Two Sumo Wrestlers with Referee

Two sumo wrestlers get ready for round one. That is the story told by photographer Felice Beato in this scene, one of many images of “authentic” Japan that he sold to Western audiences. While the practice of Sumo wrestling was indeed a common sporting spectacle in the Edo period, the choice of the photographer to decontextualize this fight erases much of its cultural complexity. Dressed in a Shinto priestly garment, the referee may be a clue to the religious origins of this practice. The sacred ring, the purifying salt, and the summoning of the gods are all missing in this simplified scene, as are audiences. Beato’s images were considered by Western audiences to be true documents of Japanese culture, though all too often they reflected pre-existing Western beliefs surrounding East Asian cultural heritage.