Meet some of the wrestlers reviving Sumo in Seattle

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I'm Patricia Murphy.

It's Thursday.

This is Seattle now.

Sumo tournaments in Seattle have a long history and their growing in popularity will take

a trip to a Sumo practice and meet some wrestlers in a minute.

But first, let's get you caught up.

Sound Transit wants your thoughts on how it might navigate a $34 billion shortfall.

One proposal would prevent the future ballard line from ever-actually reaching ballard.

Another would remove a planned station on the West Seattle line.

Sound Transit is open to survey where you can weigh in, takes about five minutes, officials

say public feedback will play an important role in how they make decisions.

Washington's Attorney General is warning the public about another scam.

Nick Brown says investment scams are becoming more common on meta platforms like Facebook

and Instagram.

He says scammers are using deep fake technology to lure investors than steal their money.

Brown says one red flag to look out for promises of guaranteed returns.

He's encouraging scam victims to report it to the AG's Consumer Protection Division.

In good news for fans of the King County Water Taxi, the route between downtown Seattle

and Bash on Island will now offer Sunday service beginning this weekend.

It's a pilot program that will last through the summer.

It's the latest expansion of the water taxi which added more mid-day sailings two years

ago and Saturday service in 2025.

We're back with more headlines on tonight's episode of Seattle Now.

This weekend marks the 51st annual Seattle Cherry Blossom in Japanese Cultural Festival.

It's been based at Seattle Center since 1979, making it the oldest of the Center's

Festall series.

They'll have Tico Drumming, Marshall Arts Demonstrations, T-Ceremonies, Sockee Tasting,

Food and Sumo Wrestling.

That last one is a fairly new addition to the festival.

This will be Rain City Sumo's second annual Rain City Open.

Seattle Now producer Brooklyn Jamerson Flowers visited a recent Rain City Sumo practice to

learn more about who and what to expect at the tournament.

It's a rainy day and a small dojo on Rainer Avenue, right in the border of the CID and

the CD.

While it pours outside, everyone here is shoes off and working hard.

After the last two hours, wrestlers have warmed up, worked on hit flexibility and endurance,

practiced their favorite moves, and fought over and over.

The ring is a circle made of string laid on the mats.

They've been gasping for air for at least an hour.

It's almost the end of a Wednesday Rain City Sumo practice, but Founding Coach Nick West

says it's not over yet.

It's time for the final push, which is called Butzukari Gekko.

Basically, after you're completely wasted, no energy left.

You push each other across the ring, just to make sure you don't have an ounce of gas

left in the tent.

On Sundays, practice goes for three hours.

In Japan, practice can go for five or more hours, some of the longest martial arts training.

Rain City Sumo tries to stay within the Japanese tradition, but their amateur team is open

to anyone physically capable of fighting, regardless of size, gender, or background.

It all started self-taught outside in parks during COVID.

Later, came former connections with Japanese Sumo and formalizing the park sessions into

a team.

Today, the dojo is full.

You probably have an idea of what Sumo looks like from TV or the internet, but it's more

than you might think.

Sumo is a standing grappling system where if you are pushed out of the ring, or if any

part of your body, other than the bottoms of your feet touches the ground, you lose.

And getting someone out of the ring can involve brute force or some creativity.

It involves throws, sweeps, trips, lifts, shoves, slapdowns.

You can even slap someone in the face, lightly.

Such bout or fight happens very fast.

In a few seconds, it took me to say this, one could come and go.

The bouts are short, but it's 110% the whole way, like there is not one muscle in your

body that's relaxed during that.

And if you're taking time to take a breather, you're probably amazing.

Sumo is considered one of the oldest martial arts in Japan.

It also has a long history in Seattle.

The history of Sumo in Seattle goes back to the first generation of Japanese immigrants

to the area.

That's Raint City Sumo's other founding coach, Stephen Riggs.

Japanese Americans were holding Sumo tournaments up until Japanese incarceration.

There was even Sumo in incarceration camps.

But after incarceration, as families worked to rebuild their old lives, Seattle Sumo didn't

recover.

It didn't make a comeback in the communities.

And that may have been because they moved to different areas after leaving the camps.

He says, for 84 years afterward, Seattle went without Sumo tournaments.

That changed last year when Raint City Sumo hosted their first annual Raint City opening.

This Saturday, they'll host a second one.

At Saturday's competition, George Sua will be defending his title as champion.

Sua is Polynesian, and he's the biggest guy in the room.

I didn't think we could do Sumo.

I thought, you have to be chosen or something, because you know, that's Sumo's Japanese

culture.

I didn't want disrespect to culture.

So when I knew that we could do it amateurly, I'm like, my God, I want to try and sign me up.

He went in very confident.

Looking at professional Sumo, I've seen other Polynesians be so good in the sport.

And I thought, why not me?

He came from powerlifting and has always been strong.

But it was quickly a humbling experience.

In the beginning, I was getting tossed around.

I was like not doing too good, and it kind of embarrassed myself.

You know what I mean?

I'm like, dang, I'm this big guy losing to all these small people, but that's what made

me keep coming back to prove to myself that I can be better.

He loves how unique the sport is, how fast it moves, using his body, and how the team

feels like family.

And for him, success is all about mindset.

It takes heart.

You know what I mean?

You can't be afraid no matter if there are 400 pounds or 120 pounds, you just cannot

be afraid.

You have to believe that you are strong, you have to believe that you can do it.

And if you do those two things, the results will come in.

He then came back with a third key to Sumo.

Oh, oh.

And if you want to become a great Sumo champion, you have to eat rice.

Noah is a heavyweight champ, but he's also an openweight champ.

There, people with size differences of hundreds of pounds can face off.

But as Coach Nick says, don't count out the smaller guys and they're clever, quick

maneuvering.

So if they can get into a stance where they're not going to lose easily, they can cause

the larger person to overcommit and then pull them rather than trying to push, to cause

them to fall on the ground or run out of the ring.

And it's actually very effective.

The larger wrestlers have to be cautious.

And so a lot of times the big guy will be afraid to overcommit or charge too hard because

they know the little guy isn't going to give him an honest hit straight out of the, on

the charge.

Amateur Sumo is open to people of different sizes and to women.

Eileen West learned that supporting her husband Nick at an early competition.

And there was a division for women and there was like maybe five of them and that's like,

oh, that's a small population, but it looks fun because they're big, they're like me.

And I was like, I can do that, I think I can do that and I've never done sports.

I've never done wrestling or any martial arts.

There was a learning curve, but she says it makes her feel strong.

But as a first time wrestling thing for me, it was tough, but I feel really great.

I feel really strong.

It's very self, my self esteem is like, yeah, I hold that up.

As one of the two women on the team, she often has to face off against the guys.

And she's ready to bring that confidence in her forceful style to the competition this

week.

Oh, this tournament, there's not a lot of women competing, but of the five.

I'm the smallest one.

So it'll be fun to show my force in power against bigger women, stronger women.

They trained five hours a week, locking the muscle memory for grappling during daily

life, cross straight at the gym, all to lock in for fights that are decided in seconds.

And for Eileen, that's the most fun part.

When I start and about, I feel like zen people cheering but like, quiet down and you calm

down.

And then it's fast, it's like, all my power, all my thinking disappears and I'll just

charge.

Sea Rain City Sumo and Fighters from around the world for free at the Seattle Center Exhibition

Hall Saturday from 11 to 5.

For Seattle Now, I'm Brooklyn Jamerson Flowers.

Appreciate you listening to Seattle Now and thanks to our generous donors for your support.

Hey, you don't have to fight to rate and review us on your favorite podcast app.

It might take a little longer than a split second sumo bout, but it's much easier.

Today's episode was reported and produced by Brooklyn Jamerson Flowers.

It was edited by Caroline Chamberlain Gomez.

Our production team also includes Andy Hurst, Bond Jones and Paige Browning.

Greg Kramer does our theme music, Seattle Now and KUOW Public Radio are members of the

NPR Network.

I'm Patricia Murphy, see you tonight for Evening Headlines.

What can you communicate to a huge live audience?

When your back is the only part of you they see?

It's a question Shen Zheng strives to answer every time she conducts.

Shen is the Seattle Symphony's new music director and on the latest meet me here, she explains

how conducting an orchestra is a dialogue with musicians and with the audience.

Listen to meet me here on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.