ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the means by which sumo's status as a symbol of national culture was strengthened by its adoption of Shinto ritual, and how during times of acute social, cultural and political flux, cultural practices, such as sumo, have served to sustain Japanese identity. Rituals and ceremonies focused on the individual and aimed at purifying the body, mind and soul are central to Shinto. The clapping ritual is an important Shinto element, and replicates the clapping in Shinto shrines that is designed to attract the attention of the gods. The Tokugawa period is the most significant period in the development of sumo into the form recognised today. The notion of distinctly Japanese 'spirit' and a sense of Japanese national identity began to emerge from the seventeenth century with growing interest in Japan's own ancient literature from the mid-seventeenth century. Processes of globalisation have stimulated increasing flows of culture in which cultural objects and practices are continually transposed and recontextualised.
