Chances are you’ll not understand all the things you need to learn about sumo till you go behind the scenes and expertise Erik Shirai’s immersive movie. Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothing. The documentary, having its world premiere in Venice and at present screening on the seventieth version of the BFI London Movie Competition (LFF), which begins October 13, takes audiences into the notoriously personal world of sumo, from the grueling coaching and rituals to ache and sacrifice.
The movement image follows numerous wrestlers at completely different levels of their careers, together with a yokozuna, the very best rank in skilled sumo, over the course of a yr. They’re Terunofuji Haruo, Hiradoumi Yuki, Yonezawaryu Daiki and Kosei Motomura. One of many key takeaways is the significance of preventing spirit. Or as one synopsis places it: “True energy is measured not within the flesh, however within the refinement of the spirit.” »
The documentary, for which Shirai and Hiroshi Hara dealt with the cinematography, with Frederick Shanahan as editor, blends intimate fact and poetic statement to disclose extra a couple of sport that usually appears significantly overseas to these dwelling exterior of Japan. Offered by ESPN Movie, the movie is a manufacturing of Rise Movies, in affiliation with Actual Lava and Generation11.
Japanese-American filmmaker Shirai has already taken a deep dive into one other Japanese establishment in The delivery of sake. Earlier than the London debut of Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothinghe spoke to THR about why he needed to take a more in-depth take a look at sumo and its religious dimension, how he gained entry to it and what audiences can take away from the documentary.
Earlier than you proceed studying, THR can now solely current a brand new clip of Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothingby which the yokozuna shares how his life expectancy is decreased by his determination to dedicate his life and deal with sumo. He makes nice sacrifices to “dwell boldly.”
For filmmaker Shirai, sumo was at all times within the background earlier than he determined to discover it additional. “I’d at all times hear or see him on TV once we had been cooking dinner or ready for dinner,” he recalled. “But it surely wasn’t till I grew to become an grownup that I grew to become interested in the entire custom and tradition. I at all times felt that the highest knot [sumo wrestlers wear their hair in] was virtually false. I believed they had been carrying a wig. So it was actually fascinating to delve into it.
And he shortly realized that there was rather a lot to unravel and clarify. “As I bought deeper into making the movie, I spotted there have been so many misconceptions about sumo,” Shirai says. THR. “I feel a part of it’s as a result of I grew up in America and I felt like there have been a whole lot of misconceptions about Japanese tradition and traditions. So I believed this is able to be the right alternative to realign a few of these misconceptions that Westerners usually have and really feel about Japan.”
Shirai even found that he had some misconceptions himself. “A very powerful factor for me was that this concept of energy was so completely different from the best way I grew up,” he recollects. “The thought of energy, particularly in America, is about males beating their chests and saying, ‘I am the most effective. I am the largest. I am the GOAT.’ They discuss themselves virtually in a method that makes their adversaries fearful. In Japan, and particularly in sumo, energy is constructed utterly in another way. There may be humility in that.
So it is no surprise that Shirai expresses one in all his essential classes this fashion: “One of the crucial vital issues I discovered from sumo is that a whole lot of the issues they discuss when it comes to energy are issues you possibly can’t see, particularly your resilience, your dedication. Though you are small, you are agile. And there is this concept that you must construct your thoughts, refine it. So sumo is like some other occupation. It is a sort of vessel to raised perceive your self and refine your thoughts.
Hiradoumi waits backstage for a couple of moments earlier than popping out for a combat. Courtesy of Kohjiro Kinno.
Having access to the sumo stables, the wrestlers, their traditions, rituals, ideas and struggles can not have been simple. “It was the largest problem we ever confronted,” shares Shirai. “It took three to 4 years to get this entry from the Sumo Affiliation. They’re simply notoriously secretive, and issues have occurred up to now, in order that they’re very, very cautious and really, very skeptical about letting outsiders in. So we had been very fortunate.”
Constructing the mandatory belief was a course of that took a whole lot of time and endurance. “There is no such thing as a fast-forward button,” explains the director. “Numerous occasions I’d go there with out a digital camera, and we might simply hang around with the sumo wrestlers, watch them follow, chat with them.”
And his staff took the athletes out to eat. “One of many agreements we made with one of many steady masters was that we needed to take the entire steady out for yakiniku, grilled meat,” Shirai explains. “We needed to dismantle the entire steady, and mainly they shut down and ate the entire restaurant. It was superb. I bear in mind seeing the receipt from my producer. He needed to decide it up, and he is an enormous man, however he held it up, but it surely was nonetheless rolling on the ground. That is the size of the receipt. But it surely was a good way to construct that relationship with them, to eat and drink with them.”
Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothing has an immersive and even philosophical or lyrical high quality, and that is intentional. “I feel in any movie you must carry out the humanity in it, and the extra you possibly can carry that out, the extra folks can relate and join,” Shirai mentioned. THR. “It was particularly vital with sumo. I feel everybody thinks it is a sport for fats folks, however you shortly perceive that getting greater is the largest problem in sumo, particularly for these younger folks, particularly if you happen to’re Asian.”
Erik Shirai
He hopes the movie can change the best way audiences understand sumo: “Individuals can consider it as a present with these massive guys and this wardrobe, so there’s a chance for folks, watching the movie, to appreciate that these guys are simply regular guys, and there is a whole lot of issues about them that I can relate to.” »
Yokozuna, for instance, is proven within the documentary along with his spouse and little one, and he talks about his diabetes and different well being points, which could shock many viewers. “In Western tradition, we do not need to discuss our vulnerabilities,” notes Shirai. “However as a result of the yokozuna was on the finish of his profession, I feel he actually needed folks to grasp the dedication and the sacrifices it took to be in sumo, particularly for somebody who’s been there for 15 years. So, he is speaking about giving up a part of his life, giving up his private life and having bodily sicknesses that can final for the remainder of his life. However while you see that, you perceive that he is doing it for one thing greater than himself. That is one thing I’ve at all times discovered very fascinating. It isn’t concerning the particular person. It is at all times concerning the collective as a complete and what you possibly can carry to it to proceed the custom and the tradition.
Shirai leaves it as much as viewers to resolve what they think about to be the primary takeaways from Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothing. “I hope they are going to higher perceive what it means to be Japanese, as a result of a whole lot of sumo is about pleasure within the Japanese folks,” he says. THR. “It is greater than you, and it is about persevering with this custom. It has been round for 1,500 years, but it surely appears slightly outdated on this trendy world. There are not any massive or large screens for replays. And all the things is so primitive and handbook and analog. I hope folks can perceive that it is a stunning custom and a stupendous tradition and the way troublesome it’s to proceed it on this trendy world.”
Yonezawryu and his sumo faculty classmates carry out the chirichozu, or clapping ritual, as a part of their coaching in Tokyo. Courtesy of Erik Shirai.
Sumo: the thoughts weighs nothing has a unique title in Japanese. “The Japanese title means utilizing one’s experience to refine one’s thoughts,” he explains. “So sumo is about refining your self and refining your thoughts.”
Shirai is trying to change issues up for her subsequent movie, though the title might, at first look, look like a continuation of her take a look at the issue of consuming a lot that they achieve a whole lot of weight for sumo wrestlers. In any case, the title of his subsequent movie is The way to Feed a Hungry Ghost.
“I am ending one other utterly completely different movie,” says Shirai. THR. “Actually, there may be nothing farther from sumo. It is the story of a Vietnamese chef who returns to Vietnam after 10 years away and feeds its hungry ghosts.”
“My previous couple of movies have actually been dominated by a whole lot of masculine collectives and masculine energies,” he concludes. “I used to be drawn to it in a method as a result of it was unique for me to discover this masculine power and these masculine teams, as a result of I grew up round girls. So my subsequent movie particularly follows this feminine journey. It is a very completely different and really emotional movie, and it is one thing I am very pleased with.”
Terunofuji performs the yokozuna ring entry ceremony on the Kokugikan Area in Tokyo. Courtesy of Erik Shirai.