A Song for Ssireum: Traditional Wrestling Dies a Slow Death in South Korea

[http://35.194.100.85/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/IMG_2986.jpg]The Uiseong Middle School ssireum team at practice. (Credit: Karl Schutz)UISEONG, South Korea— Ssireum, a style of Korean wrestling some say is as old as Korea itself, has been seeing a slow and silent death in South Korea in recent decades. The sport, which feature two plus-sized competitors wrestling in a circular sand pit, looks at first glance to be just like sumo, the form of heavyweight wrestling found in next-door Japan. Yet