Florida Sumo Kyokai

12/04/2024

R.I.P. Akebono

Akebono, born Chadwick Haheo Rowan in Waimanalo, Hawaii, became the 64th yokozuna in 1993 and gained immense popularity.

03/10/2023

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2023/10/03/daytona-beach-sumo-wrestler-punches-card-to-tokyo-competition/70987306007/?fbclid=IwAR2mx1izkoaNjd9nb8QFjLiC9_4xpTdGdDEvZBYbvtGivRDHKUhAbpR86wY

Mark Jones, a former Spruce Creek football player, will compete in the amateur sumo championship in Japan.

30/09/2023

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-sumo-champion-world-championship/45378987?fbclid=IwAR1nk4Lb_VPWJjhiEE_JaRonAiCFOq-amQ_wIwAwvtSNevAztpKXapTGtbk #

Mark Jones is a third generation Daytona Beach Native, married, a father of two and the reigning sumo wrestling champion of the United States.

26/09/2023

16/09/2023

07/09/2023

Coming up November 3-4 at the Mr. Olympia in Orlando will be the Olympia Sumo Championship.

30/08/2023

30/05/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=620337406800731&id=100064734311313&mibextid=SDPelY

John Jacques “Da Hawaii Sumo Coach”
John Jacques (1944), teaching math in Kahuku, he was also a football coach who played rugby. He has won multiple Hawaii Championship Sumo tournaments and taught some of the most important sumo wrestlers to date. He was known as a hard-headed youth who got called out by Arthus Ernie Hunt and told to perform in the ring against practicing Hawaii sumo and then the real deal in Japan. He would come back with wisdom and knowledge passed on to him from Yoshibayama Junnosuke and his leading the Miyagino Stable where he would bring those lessons back to Hawaii and the rest of America (Trailblazer of American Sumo). He earned a rare honor at the Miyagino Sumo Stable

Beer and Arthur Ernie Hunt
Arthur Ernie Hunt “Godfather of American Sumo”, would bump into John in the beer line at a sumo tournament in Hawaii and this would happen again a few years later as they would go back and forth about topics involving sumo as John would go off to say how tough he was. John had got into his first Hawaii Dohyo Sumo Circle where there were five others ready to go and John wearing the sumo belt felt really uncomfortable and opted for pants which were denied, but then he did participate and even ended up going to Japan in Tokyo to experience the genuine life of sumos getting beat up over a hundred times and getting back up. Later on Jesse would come back to Hawaii and ask John if he would like to train for the summer, because John would get beaten up really bad and show strong perseverance, which is part of what the Japanese sumo stable master Yoshibayama Junnosuke was impressed by.

John’s Perseverance of Pain
In Japan, John who knew nothing about Sumo, and the rest of the Hawaii sumo would spar badly against the more seasoned sumos and get a chance to meet the Sumo Elder of the Japan Sumo Association known as the Oyakata. Being guests to Japan they would sleep on the floor and wake up at 6:00am to go practice to try to get the Hawaii sumo more interested in the sport to get them hooked and take them out drinking and eating until the late evening and early morning. John was a teacher, high school wrestling coach, football coach, and a rugby player that would have the opportunity after lots of physical punishment by sparring to strengthen sumo in Hawaii by going to train in a Pro-Sumo Stable to help develop Hawaii Sumo.

Training to Develop a Hawaii Sumo Program
Arriving in Tokyo and going to Miyagino Sumo Stables had been shut from the Shoji Screen sliding doors. But when the sumo would open up the entrance of these doors and start placing the rules of etiquette like: (1) shaving facial hair and tying up hair, (2) sumo stable care, (3) and ranking levels of treatment. The way people wake up and go to bed, the duties of cooking in the kitchen of Chankonabe (sumo hot pot) that is Chanko Food (sumo food), and the respect of Japanese structures of Sumo programs. There would be a particular smell that came off of each wrestler using the same “Bintsuke” or hair wax that would make a fragrance of a stable so distinct. Each time a sumo smells a certain strong fragrance it is connected to the fun, violence, excitement, pain, and conquering feeling of the sport and the discipline of well-rounded politeness of how someone acts and their verbal etiquette.

Yoshibayama Junnosuke
Yoshibayama Junnosuke, 43rd yokozuna, took John Jaques under his sumo stable to see more than what he saw in Hawaii with the Japan Sumo invitational tournaments and to see every part of the way of the sumo. Looking past pro-sumo arenas, going deep as a fan for research through investigations, and understanding how everything from starting sumo to pro sumo. It shows the thousands of people underneath by rank that are fighting everyday for nothing but pain and bruises with a sort of training-structure and translate the Japan coaching style. It would end up increasing the amount of people coming to Japan, the number of Hawaii Sumo coaches, and allow for Sumo related programs to be run. John Jaques would go back to Hawaii to translate what he had learned and adapt it to Hawaii for a more proper and traditional way of training in the art of Sumo with the Sumo Spirit.

Pā hale Dohyo
Pa hale Dohyo is two words with Pa Hale meaning House lot or yard and dohyo being a wrestling ring in a circle. While Japan had many dedicated areas for matches to be held and many stables for training in Hawaii there was a shortage of such places to train, but John Jacques has been credited with furthering training opportunities with his backyard dohyo. In the early times it was developed in the back of John Jacques home where the Oahu Sumo Club Dohyo would be located and gained the nickname Pa Hale Dohyo of Hauula. The restrictions of foreign-born wrestlers in 1992 would create a loss of cultural connection between Japan and Hawaii, so Hawaii Sumo Culture would end up developing in its own way thanks to Jesse Kuhaulua and Azumazeki Stable.

21/04/2023

Our shirt spotted at an MMA show! Thanks, Cody!

20/04/2023

https://gofund.me/79cee46b

Help spread the word and send the Champ Champ to Japan!

Trek to Tokyo Mark Jones is the 2023 National Amateur Sumo Wrestling Cha… Mark Jones needs your support for Send the Sumo Champ to Tokyo to represent U.S.A.

11/03/2023

https://www.youtube.com/live/lx3mhT6E-iE?feature=share

Join Iron Wave sumo for the 2023 National Tournament! This event will determine the qualifiers for this year's international events!

15/02/2023

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2021 edition and kept foreign wrestlers away in 2022, the former yokozuna's annual youth tournament was back in force on Sunday.

12/02/2023

It’s a first ever Hakuho Cup medal for the United States as 11 year old Uriah Ulima Kamahao Luamanu from Hawaii takes bronze in the elementary school grade 5 classification.

04/02/2023

And they need your help.

28/01/2023

https://www.gofundme.com/f/simone-with-medical-costs?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined

Hi, my name is Jamie and Simone is an absolute cherished friend of mine, she is the be… Jamie Tafolla needs your support for Help Simone Fight Breast Cancer

21/01/2023

We've got a FULL schedule of entertainment at the Japanese New Year Celebration 2023 today, and you won't want to miss any of it! Doors open at 11, program starts at noon. See you soon!

17/01/2023

Open invitation for a free training camp! Sunday, February 26th from 9am until 1 or 2pm. It's BYOB and we are asking for donations for chankonabe funds. Please follow our event on facebook and let us know if you can make it!

13/01/2023

BREAKING!

The 2023 Sumo World Championships will take place on Oct 7th and 8th in Tokyo.

05/01/2023

2023 US Sumo National Championships and North American Sumo Championships will be in Orlando, Florida on March 11th.

06/12/2022

Very proud of our Ronin! Everyone stepped up and kicked ass! We ended up taking a grand total of 10 medals! 🏅 😎
4 Gold, 2 Silver, and 4 Bronze!

YOISHO!!!!