The ring is on a platform raised above the audience known as a dohyo. Dohyos are often set in some kind of shrine or temple in which the main focus is not on the ring itself but on the elaborate decorum. Matches are started with the wave of a hand by the referee, or gyoji. The object of the match is for one wrestler to use one of the seventy plus winning techniques to either throw, trip, lift, thrust, shove or pull the opponent out of the ring. Or he can force him to touch the ring with any part of the body other then the soles of his feet. Judges that sit around the dohyo, known as shimpan determines this. A match itself may only last a couple of seconds but may go up to several minutes (Kodansha 47). .
One can tell the importance of community in the culture by looking at the life of a sumo wrestler. Most of the wrestlers begin training in their mid-teens. Children train extremely hard in hopes of one day reaching the highest rank of Yokozuna. Top ranking wrestlers have an average height of six feet along with an average weight of 326 pounds. Although these are the standards, weights have ranged anywhere from 225 to an astounding 527 pounds (Kodansha 47). The reason for the common overweight wrestler is simple: a larger stomach makes for a lower center of gravity (Gakken 38). Professional sumo wrestlers are rated using a system of organized pyramids called a Banzuke (Kodansha 48). At the bottom and lowest level of the pyramid are the Jonokuchi. Then come the mediocre levels of Sandanme, Makushita, and Juryo. Top divisions are made up of forty wrestlers. In order to move up in ranking, a wrestler must have a record of at least eight wins and seven loses at a tournament. If, however, one has a record of seven wins and eight loses or worse, he will be demoted immediately. Once one reaches the level of Yokozuna, he is expected to continue winning and is never demoted. If he cannot live up to his title, he is expected to simply retire from the sport.