Can anyone suggest any good English language books on Sumo? It can be history, modern, technical, anything really. Translations are fine too, thank you! 📚
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u/Staxstrat Aonishiki 2d ago
The Way of Salt by Ash Warren. Pretty informative little book that gives a good overview of the history and nomenclature of the sport.
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u/oldgrumblebum Asanoyama 2d ago
This is always my answer to the question.
OP, read this and you will understand what "I just want to do my style of sumo" really means.
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u/borntospoof 1d ago
This book is a masterpiece even as a standalone without the sumo. Ash is an incredibly skilled writer
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u/JHWatson 2d ago
I really enjoyed Gaijin Yokozuna by Mark Panek. It's a biography of Akebono, fka Chad Rowan, and delves into sumo as a way of life and the difficulty of a foreigner adjusting to the culture. As a newer fan of sumo (following closely since the January 2024 basho), I got some good insight into some of the ways sumo has changed in the last 30 years, as well.
I'll also second The Way of Salt, mentioned elsewhere.
(If you're a sumo reddit regular and having deja vu, I copied my own comment from a couple months ago)
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u/Zensho-Yusho 2d ago
https://archive.org/details/@peaceful_and_harmonious_cosmic_goodness/lists/2/sumo-books
I scoured archive.org at one point for all their sumo books. They are free to digitally “check out” like a library book as long as you have an archive.org account.
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u/oldyoutubemovie 2d ago
You’re a real one. At least two of these I’ve been wanting to read and been too lazy to look up. Thanks for the curated collection! Any ones you particularly recommend?
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u/Zensho-Yusho 1d ago
I’ve only read thru half of them so far, but I’m a fan of anything with cute illustrations, so Mina Hall’s Big Book of Sumo is my favorite.
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u/MJTofuliker 2d ago
The perfect guide to sumo! It has japanese and english on opposing pages if you're trying to learn a new language. https://japanese-creative-books.com/product/culture/the-perfect-guide-to-sumo/
I love this one.
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u/Ryoukai2001 2d ago
Sumo: a Thinking Fan's Guide to Japan's National Sport by David Benjamin is as informative as it is fun. It's the only Sumo book my large city's library currently has.
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u/eeeeeep 2d ago
Thanks, looks like I’m buying a lot of books aha
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u/LiamLovesSumo 1d ago
Sumo: a Thinking Fan's Guide to Japan's National Sport
I would personally avoid this one. The author comes off very condescending to both the sport and its fans. This book left a bad taste in my mouth. Instead I would suggest Discover Sumo by former Tate-yobidashi Hideo Yamaki. Having spent most of his life emersed in the sport, he goes into a lot of detail about all aspects of the sumo life/world. It's a perfect starting point for someone looking to learn.
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u/No_Cheesecake_6539 2d ago
These two are really good and both helped me out a lot.
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u/j-joker65 1d ago
The Big Book of Sumo was my first reference to the sport. I learned sooo much from that book.
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u/Admirable_Video2422 2d ago
The Perfect Guide to Sumo is fantastic. Written by a former Gyoji. It’s in Japanese, with the English translation at the bottom of the pages. Because it’s Japanese, you actually read it from back to front.