In the Club is a recurring series in which the Scene explores Nashville’s social club offerings.
For seven hours one cloudy April afternoon, Germantown was home to marathon sumo wrestling action. More than 60 competitors from across the country attended the inaugural Sakura Cup tournament. Some were heavyweights — the hulking figures often associated with the sport — while other wrestlers were lighter, bucking the stereotypical image. Women also entered the ring, including world champ Kellyann Ball from Los Angeles. All contestants wore the traditional loincloth called a mawashi in the ring, but some wore it over shorts or gym clothes. Don’t call it a diaper.
The tournament was hosted by the Tennessee Sumo Association at Music City Muscle Gym, where the group meets for weekly practices, at the start of Japan Week. The gym’s lawn was transformed into a dohyō, sumo’s circular wrestling ring. A few dozen spectators came out too, plus a handful of vendors like Black Dynasty Ramen. There was even a celebrity in the mix: Former professional sumo Yama sat ringside as a guest of honor, fanning himself in a sky-blue outfit.
Heavyweight Zachary Sparkman, a Tennessee Sumo Association member, entered the ring to cheers from friends and teammates for his semifinal match. The referee gave commands in Japanese to prepare the wrestlers, and Sparkman and his opponent — veteran sumo Caleb Baccus out of San Antonio — both sank low and placed their fists on the ground. The ref gave one final shout, and Sparkman and Bacchus shot toward each other. The two big men were deadlocked in the dohyō’s center, their feet, hips and shoulders shifting for a better angle. Both men grabbed the waistband of his opponent’s mawashi, but Sparkman found better leverage and swung Baccus out of the center and closer to the edge of the ring. Both wrestlers were still upright, but Sparkman drove forward, pushing his opponent out of the dohyō. Sparkman won, and moved on to the finals.
It was over in half a minute. Nathaniel Hudson, president of the Tennessee Sumo Association, says it’s surprising how fast sumo is. It’s also unforgiving — if you get pushed out or any part of your body besides the soles of your feet touches the ground, the match is over, no second round. Clinches may end when one opponent suddenly launches the other with a throw from the waist, and some matches see one wrestler bulldoze the other right out of the ring.
Sparkman would ultimately finish with the silver medal, but he was proud of his performance in front of the hometown crowd. He has a real love for the sport — he’s about to train for two weeks in Japan with a professional stable. His wife Jennifer also competes, but she notes it can be hard to find other women in her weight class at many competitions. Still, she wants to show their kids that both parents are giving it their all, and inspire them to do the same.
Part of the Tennessee Sumo Association’s mission is to educate people about the sport, and Hudson hopes the club can earn nonprofit status. The association started in 2022 and has about eight core members. Hudson himself started following the sport after a trip to Japan way back in 2007, and eventually connected with a small but passionate fan base in the U.S. He was mentored for a while by a wrestler in East Tennessee, but has also made use of online videos to learn more about the fundamentals and help instruct others. Hudson, a public school teacher, also started a sumo club for students at Antioch High School.
The Tennessee Sumo Association meets on Sundays at Music City Muscle Gym. Five members were present on the stormy May afternoon when the Scene visited, practicing footwork and improving their balance next to a collection of weightlifting benches and squat racks. Sparkman had returned from Japan with advice, new exercises and insights into the lifestyle of professional sumo wrestlers. Sparkman was preparing for the national sumo tournament held in San Diego on June 1, along with another member of the Tennessee outfit: Antioch High student Gabriel Tolentino, 16.
During sparring practice, all four older members of the club took turns wrestling Tolentino, throwing everything they could at the kid. Sparkman thinks the high-schooler will be a champion, and Hudson agrees.
Tolentino was surprised by his talent for sumo, but was nervous for nationals. He trained hard though, and his fellow Tennesseans had his back.
“It feels great having everybody support me,” he says. “At first I felt like I was gonna be a stranger, the new person, but everybody was good. They took me in as one of their own.”
All the training paid off: Tolentino won the junior heavyweight division on Saturday and will be competing in a world competition in Poland in September.
