8000 calories a day and oxygen masks: how sumo wrestlers live

In the Japanese city of Nagoya there is a Buddhist temple where the elite of sumo trains. This type of martial arts has been practiced since the XV century. Athletes consume 8000 calories a day and sleep in oxygen masks, walk in loincloths and take turns pushing opponents out of the sand ring.

Wrestlers practice techniques for three hours every morning, and at 10:30, when the training ends, they sign autographs and pose for photos like real stars. Next on the schedule is the first meal.

Sumo wrestlers are called rikishi.

The early lunch prepared by the junior wrestlers in the temple consists of pork leg chowder, fried sardines, steamed rice and tiankonabe - a dish of many ingredients (mainly protein sources) cooked in a pot.

At the moment, 11 people are training in the Buddhist temple.

After lunch, wrestlers must sleep for several hours in oxygen masks to make it easier to breathe.

Being a sumo wrestler means eating, living and breathing like a Japanese, starting from the hairstyle and clothes and ending with a rigid hierarchy.

On the left is a sumo wrestler from Brazil, on the right - from Mongolia. Athletes apply an elastic bandage before training.

Although sumo is traditionally a Japanese sport, at the moment there are more foreigners among the wrestlers, mainly Mongols, who hardly assimilate into Japanese culture.

"Language is the main problem," says Tomozuna Oyakata, better known under the pseudonym Kekutenho, a wrestler and sumo coach of Mongolian origin, one of the top six Mongolian athletes who were accepted in 1992. —I couldn't even figure out if I was being scolded or praised."

Today, the champion, whose real name is Nyamzhavyn Tsevegnyam, speaks Japanese almost perfectly, married a Japanese woman and received citizenship (a mandatory requirement for those who want to become a coach).

A sumo wrestler poses for a photo.

In addition, full assimilation into Japanese culture means that a wrestler should not experience any negative emotions - anger, ill-will, dislike.