Japan Held A 400-Years-Running Competition To Make Babies Cry
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty ImagesDuring the annual Naki Sumo Festival, sumo wrestlers are paired up with crying babies as a celebration of good health and fortune.
Every year in Japan, the Naki Sumo or Nakizumo Crying Baby Festival is held to celebrate the belief that crying babies bring good health and fortune as well as ward off evil spirits. To top off the hilarity, each crying baby is paired with a giant sumo wrestler who is given the unfortunate task of holding the babies as they wail.
The celebrations are held in temples across Japan but the biggest one is at the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. The rules of this centuries-old competition are simple: the first baby to cry wins. A sumo referee is assigned to make the infants cry which can be done through a number of gentle methods.
One way is to goad the babies by chanting “naki! naki!” (“cry! cry!”) repeatedly into their faces. Another way to induce tears is by wearing a mask, usually of the bird demon tengu, one of the evil spirits believed to be drawn away by the sound of bawling babies.
Meanwhile, the sumo wrestlers gently jiggle the participating baby up and down to help get the waterworks flowing, sometimes even making funny faces to help the referee make the baby cry. The baby who starts crying first wins the duel. However, if both babies start crying at the same time, then the one who cries the loudest and the hardest wins.
The festivals are meant as fun gatherings and are also a chance for the families to show off their new bundles of joy. This year, tears were shed by more than 160 babies.
