Japan, circa 1872
by Baron Raimund von Stillfried

Sumo wrestling, a ritualistic sport symbolically centered around the Shinto religion, has rules that are majestically simple: one of the two wrestlers (who can weight up to 250kg) loses either when he is forced out of the wrestling ring or if anything other than his feet touch the playing surface. Tis image, taken by the Austrian born photographer Baron Raimund von Stillfried, shows two wrestlers, having purifed their bodies and spirits, awaiting the referee’s signal to start.