Washington • President Trump watched a sumo competition while visiting Japan, and — who knew? — he seemed to enjoy seeing corpulent men applauded for shoving others off the stage with brute force.
From his seat, beside the Japanese prime minister, it must have looked as though sumo, with its throwing, tripping and slapping, is a no-holds-barred endeavor, much like the Trump presidency.
But this is unfair to sumo. Sumo has a strict code of rules, in which the champion employs one of 82 kimarite, or winning moves. Use of illegal moves (kinjite) such as grabbing an opponent’s topknot or groin, or striking with a closed fist, brings disgrace on the fighter and, at the top level, national scandal.