A Professional Sumo Bout (Fights)

Sumo fights are very interesting and in short time of period. The fights usually ends quickly which is less than a minute and it is extremely rare to see a sumo fights that can go on for many minutes. This cases will lead the referee or the judges to call a mizu-ri or “water break” to separate to have a brief break and then return to the exact position they left off in. From my observation and research, sumo wrestler will begin their match with both wrestlers jump up from the crouch simultaneously after touching the surface of the ring with two fists at the start of the fight. The referee have the authority to stop the fight and make his decision by pointing his gunbai (war-fan) to the winner  but the decision could be disputed by the five judges that seated around the ring. 

After that, the wrestlers will come and meet in the centre of the ring with the judges and the referee to hold a talk and then they able to uphold or reverse the referee’s decision and order a rematch known as torinaoshi which is quite troublesome. After the fights, both of the wrestlers will return to their starting positions and bow to each other before leaving the ring. Furthermore, a winning wrestler in the top division could receive additional prize money in envelops from the referee if the matchup has been sponsored and if a yokozuna is defeated by a lower ranked wrestler the audience may throw their seat cushions into the ring despite this behavior is technically prohibited.