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'Baby-crying sumo' tournament a hit in Nagoya
September 5, 2005. Mainichi News
Babies are held up next to each other in the baby-crying sumo event in Nagoya on Sunday.
NAGOYA -- Parents put their babies to the test in a "baby-crying sumo" tournament here, as spectators gathered to see which baby would cry the fastest.
The tournament, in which babies faced each other, held up by participants playing the role of wrestlers, was staged in the head Matsuzakaya department store in Nagoya's Naka-ku.
Baby-crying sumo originated as a festival at Ikiko Shrine in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture. The event, featuring both Shinto priests and sumo referees, has become a regular occurrence around this time of year, and on Sunday a total of about 100 babies and toddlers aged between 3 months and 2 years took part.
Some babies cried as soon as they were held by the wrestlers, while others started swinging their hands.
As the results were released, referees appeared to focus on the individuality of the toddlers rather than on which baby cried first, and all bouts were declared ties. (Mainichi)
