Waikato’s very own Rikishi: Dwight Rawson
Japanese culture enthusiast starts up his own entrepreneurial Sumo club in Hamilton
Family man and screen arts technician by trade, Dwight Rawson, has a rare talent up his sleeve. In his spare time, Rawson is a passionate sumo wrestler, who appreciates the traditions and culture that surround the martial art of sumo wrestling.
Whanau comes first for Rikishi Rawson. The 29-year-old sumo enthusiast is a devoted husband and father. He and wife, Robyn, have a young son, named Jasper and the family also look forward to welcoming another baby in the new year.
Rawson said he and Robyn have always shared a love for the Japanese culture. The pair spent their honeymoon in Japan, where Rawson’s interest in sumo-wrestling flourished. He recalled his first real experience with the sport while dining at a food court, in a small town in Japan. Sumo wrestling was playing on the TV. “It was funny because all these Japanese chefs in the little food court, were all hanging out the window of their little kitchen areas to watch the sumo wrestling.”
The enthusiastic atmosphere in the Japanese food court cemented his fascination with sumo, but Rawson also appreciates the rituals and the customary practices within the sport
“There’s a lot of respect between the two opponents in a match. If you compare that to other modern combat sports like boxing or mixed martial arts, it can be very ego-centred and there’s smack talk, but there’s none of that in sumo wrestling.”
Dwight Rawson
After returning to Aotearoa, Rawson said he had been following the Japanese sumo culture for quite a while, watching all the tournaments. It was quite a big scene in America and Europe, so he thought there would be a club in New Zealand. He looked around and couldn’t find anything local, so he conceived the idea to start his own club, in the mighty Waikato.
“I just convinced some of my friends to come along and we all seemed to have a good time.”
“There’s always that ego that goes along with sparring, so we try to avoid that with our club. We just focus on having a good time and camaraderie.”
He supplies the Mawashi (sumo belts) to group members and doesn’t charge a fee for being a part of the club. “Amateur sumo wrestling is largely self-funded, either I pay for it, or we all just chip in.”
Rawson said he appreciates the ideas of Japanese sumo wrestling, with rituals embedded into the sport, his favourite being Shikoku, which is the foot stomping ritual.
“The idea of the stomp is to scare away any evil spirits or bad omens in the ring.”
In terms of personal achievements, Rawson attributes the wonderful friends he has made through forming the club. He also speaks modestly of his second-place title win for his weight class, at the Sydney Oceanic Championships, which is part of the international Sumo Federation. “My training partner Filippo won gold, which was crazy, it was the best thing ever, and I got second place.”
“We went to compete, and we went to win, that was our main goal, but the amount of experience learned from having so many bouts with people, was way more important than a medal”
“Here’s to next year, we will be going to Sydney for Oceania 2025”
