I present to you all the first ever piece of my fursona Okami-Dono and his nemesis Garou-Dono in a Sumo wrestling match. This was done by a very good friend of mine on DA by the name of starfoxfan111, and you can see the original piece there: https://www.deviantart.com/starfoxfan111/art/sumo-Okami-Dono-vs-Garou-dono-865342465

Weapons have come a long way, even in the days of the samurai, but the truth of the matter is that there is ZERO substitute for hand-to-hand confrontation. It was recorded that samurai were expected to learn Sumo as a means of hand-to-hand, and it was even more useful than Karate or Judo when it came to dealing with bigger opponents. Many samurai families were even said to have brought in professional Sumo wrestlers to tutor the samurai apprentices. How far the training went has been a subject of debate for years, but I assume they even had the samurai prentices even participate in Sumo tournaments to test their skill

Additionally, this is a true form of the sport. To explain, the whole thing of Sumo being about just "eating" and "fat" has always been nothing more than a long and over-exaggerated stereotype. Sumo is actually all about MUSCLE, skill, and honor. In Japanese tradition, especially in the past, being a Sumo wrestler was considered the highest level of physical conditioning.