In a park tucked among the factories and warehouses of a waterfront industrial district, 32 contestants confident in their strength had gathered. 

The call of encouragement came in the island tongue.

“Minasan, chibariyo!”—Give it everything you’ve got, everyone.

“Chibariyo" is the Okinawan counterpart of “ganbare” in standard Japanese: an exhortation to stand firm, persevere and give one’s all.

On a makeshift ring marked out on a bed of sand, the wrestlers grappled and traded throws as spectators crowded close around them, erupting in cheers.

This was a tournament of Okinawan sumo, a traditional form of wrestling from the Ryukyu Islands, held on July 5 in Yokohama’s Tsurumi Ward.

It shares a name with mainland Japanese sumo, but little of its appearance or rhythm. Rather than a mawashi belt alone, Okinawan wrestlers wear jackets resembling judo uniforms, secured........

© The Asahi Shimbun