Tomasz Gudzowaty: SUMO

This book is Tomasz Gudzowaty’s exploration of the compelling sport of sumo. Here Gudzowaty documents not only the wrestlers in the throes of combat, but also earnest life within the training stables where these young men live, eat and sleep together. Framing the photos is the story of Kirinowaka Tarō (born in 1983), a sumo wrestler who was discovered as a boy at his parents’ yakiniku restaurant and trained at Tokyo’s renowned Michinoku stable, from which he was ultimately expelled for his involvement in fixing fights. SUMO is a portrait of the sport within a society strongly shaped by both tradition and modernity, and a continuation of Gudzowaty’s wider sport photography including his images of gymnasts, boxers, freerunners and synchronized swimmers, presented in past Steidl books such as Beyond the Body (2016).

Everything that needs an explanation is not worth the explanation. Voltaire