US Sumo Open match between Kelly Gneiting and Ulambayar Byambajav (Byamba).
Sumo is practised as an amateur sport, with participants in college, high school, and grade school in Japan. In addition to college and school tournaments, open amateur tournaments are also held. The sport at this level is stripped of most of the ceremony. The most successful amateur wrestlers in Japan (usually college champions) can be allowed to enter professional sumo at makushita (third division) or sandanme (fourth division) rather than from the very bottom of the ladder. These ranks are called makushita tsukedashi and sandanme tsukedashi, and are currently equivalent to makushita 10, makushita 15, or sandanme 100 depending on the level of amateur success achieved. Many of the current top division wrestlers entered professional sumo by this route. All amateur athletes entering the professional ranks must be under 23 to satisfy the entry, except those who qualify for makushita tsukedashi or sandanme tsukedashi, who may be up to 25.
The International Sumo Federation was established to encourage the sport's development worldwide, including holding international championships. A key aim of the federation is to have sumo recognized as an Olympic sport. Accordingly, amateur tournaments are divided into weight classes (men: Lightweight up to 85 kg (187 lb), Middleweight up to 115 kg (254 lb), Heavyweight over 115 kg (254 lb), and Open Weight (unrestricted entry), and include competitions for female wrestlers (Lightweight up to 65 kg (143 lb), Middleweight up to 80 kg (180 lb), Heavyweight over 80 kg (180 lb), and Open Weight).
Amateur sumo clubs are gaining in popularity in the United States, with competitions regularly being held in major cities across the country. The US Sumo Open, for example, was held in the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2007 with an audience of 3,000. The sport has long been popular on the West Coast and in Hawaii, where it has played a part in the festivals of the Japanese ethnic communities. Now, however, the sport has grown beyond the sphere of Japanese diaspora and athletes come from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and sporting backgrounds.
Amateur sumo is particularly strong in Europe. Many athletes come to the sport from a background in judo, freestyle wrestling, or other grappling sports such as sambo. Some Eastern European athletes have been successful enough to be scouted into professional sumo in Japan, much like their Japanese amateur counterparts. The most notable of these to date is the Bulgarian Kotooshu, who is the highest-ranking foreign wrestler who was formerly an amateur sumo athlete.
Brazil is another center of amateur sumo, introduced by Japanese immigrants who arrived during the first half of the twentieth century. The first Brazilian sumo tournament was held in 1914.Sumo took root in immigrant centers in southern Brazil, especially São Paulo, which is now home to the only purpose-built sumo training facility outside Japan. Beginning in the 1990s, Brazilian sumo organizations made an effort to interest Brazilians without Japanese ancestry in the sport, and by the mid-2000s an estimated 70% of participants came from outside the Japanese-Brazilian community. Brazil is also a center for women's sumo. A small number of Brazilian wrestlers have made the transition to professional sumo in Japan, including Ryuko Go and Kaisei Ichiro.