Sumo

Sumo (1957) is a color woodblock print that takes Japan's ancient wrestling tradition as its subject. Sumo's visual appeal is fundamental: two massive bodies collide in a small ring, their combat lasting seconds but preceded by elaborate ritual — the salt throwing, the leg stomping (shiko), the crouching stare-down (niramiai). For an abstract artist, sumo offers geometry (the circular ring, the square canopy above it), contrasting masses (the wrestlers' bulk against the referee's slender form), and explosive kinetic energy compressed into a confined space. Uchima's treatment likely reduces the spectacle to its essential formal tensions rather than depicting recognizable wrestlers or the Ryogoku arena.