Few people knew that sumo wrestling, which originates from Japan, was once also contested in Taiwan, its ex-colony. Just recently there was a sumo wrestling contest organized in Hualien County in which wrestlers wear mawashi, the sumo wrestling suit, in a way that differs from its country of origin in quite a funny way. Wearing their Taiwanese-style mawashi, wrestlers from Hualien County’s Ji-An Township observe each other carefully in the dohyo, the circular ring from which they have to throw their opponent out. While the wrestlers seize every opportunity to beat their opponent, other tribesmen cheer loudly in the spectator seats.
Tradition says that a sumo wrestler should wear a mawashi when wrestling. However, it is relatively difficult to find a proper one in Taiwan these days. Therefore, Taiwanese wrestlers wear big towels, pieces of canvas or slings as substitutes for mawashi. They use anything white that could possibly be tied around the waist approximately in the way Japanese sumo wrestlers do. However, the Amis tribesmen living in Ji-An Township are conservative people. They are concerned that their private parts and other parts of their body are exposed, as the mawashi doesn’t cover much of their body. So in contrast to the masculine ambience of the wrestling ring, the contestants wear underwear under their wrestling suits to protect their modesty from the curiosity of the audience.
Elder tribesmen follow the tradition that forbids wrestlers from eating beef, vegetables and having sexual intercourse before competition because it is believed such activities consume energy. Wrestlers were only allowed to have other kinds of meat products, pork, bamboo shoots, vine heart, grass shoots and beans. But traditions have evolved, and today only elders still closely follow this rule.
Besides dietary rules, only men are allowed to watch the matches on the side of the dohyo because women are considered “unclean”, according to tribesmen.
Chief-referee Lin Chao-ming explained that Amis people call sumo wrestling Mitelu or Malalevu. It is aimed at strengthening tribesmen’s bodies and uniting young people in order to fight enemies. Sumo wrestling contests here ceased to be organized for a few decades until January 1986, when Ji-An Township’s Tung-Chang Village took the initiative to organize one. This initiative unexpectedly aroused the interest of Amis tribesmen around Hualien County.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
大多數人都認為相撲源自日本，但是太陽帝國前殖民地台灣也有人好此道。日前花蓮縣吉安鄉年度盛事，阿美族原住民「米得路」相撲比賽，就在化仁國中操場熱鬧登場，共有三十九名部落好手競逐，選手們穿著改良版丁字褲，身體左右移動伺機出擊，族人則在場邊觀戰，加油聲此起彼落。
相撲活動規定穿著丁字褲，但因丁字褲已難尋，因此大毛巾、帆布片、背巾等，只要是白色且可以綁成丁字褲的布料全都派上用場，參賽者「將就」繫成丁字形穿上，保守的阿美族人擔心只穿丁字褲會太暴露或穿幫，紛紛穿上內褲後，再繫條丁字褲，在緊張的氣氛中顯得十分有趣。
老一輩族人說，傳統米得路比賽，選手上場前必須遵行不能吃牛肉和蔬菜，及不能行房的禁忌，認為會虛耗體力，只能吃獸肉、豬肉、竹筍、藤心、芒草心及豆類等，由於時代的轉變，這些禁忌只剩下較年長者才遵行。
此外，相撲擂台周邊也都只見男性圍觀，沒有女性的蹤影，族人說，因為傳統上認為女性不潔，所以禁止所有婦女靠近。
裁判長林昭明解釋，阿美族語稱相撲為「米得路」或「馬拉勒夫」，主要在讓族人鍛鍊強健的體魄，並讓年輕人團結一致以禦外敵，這項在阿美族中沉寂了數十年的相撲競技，民國七十五年一月間由吉安鄉東昌村示範登場，結果引起全縣各地阿美族人的興趣。（自由時報記者蔡百靈）
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