On February 9, 1885, the first official Japanese migrants arrived in Hawai’i. Before an audience that included King David Kalakaua, they reportedly celebrated their arrival with a sumo match.
Rooted in two thousand years of agrarian, Shinto tradition, sumo was transported to America by the Issei, who organized inter-island tournaments in Hawai’i as early as 1896, and major competitions between Hawai’i and mainland sumotori1 by the 1920s. Originally a harvest ritual, sumo was enjoyed as sport and entertainment among the early immigrant communities—as a centerpi…