Do sumo wrestlers eat a lot to get their job, or is it genetics?

Question

I know it's a huge honor to be a sumo wrestler, but do they start training when they're very young kids (and therefore, do their coaches/parents fatten them up). Or do they wait to start training after they see that they are going to be fat no matter what? I'm really not trying to insult Japanese culture, I'm just really curious. Does the weight make the sumo wrestler, or does the sumo wrestler make the weight?

Answer 1

what i know about it is that sumo wrestlers enter the scared profession at a very young age.. some of them weren't fat when they first entered the training & its during their training period that they gradually take in excessive food for them to develop a huge, flabby physique..  

Answer 2

eat

Answer 3

It's the diet. Sumo wrestlers actually live in sumo "stables", away from the influence of their parents. Each stable consists of more experienced wrestlers and rookies, and yeah, rookies have to maintain a certain diet and train for a certain amount of time every day, as well as do chores for their elders at night, while only the more experienced guys can go out.

Super Saiyan, maybe because of sumo's immensely revered status in Japan?

Answer 4

genetics ... why would someone eat thta much to be a sumo wrestler?