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Sumo a Pocket Guide
This guide provides detailed instructions and illustrations on how to use Panaflex motion picture camera equipment. Developed in conjunction with Panavision, this easy-to-follow manual provides up-to-date information on all aspects of the most widely used camera system on major motion pictures in Hollywood.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1900
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 18, 2009
Have 0 hard information on sumo wrestling to use for contextualizing read of this book, which contains my entire knowledge of this sport. Possibly sumo wrestling is actually getting these five stars and not book, though book deserves praise for scrupulous obedience to the letter of its title: This shit is some guidance-oriented sumo datums that is exactly sized for your pocket, so kudos. Definitely puts me on to wanting to read more, longer books about this previously (now only mostly) incomprehensible sport. American author insists sport is some bedrock Japanese business; sport is fastidious and ritualized:
"Following an initial flexing of muscles and stamping of feet at the edge of the ring, the rivals go to opposite corners and rinse their mouths with a ladle of chikaramizu, or 'power water,' provided by a fellow competitor. After wiping their lips with a piece of special white paper called chikara-gami, or 'paper of strength,' they pick up a handful of salt and heave it over the dohyo [wrestling ring:]. Both of these gestures are acts of ritual purification that have been performed before bouts for more than three centuries."
Sumo takes years of training in hierarchical "stables" where young men grow into large men, employs incredible bureaucracy in its judging practices (there is a ref to judge the two wrestlers, then five judges to judge the ref), and engages in disproportionately intricate levels of symbolism and ritual so that two big guys can give each other wedgies for about 45 seconds. Sport is one of those rare niches in Japanese culture that encourages individuality and I suspect that part of the payoff for a Japanese fan is seeing these two very large Individuals submit to centuries of ritual and precedent. Think the other part of the thrill is the brackets: Sumo has no off-season, so wrestlers (rikishi) are constantly engaged in sport, always moving up and down well-delineated levels of sumo bad-assery, always getting new titles and such. Strange and totally enchanting example of a sport where the real excitement for a fan might come before and after the actual matches, which are almost too short for spectator comment.
"Following an initial flexing of muscles and stamping of feet at the edge of the ring, the rivals go to opposite corners and rinse their mouths with a ladle of chikaramizu, or 'power water,' provided by a fellow competitor. After wiping their lips with a piece of special white paper called chikara-gami, or 'paper of strength,' they pick up a handful of salt and heave it over the dohyo [wrestling ring:]. Both of these gestures are acts of ritual purification that have been performed before bouts for more than three centuries."
Sumo takes years of training in hierarchical "stables" where young men grow into large men, employs incredible bureaucracy in its judging practices (there is a ref to judge the two wrestlers, then five judges to judge the ref), and engages in disproportionately intricate levels of symbolism and ritual so that two big guys can give each other wedgies for about 45 seconds. Sport is one of those rare niches in Japanese culture that encourages individuality and I suspect that part of the payoff for a Japanese fan is seeing these two very large Individuals submit to centuries of ritual and precedent. Think the other part of the thrill is the brackets: Sumo has no off-season, so wrestlers (rikishi) are constantly engaged in sport, always moving up and down well-delineated levels of sumo bad-assery, always getting new titles and such. Strange and totally enchanting example of a sport where the real excitement for a fan might come before and after the actual matches, which are almost too short for spectator comment.
April 7, 2019
I was a fan of David since his book "the art of expressing distain for your son" but was disappointed to find this was just a plagarized copy of a book of the same name by Walter Long and Joel Sacket
December 28, 2013
Well, it wasn't quite published in 1900 as Goodreads claims, but it might as well have been. A great text for its time, but rendered useless in the present day seeing as it refers to the existing Grand Champion as Akebono (retired 2000).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews