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As It Happens

Meet Brodi Henderson. He's 6'7" and 360 lbs -- and the only North American sumo wrestler in Japan

The massively strong 20-year-old from Victoria was recently accepted into the professional sum ranks in Japan. He's the first Canadian to do so in 30 years.
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Brodi Henderson practices his opening sumo move in his backyard in Victoria, B.C. (Photo: Lee Henderson)
As It Happens6:44Brodi Henderson is 6'7" and 360 lbs. And he's the only North American sumo wrestler in Japan.

Brodi Henderson stands out. He's huge. He wears size 18 shoes. He can bench press more than 500 pounds. And now he's been accepted into the elite Japanese Professional Sumo Association -- an extremely rare feat for a North American.

It's a challenge that will require a lot of discipline and hard work, explains Brodi's father, Lee Henderson.

Brodi Henderson in his Victoria, B.C. kitchen wearing his mawashi. (Photo: Lee Henderson)

"It's similar to if you go to a military training camp," Henderson tell As It Happens host Carol Off. "The sumo lifestyle . . . is like a person joining a monastary."

Off spoke to the elder Henderson, in part, because Brodi is not allowed to use the phone or the Internet while he trains in Japan.

Brodi only began sumo wrestling about five years ago, explains his father. His son was competing in judo. And at a tournament in B.C. no one was willing to compete against him because of his size.

"He's just a huge kid," explains Henderson. "He has 36 inch thighs, a 57 inch chest. His knees are, I can't remember, 20 inch, 25 inch knees. He's just thick . . . He wouldn't intend to hurt kids."

After being effectively barred from judo, Brodi discovered sumo and began practicing in his backyard in Victoria. He used barrels filled with water, pushing them around the ring. He tackled boxing bags soaked in water. He wrestled with tractor tires.

Brodi Henderson at practice in Japan. (Photo: John Gunning)

Kids in the school yard next to the house would laugh at his mawashi, even though he practiced with shorts underneath the traditional sumo garb. So he began working out at night.

All that hard work paid off. Last fall, he won the U.S. Sumo Open. And, soon after arriving in Japan to try out, he was recruited into the pro ranks.

Brodi Henderson on his recent try-out trip to Japan. (Photo: John Gunning)

Practicing in the starting rungs of the system involves communal living. Brodi gets up at 5:30 every morning and practices for hours on an empty stomach and without anything to drink. He and the others then eat together, rest for a few hours, then do chores. There's about an hour of free time, another meal and then bed.

"It's very, very difficult, especially for a foreigner when you don't speak the language fluently, but he's very determined," says Henderson. "I've got a lot of confidence in him. He's a very likeable young man. He's very humble and very caring. He's just a really, really good kid."

Brodi Henderson at practice in Japan. (Photo: John Gunning)

Sumo has a lot of tiers and Henderson likens the top rung to the NHL in hockey. He's confident Brodi will rise through the lower ranks quickly because he is already bigger and stronger than many Japanese novices. And he hopes he'll get to the top, but he points out only the best 10 percent make it.

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