Sumo cry babies offer a reason to smile

TOKYO — Dozens of bawling Japanese babies faced off on Saturday in a traditional "crying sumo "ritual believed to bring the infants good health, which returned for the first time in four years after the pandemic.

Pairs of toddlers wearing ceremonial sumo aprons were held up by their parents and faced each other in the sumo ring at Sensoji Temple in Tokyo.

Staff wearing "oni" demon masks tried to make the babies cry, with the first to bawl declared the winner by a sumo referee in an elaborate traditional uniform holding a wooden fan used to signal victory.