Sumo and Martial Arts tend to be the first sports to pop up in people’s minds when thinking about the most popular sports in Japan.

While technically right, you would be surprised to learn that Western imports like baseball are actually very popular in modern Japan, giving Sumo a run for its money!

As a matter of fact, some researchers even show Baseball leading as Japan’s most popular sport. However, Sumo is, without a doubt, the national sport of Japan, and here we will take a closer look at this famous sport.

Sumo as a sport not only originated in Japan, but it is also the only country where it is considered a national sport and it is practised professionally.

Even though the sport has a long history, spanning many centuries, it is still considered part of a gendai budō – modern Japanese martial arts.