Aug 09 (NHK) - Professional sumo wrestlers visited a university in Tokyo on Tuesday for a demonstration of their traditional sport, aiming to win more fans among the young generation and people from overseas.
The event held at Aoyama Gakuin University was part of the wrestlers' nationwide summer tour.
About 5,000 people, including university students and foreign tourists, filled the hall.
Members of the university's wrestling team challenged the sumo wrestlers on a makeshift ring.
Two visiting wrestlers performed "shokkiri," or comic sumo. The moves were explained in English, as were sumo folk songs called "jinku."
Yokozuna grand champion Hakuho, the winner of last month's grand sumo tournament, treated visitors to a ring-entering ceremony. That was followed by bouts between wrestlers of the top division, who posed for photo ops in between.
