Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (1992)

"It's a mawashi, not a jock strap"

Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t was a funny, lighthearted story of young college men finding something they were missing through a failing sumo club. “The players are pink giants,” with lots of skin showing and a determination to win and maintain age old traditions, well, at least some of them. And none of these boys were giants.

Yamamoto Shuhei is called into Professor Anayama’s office. Due to his absences, Shuhei is going to fail and not graduate unless he joins the sumo club, just until the first tournament to keep the club open. Shuhei and the club leader, Aoki, search for new recruits. They manage to field a team with a guy wanting to impress a girl, another who can’t pay his rent and needs a place to live, and finally someone who just desperately desires friends. Unimpressed with the ancient art of sumo, Anayama’s losers may not be able to do enough to keep the club open.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t was the Bad News Bears of sumo. No one was really invested in sumo, but the more they competed the harder they worked at training. I did feel like Masayuki left out crucial moments that led to the boys’ decisions to dedicate themselves to the discipline of the sport and the respect for the ancient traditions. Most of their hardcore training was off-screen.

The film was funny, but not usually in a slapstick manner, more born out of the conditions the wrestlers found themselves in. I actually laughed out loud numerous times, a rarity for me with films. There were also deliciously heartwarming moments.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t was an entertaining, at times even rousing, sports film. Given that it was made for less than $1 million (USD), writer/director Suo Masayuki got a lot of bang for his buck. It was impossible for me to not root for this group of likeable underachievers. Each member of the team discovered something in himself through the rigors of sumo and the gift of friendship. Definitely worth a try if you enjoy sports or unexpected friendship films.

28 March 2026
Trigger warnings: I’ve seen other sumo fare and maybe the mawashi were ill fitting, but there was a lot of unkempt pubic hair exposed. Also, diarrhea gags.

Surprising note: I’m not sure how prevalent it was in the 1990s but this school had an American style football team complete with cheerleaders.

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"It's not a jockstrap, it's a MA.WA.SHI!"

An absolutely hilarious film about a college student who is forced to join the sumo team in order to graduate.
The storyline is not new, but the concept of bringing humour and sumo together is really refreshing.
Takenaka Naoto definitely steals the majority of the laughs of the film, and so he should as I nearly peed my pants laughing at his performance!

May be hard to find online, etc as it is a little old, but I'd say that it is definitely worth renting out/buying it as you can watch it over and over again and still have stomach pains and tears from laughing so hard!

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