🇯🇵
Combat Sports
Sumo
The national sport of Japan — two enormous rikishi try to force each other out of a straw-ring dohyō, or make any body part other than the soles of their feet touch the ground.
🇸🇳
Combat Sports
Senegalese Wrestling
Senegal's national sport — a bare-fisted wrestling contest that combines throws, sweeps and open-hand strikes to force the opponent off their feet.
Two ancient wrestling traditions — one ceremonial, one theatrical.
| Attribute | Sumo | Senegalese Wrestling |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Combat Sports | Combat Sports |
| Origin | 🇯🇵 Japan | 🇸🇳 Senegal |
| Estimated origin | c. 3rd century (earliest written references in the Nihon Shoki) | Pre-colonial (centuries-old village tradition) |
| Team or individual | Individual | Individual |
| Players | 1 vs 1. Bouts are single-elimination within a match — no rounds. | 1 vs 1 in a sand arena. |
| Playing area | dohyō | arena |
| Field dimensions | Circular ring 4.55 m in diameter, on a raised clay platform 66 cm high and 5.7 m square at the base. | Sand-covered circular arena, typically 20–30 m across; major bouts staged in football stadiums. |
| Match duration | ~1 min | ~20 min |
| Match structure | A single bout lasts from a few seconds to (very rarely) 4+ minutes. A day of a basho comprises many bouts. | Bouts have no fixed time — most last under 3 minutes; major title bouts scheduled up to 20 minutes. |
| Scoring | One point (a win) per bout. A wrestler's tournament record — e.g. 10-5, 8-7 — determines promotion and demotion between ranks after each basho. | First fall wins. There are no points — the bout ends the moment one wrestler is thrown. |
| Objective | Force your opponent to either (a) step out of the dohyō, or (b) touch the ground inside the ring with any part of their body other than the soles of their feet. | Force any part of your opponent's body other than the feet to touch the sand. |
| Governing body | Japan Sumo Association | Comité National de Gestion (CNG) de Lutte |
| Olympic sport | No | No |
| Popularity | regional | regional |
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