Korean Sumo: Ssireum

Hi there,

Nice website, I especially like the layout. I just happen to stumbled across your website while doing my research on Korean wrestling style called, Ssireum.

I just wanted to point out that calling Ssireum a "Korean Sumo" and to say "Ssireum is a Korean traditional sport that might as well be called Sumo" is as disrespectful and uninformed as can be. "Sumo" is a Japanese style wrestling, while "Ssireum" is as you say, traditoinal Korean sport. They are entirely two different sports, practised by two different cultures. So how can you even consider saying "Ssireum" is a Korean Sumo? It would be like saying "Baseball is traditional American sport that might as well be called American Cricket", which I would never ever dare to say. Please check your sources and edit those words and sentences. You can find many informative sources online such as wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssireum. It is unfair to the sport of Ssireum and the Korean people to spread such incorrect information. Thanks and drop me a line if you want to chat about this :)

After having lived in China for two years and Korea for one, I would never deign to equate one Asian culture with another, the same way no one of intelligence would equate Aussies with Kiwis or Canadians with Americans. However, I write this blog for friends and family -- most of whom have never visited Asia -- and explaining the unexplainable is often possible only by relating to commonly held knowledge about Asia. Relating Ssireum to sumo is done only to give people an instant visual image of what it might look like if they were watching it; you'll notice that I subsequently point out the specifics of Ssireum to sharpen the image. Imagine trying to effectively explain what kimbab is without comparing it to sushi rolls, with which more people around the world and in my home state of Oklahoma are familiar. Imagine also trying to explain what hanbok looks like without comparing it to the empire silhouette dresses of Jane Austen's late 1700's and early 1800's or even the dresses of the Greeks. It's not a lack of cultural sensitivity that brings me to draw comparisons; it's an ability to relate to others who haven't shared the same experiences I have or who have different interests than I do.

It's interesting to me that globalization has resulted in enhanced "sensitivity" gone awry. We're increasingly aware of our own cultural prejudices and imperialism, and instead of acknowledging their existence and dealing with them, we take offense to ourselves and others. It's okay not to know everything, like people who have never visited Korea or who don't have Korean friends wouldn't know about Ssireum. It's also okay -- and I would argue preferable -- to spread knowledge about other cultures in the most understandable, i.e. least pretentious, way.