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Schwingen (Swiss Sumo variety)

To: sumo@esssjp.stat.ncsu.edu
Subject: Schwingen (Swiss Sumo variety)
From: guje@nmr.lpc.ethz.ch
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 19:14:41 +0200
Sender: owner-sumo@esssjp.stat.ncsu.edu

On Sunday, August 20th the "Eidgenoessisches Schwinger- und Aelplerfest"
has been concluded in Chur, Kanton Graubuenden. Schwingen is Swiss national
wrestling that origined among Swiss "cowboys" in the Alps. If you look at
the rules, it closer resembles free style wrestling than sumo- to win you
have to make sure that both shoulders of your opponent touch the ground. It
is also possible to leave the "dohyo" in order to avoid defeat (Schwingen's
equivalent to henka, used if you think your opponent is too strong for you).

Still there are surprising similarities with Sumo. Over there clothes (shirt
and pants) Schwingers (rikishi) wear kind of shorts of rough clothing with
a leather belt. They are just the equivalent of the mawashi and grips on
these shorts closely resemble the different types of mawashi grips in sumo.
There is no tachi-ai, both Schwingers begin with a one-hand grip at the
backside of each others "mawashi". Usually you then see the same type of
battle for a better grip that you can see in sumo as soon as it comes to
fighting at the mawashi. Many of you will not like Schwingen because it lacks
tsuki-oshi techniques. Since I like nage more, I also enjoy Schwingen where
you can win by a nage technique if your opponent falls on both his shoulders
(its somewhat reminiscent to Judo). If you throw your opponent but he can turn
around sufficiently fast there is a "ground battle". It is different from
Greek-Roman or free-style wrestling in that one uses the "mawashi-shorts" for
a firm grip to turn the opponent around. Unlike in Judo or wrestling sports
there are no points for uncompleted techniques- so you can't get an advantage
and play for time after that. This inaction when someone has got a little
advantage (and the defensive tactics to prevent the opponent to get that little
advantage) spoil all my fun of Judo and wrestling sports. I love Sumo for its
dynamics and the fighting spirit of the rikishi- Schwingen hasn't got the
same dynamics but it's still worthwhile seeing. There is a "Gestellter" (tie)
if the time is up, which means you have lost valuable points for the ranking.
So you have to attack your opponent fiercely to end up in a high rank.

The Schwingerfest comes once in three years(!) but of course there are lesser
tournaments more often ;-) It is a major event, 40000 people watched
"senshuraku" in an open-air "kyokugikan" with 7 "dohyos". The "dohyos" are
circular fields padded with sawdust on a lawn, they are somewhat larger than
a dohyo. 303 Schwinger took part this year (it was the 100th anniversary of the
foundation of the modern Schwinger union), there were no real "gaijin" but
some Swiss that live in other countries (South Africa, Canada, Brasilia, and
last but not least the Vatican- the Pope still sticks to the traditional Swiss
guards).

Similar to Sumo pairings are made by officials and are based on the perceived
strength of Schwingers and on the previous results in the tournament. There are
8 bouts in two days (each one on average lasts 5 minutes, although you may
have 10 seconds bouts as well). Accordingly, the average weight of Schwingers
is a lot lower than of rikishi (there are no weight classes either). The aim
of the tournament ist to crown a Schwingerkoenig (Schwinger's king, yokozuna).
Two former Schwingerkoenige were among the fighters, one of them got a tourna-
ment like Ake in Nagoya, the other one was among the contenders for the
"Schlussgang" (last bout on senshuraku, main bout deciding the Schwingerkoenig).
There is also such a thing as sekitori rikishi, after 4 bouts a lot of Schwinger
are excluded and after 6 bouts this happens again. The remaining ones fight for
the "Kranz" (comparable to sanyaku ranks).

Former Schwingerkoenig Eugen Hasler (30 years, 190 cm, 111 kg) had got two
"Gestellte" and had to win his seventh bout to have a chance for the Schlussgang. He did so convincingly by making short work of his opponent in
about 20 seconds ("nage" technique). There was a younger Schwinger from
Appenzell Thomas Sutter (22 years, 191 cm, 101 kg) who had fared well
against tough opponents (also two Gestellte) and
won his seventh bout in an even shorter time also by a throw. These two fought
the Schlussgang. The first action led to Eugen Hasler throwing Thomas Sutter
but not finishing him off. The Thomas Sutter came close to do the same with
Eugen Hasler, only not as convincing. The fortune turned again and Eugen Hasler
threw Thomas Sutter a second time thus getting a large advantage in the ground
battle. However, Thomas Sutter was again strong enough to avoid defeat. After
that he again brought down Eugen Hasler, but didn't come to close to finish him
off on the ground. By that time nearly 6 minutes had gone, the bout would last
no more than 15 (no break). But now Thomas Sutter came to throw Eugen Hasler
with enough strength and precision to get the title. Now zabuton were thrown
(being none available ;-) but the crowd went bananas.

As is good tradition the Schwingerkoenig received no Emperor's cup, but...
a bull.

Sorry about the long, "slightly" off-topic mail. But if you happen to be in
Switzerland during August (in the right year) I strongly recommend you seeing
the Eidgenoessische Schwingerfest.

Gunnar

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