⚠️ The date shown at the top of this event comes from the official source. The original description mentions other dates that may be outdated.
Far more than a sport, sumo is a centuries-old ritual deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Immerse yourself in this fascinating world through a photography exhibition, documentary and fiction film screenings, and a talk. This spotlight coincides with an exceptional event: the Paris Sumo Tournament, held at the Accor Arena on June 13 and 14.
The “Sumo, Sacred Forces” photography exhibition by Bruno Aveillan is a project led by Nicolas Bary (TimpelPictures). In June 2025, filmmaker and photographer Bruno Aveillan traveled to Tokyo with Nicolas Bary to photograph Naruto-beya, the stable run by former ōzeki Kotoôshû Katsunori, a major figure in contemporary sumo and the first European to reach such a high rank in the discipline. Born from this rare immersion, the “Sumo, Sacred Forces” exhibition offers a sensitive, contemporary perspective on sumo, far removed from portrayals that reduce it to physical power alone. Through Bruno Aveillan’s eyes, this centuries-old tradition emerges as an art of the body, ritual, and presence, where combat becomes form, rhythm, tension, and almost a kind of writing. ; Credits: © Bruno Aveillan Between harshness and grace, the clash of bodies and ritual, extreme discipline and introspection, his photographs reveal sumo as it has never been seen before: sculptural, symbolic, and profoundly human. Far from any folkloric approach, they present a contemporary visual vision in which the image becomes an imprint, poised between flesh and light, and the body asserts itself as living matter infused with a spiritual and metaphysical dimension. Through this exhibition, born from an immersion in the heart of Kotoôshû Katsunori’s stable, I seek to offer a sensitive and radical exploration of sumo, an ancestral martial art too often reduced to its attributes of strength and mass. Sumo, Sacred Forces explores this tension between the raw and the sublime. Between the clash of flesh and the elevation of ritual. Between sweat, breath, and falling, at times reaching abstraction. Bruno Aveillan , ; Credits: © Bruno Aveillan Events accompanying the exhibition - Thursday, June 11 > September 24: Films about sumo - Friday, June 26: Talk “Exhibiting Sumo - Absolute Balance at the musée départemental des arts asiatiques, Nice”
Admission: Closed in August.
Source: paris.fr — photo: © Bruno Aveillan