It is thought that there were sumo rituals held as a funeral ceremony which was introduced from China and another type of sumo rituals as a fertility cult introduced from Southeast Asia, but these two functions are currently mixed up and it is hard to distinguish these.
古くは大陸系から渡来した葬送儀礼としての相撲と、東南アジアから伝来した豊穣儀礼としての相撲があったと考えられるが、その性格は今となっては混在しているので区別は付けにくい。