got the ticket as a result of the lottery.

That is a ranking chart of sumo wrestlers called "Banzuke" in Japanese.
350 wrestlers are on the chart from the highest rank, Yokozuna to the lower rank, Sandanme. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted according to the result of the previous tournament and then the new Banzuke is officially announced and printed like that. In the case of the tournament held now, it was announced on December 23, last year. 
Now three wrestlers are on the top rank called Ozeki.
Unfortunately, during now tournament Yokozuna wrestler named Terunofuji stayed away from the tournament and immediately decided to retire so three Ozeki wrestlers, Onosato(on the photo above) and others are on the top rank. 
Wrestlers wearing ornamental aprons perform ring entering ceremony.
Those high-ranking wreslers are 185 centimeters tall and weigh 160 kilograms on average. Among them, a smaller one is 170 centimeters tall and weigh 120 kilograms. Some of the characteristics of sumo are that it has no weight division and has few rule. A smaller one often beats a bigger one by implementing numerous techniques. That is stunning ! 
Sumo wrestlers need speed, power and skill.
Sumo ring is called "Dohyo" which literally means soil and a bale of straw. It is 4.5 meters in diameter. For each sumo tournament, new Dohyo is built and underneath it lucky things will be buried along with purification ritual. Sumo was closely related to Shinto ritual and originally praying for good harvest. Women are not allowed to get onto the ring. Why ? Because it is a tradition.
All wrestlers have to belong to their own "Heya".
Heya can be translated into stable. In the photo, the stable master called "Shisyo" or "Oyakata" are overseeing his wrestles practicing. There are 45 Heya in Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures.
Both of them have fighting spirit and tactics in mind.
Each sumo tournament lasts 15 days. A wresler has one match per day so they aim to win at least over eight matches durting the tournament. By winning over eight matches, they are expected to promote on "Banzuke" which means wage increase.
The match between Yokozuna in the Edo Period(1603-1867)
Sumo is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and religion. Shall we explore the world of sumo ?