“Sumo: The Spirit Has No Weight” Takes Us Into Rituals and Sacrifice to Connect “Ordinary People” with Japan’s Ancient Sport (Clip and Exclusive Chat)

Eric Shirai shares how his immersive cinematic experience, now screening at the London Film Festival, aims to change misconceptions and show humility in the Japanese understanding of power

You may not realize how much you want to know about sumo until you go behind the scenes with Erik Shirai's immersive experience Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing. The documentary, which premiered in Venice and is now showing at the 70th edition of the London Film Festival (LFF) starting on October 13, takes audiences into the notoriously private world of sumo, from the grueling training and rituals to the pain and sacrifice.

The film follows a number of wrestlers at various stages of their careers, including yokozuna, a title that represents the highest rank in professional sumo over the course of a year. They are Terunofuji Haruo, Hiradoumi Yuki, Yonezawaryu Daiki and Kosei Motomura. One of the key points is the importance of fighting spirit. Or as the synopsis puts it: "True strength is not measured in the flesh, but in the refinement of the soul."

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Filmed by Shirai and Hiroshi Harahan with Frederick Shanahan as editor, the documentary combines intimate reality with poetic observation to reveal more about a sport that often seems alien to those outside of Japan. Presented by ESPN Film, the film is produced by Rise Films in association with Real Lava and Generation11.

Japanese-American filmmaker Shiray previously dived into another Japanese institution in The Birth of Sake. Ahead of the London premiere of Sumo: The Spirit Holds No Weight, he spoke with THR about why he wanted to take a closer look at sumo and its spiritual dimension, his approach and what audiences can take away from the doc.

Before you read on, THR can now exclusively premiere a new clip from Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, in which Yokozuna shares how much hope she has in life with her decision to dedicate her life and focus to sumo wrestling. He makes great sacrifices to "live boldly."

For filmmaker Shirai, sumo was always in the background before he decided to explore it on a deeper level. “I would always hear or see it on TV when we were making dinner or waiting for dinner,” he recalls. "But I didn't really get curious about the whole tradition and culture until I was an adult. I always felt like the top knot [sumo wrestlers wear in their hair] was almost fake. I thought they were wearing wigs. So, it was really interesting to dive into that."

And he soon realized that there was a lot to sort out and explain. "As I got deeper and deeper into making the film, I realized that there are a lot of misconceptions about sumo," Shirai tells THR. "I think part of the reason I was drawn to it was because, growing up Japanese in America, I felt there were a lot of misconceptions about Japanese culture and traditions. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to revise some of those misconceptions that people in the West often have and feel about Japan.

Shiraei even realized that he himself had wrong ideas. "The big thing for me was that this idea of power was so different from the way I grew up," he recalls. The idea of power, especially in America, is men beating their chests and saying, "I'm the best." I am the biggest, I am the goat. They almost talk about themselves in such a way as to make their opponents fear them. In Japan, and especially in sumo, strength is constructed quite differently. Humility lies in it."

It's no surprise, then, that Shirai makes one of his key points: “One of the biggest things I've learned from sumo is that a lot of the things they talk about in terms of strength are things you can't see, especially your resilience, your dedication. Even if you are small, you are agile. And there's this idea that you have to build your soul, refine your soul. Therefore, sumo is like any other art. It is a kind of container for better self-understanding and moral correction.

Access to sumo stables, wrestlers, traditions, rituals and thinking and their struggles cannot be easy. "This was the biggest challenge we had," says Shirai. It took us three to four years to get this access from the sumo community. They are very secretive, and things have happened to them in the past, so they are very, very cautious and very, very. We were skeptical about letting foreigners in. So we were very lucky."

Building the necessary trust was a process that required a lot of time and patience. "There is no fast-forward button," says the director. "A lot of times, I'd go there without a camera and we'd just sit with the sumo wrestlers, watch them practice, talk to them."

And his team took the athletes out to eat. "One of the agreements we made with one of the stable masters was that we should take the whole stable for yakiniko, grilled meat," explains Shirai. We had to take the whole stable out, and basically they shut down the restaurant and ate the whole restaurant. It was unbelievable. I remember seeing the receipt from my producer. He had to pick it up, and he's a tall man, but he held it, but it still rolled on the ground. The receipt was for this period. But it was a great way to build that relationship with them and eat and drink with them."

Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing has an immersive, even philosophical or lyrical quality, and that's by design. "I feel like with any film, you have to show humanity in it, and the more you can show that, the more people can connect and relate," Shirai tells THR. This was especially important in the case of sumo. I think everyone thinks the sport is made for fat people, but you realize really quickly that being fat is the biggest challenge in sumo, especially for these young people, especially if you're Asian.

His hope is that the film can change the way audiences feel about sumo: "People might think of it as a show with these big men and this closet, so there's an opportunity for people, while watching the film, to realize that these guys are just normal people, and there's a lot about them that I can relate to."

For example, Yokozuna is shown in the film with his wife and child, and he talks about his diabetes and other health challenges, which may come as a surprise to many viewers. "In Western culture, we don't want to talk about our vulnerabilities," notes Shirai. But since Yokozuna was at the end of his career, I think he really wanted people to understand the dedication and sacrifices that went into sumo, especially for someone who had been in it for 15 years. So, he talks about giving up parts of his life, giving up his personal life, and having physical ailments that will last him the rest of his life. I've always found sumo fascinating, but it's always about the larger group and what you can give to preserve the tradition and the culture.

Shirai leaves it up to viewers to decide what they consider the key points of Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing. "I hope they understand more about being Japanese, because a lot of sumo is about the pride of the Japanese people," he tells THR. "Bigger than yourself, and it's about preserving this tradition. It's been around for 1,500 years, but it's kind of outdated in this modern world. There's no giant screen or big screen for replays. And everything is very basic, manual and analog. I hope people can take away this beautiful tradition and culture and how hard it is to continue in this modern world."

Shirai is looking to change things up for his next film, even if the title may appear to be a continuation of his take on how challenging it is for sumo wrestlers to eat. Anyway, his next movie is titled How to Feed a Hungry Soul.

"I'm finishing up another film that's completely different," Shirai tells THR. "Literally, there is nothing more than sumo. This story is about a Vietnamese chef who returns to Vietnam after 10 years away and feeds his hungry souls.

"My last few films have really been dominated by a lot of male groups and male energies," he concludes. "I was drawn to it in some ways because it was strange for me to explore this male energy and these male groups, because I was raised by women. So, my next film specifically follows this female journey. It's a very different and very emotional film, and that's something I'm very proud of."