Sumo, Larry and Curly

Thursday, April 7, 2005 | 10:48 a.m.

For centuries, Sumo wrestling has been shrouded in grand and glorious traditions in Japan, accompanied by rigid ceremonies that hearken back to ancient times.

Evidently, the sport also has enough wacky sound effects to fill a Three Stooges marathon.

"When these guys are in there conkin' heads, you hear pook!" Musashimaru, the retired Yokozuna, or Grand Champion of Sumo, said Wednesday at Mandalay Bay.

"Remember, they're making direct contact head-to-head -- not helmet-to-helmet. So you hear, ahhh! You hear, pow! You hear guys going, owweeee!

"Yeah, I think people here will love it."

When the Grand Sumo Las Vegas tournament visits Mandalay Bay from October 7-9 it will mark the first time in 20 years an official Sumo tournament takes place in the U.S., and only the 13th time the event is held outside of Japan.

The three-day tournament (8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday) at the Events Center will feature 50 "rikishis," or Sumo wrestlers, with a grand champion determined after the final day of competition.

"We were invited by Las Vegas to hold Grand Sumo at Mandalay Bay to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Las Vegas," said Takasago, the tournament director. "In the past we've had other requests but timing-wise they just didn't work out."

Musashimaru, 33, retired in 2003 as a 12-time champion, having won a record 55 consecutive tournaments. He won't be competing in October but is traveling with the Sumo delegation as an ambassador for the sport.

"It probably has the easiest rules of any sport -- if you touch the ground, you're out; if you're knocked out of the ring, you're out," said Musashimaru, a native of Samoa who grew up in Hawaii. "You see guys get hooked on Sumo so bad. People here will go nuts for it, just as wild as they are back in Japan."

Musashimaru played nose guard on his high school football team in Hawaii but left for Japan a week after graduation to pursue Sumo.

"I wanted to try something new in life," he said. "I got a chance and I took it. I left Hawaii when I was 18. No parties, straight into boot camp. I call Japan my home now."

The road to becoming Yokozuna is a demanding one, but the rewards are great, Musashimaru said. In the 300 years since the Yokozuna rank was established, only 68 athletes have achieved it.

"The Grand Champion is the Michael Jordan of Japan, the Madonna, whatever you want to say," Musashimaru said.

At the request of the Japan Sumo Association, there will be no betting lines on the tournament posted in the Mandalay Bay sports book.

If there were, Asashoryu, the 24-year-old reigning Yokozuna, would likely be an overwhelming favorite.

A native of Mongolia, Asashoryu is a 10-time champion who earned Yokozuna status in 2003.

"He's dominant right now," said David Hackett, Asashoryu's promoter. "Nobody can touch him in competition."

At 317 pounds, Asashoryu is usually outweighed by his opponent in the "dohyo," or Sumo ring, so he relies on superior speed to prevail.

Asashoryu decided to enter the Sumo world for pragmatic reasons, he said.

"I had five brothers, and they were all into judo or wrestling," Asashoryu said Wednesday in Japanese. "I thought unless I was able to do something to become stronger and more powerful, they're going to beat me up."

Asashoryu was cagey about revealing his training methods Wednesday -- "You'll have to come to Tokyo and see for yourself," he said.

But Musashimaru, the retired champ, said training regimens vary from rikishi to rikishi.

"Everyone has their own plan," he said. "Me, I would spar seven days a week, at least two hours a day.

"I still do a little weightlifting, but I keep it light -- I don't want to become too bulked up," he said with an entirely straight face.

Musashimaru weighs 506 pounds.