Two-panel screen depicting wrestlers

Pairs of wrestlers in a walled courtyard engage in practice bouts of sumo, the ancient Japanese form of wrestling that became a professional sport early in the Edo period (1615-1868), when this screen was painted. Still practiced today as Japan's most famous national sport, sumo has a history of some two thousand years, and formal matches retain many of the rituals established in ancient times. 
 
Observed from a slightly elevated building, wrestlers ranging from youths to mature contenders practice the holds, rushes, and throws that determine the winner in sumo matches. The objective in a match is to force the opponent to touch the ground or to push him outside the rope marking the boundary of the circular ring. A judge in the foreground carefully watches one match as a wrestler is about to be thrown to the ground. This screen provides a realistic view of sumo training in the seventeenth century, as young wrestlers drawn mainly from rural communities prepare for this rigorous sport.