I was told years ago that Sumo wrestlers were chosen when they were very young, and were castrated then, which helped them to grow into the particular physical features that Sumo wrestlers have. Is this true and if not true now, was it ever true in the past?
Ok, this is a real WAG, but I don’t think they’d grow to that tremendous size and still develop that much muscle if they were castrated.
No. They are not currently castrated, they grow to their immense size mostly through a routine of binge eat/sleep. This extends into the past as well. With the culture of feudal Japan, castration was a very, very bad thing, and definately not given to those of such respect as the Sumo wrestlers. In fact, good Sumo wrestlers were prized almost like “studs”, even today.
I’ve never heard of castration, but if you think about it, it doesn’t make much sense. What would happen to these kids at the normal puberty time? You’d end up ruining all your future sumo stars by condeming them to a life of underdevelloped, squeeky-voiced man-boys. Nah, that part ain’t true.
The wrestlers are chosen when they are just kids though, and need to have talent, be big-boned, and … well kinda fat or at least show the potential to put on weight. They end up develloping the features they do through their lifestyle; mostly diet and training. AFAIK, there are no Colonel’s secret spices (like castration) for looking like a sumo wrestler.
It sounds like this is a variation on the legend that sumotori are trained to retract their testicles to avoid injury, which was debunked some time ago. Not all sumotori enter as children, either. Some high school and college sumo competitors enter professional sumo stables after graduation. I KNEW there was a reason my copy of “Grand Sumo” was by the computer.