There is a strange centuries-old tradition and belief in Japan where if a suno wrestler can make a baby cry, the baby will have a healthy life and enjoy good fortune. So at a special ceremony held in Tokyo each year, people hand over their babies aged under one to suno wrestlers, who gently bounce them up and down, pull funny faces or even roar to make them burst into tears.
Tewrhe Naki Sumo Festival has been held throughout Japan for over 400 years. The festival is considered to have origins in the folk belief that the loud cry of an innocent baby has the power to ward off demons or evil spirits. The Japanese proverb naku ko wa sodatsu, meaning “crying babies grow fastest”, is an additional source of inspiration for the festival.
The best-known Naki Sumo Festival is held each year in Asakusa, Tokyo, where student sumo wrestlers of the Sens?-ji temple hold the babies in their arms. When the babies begin to cry, the student sumos raise the babies higher in the air, which is believed to strengthen the blessing endowed on each crying child. At the Gokoku Shrine in Hiroshima, babies are dressed in kimono and seated facing one another on pillows while a sumo referee encourages the babies to cry. Eligible competitors must be between the ages of 6 months and 18 months at the time of the festival. Around 100 babies compete each year.
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