You’ll see me write a lot about how Japan is a much more diverse country than people give it credit for, but people don’t always belive me. There are actually huge cultural differences between different parts of Japan, from the small things (like standing on different sides of the escalator) to bigger things—like bullfighting.
Japanese vs. European Bullfighting
While you (hopefully) won’t find any bullfighting in Tokyo, it’s something that’s native to the Ryukyu islands in southern Japan, where it’s called 闘牛, or togyu; but unlike European bullfighting, there aren’t any colorful costumes or swords.
European bullfighting is a brutal sport. A matador faces off one-on-one against a bull, in the slow, bloody death of the bull. It’s not a pretty sight, and there’s a huge movement against traditional European bullfighting.
Even though karate master Mas Oyama was a bull-killing machine, traditional Japanese bullfighting is relatively tame.
Togyu is a fight between two bulls instead of a bull and a person. The bulls push and shove each other around the arena, locked horn-in-horn, until one of them is too tired to go on and is defeated.
The point of the fight isn’t to kill, or even hurt a bull. People intervene right away if there’s any risk that a bull will get injured.
Some foreigners call the sport “bull sumo,” and that’s not a bad description. Togyu has much more in common with sumo wrestling than it does with European bullfighting. Togyu even borrows some terminology from sumo—a champion bull is called a yokozuna, just like a sumo champ.
That’s not to say that there’s absolutely no risk involved in Togyu; after all, you can only be so safe with giant, horned animals. Last week, one trainer was gored to death by a one-ton bull on the southern Japanese island of Tokunoshima.
But these kinds of deaths are pretty rare, and even with the dangers of togyu, it ain’t gonna go away anytime soon. Not only is it a culturally important activity that’s been around for centuries in southern Japan, but it’s also a huge tourist draw.
Next time you’re in the Ryukyu islands, take the opportunity to check out togyu and see how the Japanese do bullfighting. Just don’t shout ¡Olé!
Bonus!
Our illustrator Aya has once again not only made animated GIFs of the header image of this post, but a wallpaper sized version too. Enjoy!
