The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2017–2018
Dentsu teaches all 82 sumo throws with two schoolgirls in sailor uniforms
For a century-old high school sumo tournament, two girls performed every winning move — a print and video hit in Japan.
Hokkoku Shimbun · Dentsu
What it had to solve
Every May since 1915, Kanazawa has hosted the national high school sumo tournament, but teenagers increasingly saw sumo as uncool. The tournament's local backer, the Hokkoku Shimbun newspaper, gave Dentsu free rein over its ad pages to make people excited about the 101st edition.
How it works
The national high school sumo tournament in Kanazawa has run every May since 1915, yet the young audience the sport needs was treating sumo as a relic. The local newspaper behind the tournament, Hokkoku Shimbun, handed Dentsu its ad pages and asked for something that would make people care about the 101st edition.
Art director Kazunori Kawagoshi started from the 'poster girl' convention used by Japanese high school sports tournaments, then made the girls do the sport instead of just posing. Two actresses in sailor-style school uniforms rehearsed and performed all 82 winning sumo techniques over a three-day shoot. The newspaper ran an ad demonstrating the complete set ten days before the event, and a second image of the girls facing off appeared on the tournament day itself, drawn in the three colours of Japanese woodblock prints.
The contrast between the formal, centuries-old sport and the schoolgirls' cuteness made the work impossible to scroll past. The video went viral in Japan, and the campaign took the ADFEST 2018 Print Craft Grand Prix, a D&AD Yellow Pencil and a New York Festivals gold, among others — recognition its creator said convinced him his simple, visual approach had an audience far beyond Japan.
Why it lands
- Real people performing real techniques gave the idea authenticity a drawing could not match.
- Teaching the 82 moves made knowing the sport itself the entertainment.
- The uniform-versus-sumo contrast created a tension that made the serious effort readable as play.
- Print ran first to build anticipation, so the video arrived at an audience already curious.
What it did
The combination of cute sailor uniforms and serious sumo went viral in Japan. The work swept the awards circuit — the ADFEST 2018 Grand Prix for Print Craft, a D&AD Yellow Pencil, a New York Festivals gold and a One Show gold — and its art director credited the campaign with proving his approach could travel beyond Japan.
What you can take
If an audience doesn't understand a sport, it can't enjoy it — teaching the rules can be the entertainment itself, as long as the lesson is the fun part of the ad.
Since then
Sumo Girls became a reference point for Japanese print advertising, with trade coverage celebrating it as proof that a newspaper ad could still reach the world. The project's success travelled with its creators: art director Kawagoshi said the international awards gave him confidence to pursue work overseas, while the campaign's agency Dentsu kept citing the idea — know the rules and you enjoy the match — in later work. The tournament itself continued to run each May in Kanazawa, and the '82 Techniques' film remained the public face of that tradition for years after.
Sources
- Dentsu's Sumo Girls: 82 Techniques Sweep Advertising Awards
- Here are all the Grande Lotus winners at ADFEST 2018
- Japanese schoolgirls in sailor suit uniforms demonstrate 82 sumo techniques
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