Videos:
- All top-tier (Makuuchi) matches with English commentary by NHK - youtube copy. ~~probably won’t be posted til Monday. NHK posts a video with English language commentary after a delay of a day or so, it will be linked here when they do. I think you can watch it stream on their web site at various times per day - here's a schedule - and at some point they make it "video on demand".~~
- Best 10 bouts in the top tier (Makuuchi), with post-fight notes in English by Don Don
- All top tier bouts listed in Japanese with Japanese commentary by NHK: first half, second half
- Videos of the top ranks of the top tier listed in Japanese and without commentary, posted by the JSA - look for the ones that say "15日目" or "5月25日"
More Info:
- all results and standings by sumodb
- results from the JSA
- daily writeups in English by The Mainichi
Intro to Sumo
- introductory video
- more English-language intro videos at NHK's Sumopedia
- the wikipedia article has a lot of great information including on sumo terms.
SPOILERS IN COMMENTS OK!
Some great answers by @tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip to your questions.
Yes, those results are only for the tournament. If you want to explore their full careers, sumodb is a good place to look.
Yes, the most common technique is just "shove the other guy". But even then, there's a lot of subtlety. Sumo is all about balance bc if a huge muscular guy is just standing there, it's really hard to move him. But the minute he starts moving you can start trying to get him off balance. Then there are questions like: do you just shove, or do you grab the belt or leg or arm, or strike him (with open palm) to disorient, or do you just block his grabs/strikes for a while and/or dodge? Everything's happening really fast too. That's why I like those DonDon best 10 videos, they point out a lot of stuff I missed.
Sumo has traditions of "dignity and grace" especially at the highest level. If you knock down your opponent, you're expected to return to your position just like a western boxer. You're not supposed to show any emotion or celebrate. I've heard that helping up an opponent is a little condescending -- it suggests they couldn't get up by themselves.
Thank you very much. It's a fun sport on the occasions that I have watched it. Hell, it looks like it would be really fun to play as an amateur too.
Yeah it's totally awesome as an amateur. if you're in the US check out this listing of sumo clubs: https://www.ussumo.org/map There are others besides this, just do a couple searches on the web or social media.