Sumo and Hemp

Traditional Japanese sumo wrestling has its roots in early agricultural rites and today is rich with Shinto symbolism.

A yokozuna grand champion sumo wrestler wearing his heavy hemp fiber tsuna belt fashioned after Shinto shrine shimenawa with paper shime attached at a Shinto ceremony preceding a 1948 championship match.

Shinto priests in front of a low altar and six ōnusa wands with hemp bast ribbons performing a sumo wrestling ring purification ceremony before a championship match at the Imperial Place in Tokyo in 1931.