Dozens of bawling Japanese babies faced off Saturday (Apr 22) in a traditional “crying sumo” ritual believed to bring the infants good health. It is returned for the first time in four years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The parents held up pairs of toddlers wearing ceremonial sumo aprons.
And faced each other in the sumo ring at Sensoji Temple in Tokyo
Staff wearing “oni” demon masks tried to make the babies cry, with the first to bawl declared the winner by a sumo referee in an elaborate traditional uniform holding a wooden fan used to signal victory.
“We can tell a baby’s health condition by listening to the way they cry. Today she may get nervous and not cry so much. But I want to hear her healthy crying,” Hisae Watanabe, mother of an eight-month-old, told AFP
Organizers hold the “crying sumo” at shrines and temples nationwide, much to the delight of parents and onlookers.
Shigemi Fuji, chairman of the Asakusa Tourism Federation which organised the event, said some people might think it’s terrible they make babies cry.
“But in Japan, we believe babies who cry powerfully also grow up healthily. This kind of event takes place in many places in Japan,” he said