Freestyle Skateboarding: an old-school form of skateboarding, that's seen a resurgence in recent years.

Skaters perform a vast range of flat-ground tricks, that seem to defy the laws of physics.

Today, we meet a young Japanese Freestyler, whose free-flowing skills have made him a skating icon.

His Father, an award-winning calligraphy artist, has nurtured his son's artistic sensibilities.

We reveal why this skateboarding wonder kid expresses himself like no other skater can,

and is unstoppable on the world stage.

Freestyle Skateboarding is arguably the most technical and creative style of skateboarding there is.

With just a board and an area of flat ground, skaters continually push the limits of what's possible.

The young innovator we're going to meet today has been the world number one since his early teens.

He strikes a cool balance between complex skill and artistic expression.

Freestyle Skateboarding is done on flat ground.

There are no ramps, rails, or other obstacles to take on.

It's all about the skater and their board.

Tricks combine flips,

stands,

spins,

and an array of other logic-defying moves.

"Freestyle" means "freestyle," so freedom of expression and innovation is everything.

In competition, skaters usually perform routines choreographed to music.

Judged on style, originality, and technical difficulty,

their tricks should flow together without mistakes, within a one or two-minute time frame.

Freestyle Skateboarding arrived in Japan from the US in the late 1970s.

Youngsters studied imported videotapes of freestyle skaters,

and developed their skills anywhere they could find an open flat space.

These early pioneers passed their tricks on to the next generation,

and the scene in Japan really started to take off.

Japan's Freestyle Skateboarders are now some of the best in the world,

regularly winning or placing high at big international tournaments.

It's now time to meet our Freestyle Skateboarding ace.

Get ready for the ride as he manipulates his board like no one else can,

in a style that evokes the brush strokes of his Father's calligraphy.

20-year-old Yamamoto Isamu has been the world's number one Freestyle Skateboarder for the past 6 years.

He's an online sensation: this recent upload surpassed 20 million views in just 5 days.

His routines are always packed with highly technical tricks, many of them his own originals.

Wow!

Isamu is like "an artist on a skateboard," due to the striking beauty of his routines.

I took up Freestyle Skateboarding after seeing videos of it online.

I was inspired by clips of a skater called Rodney Mullen.

He's a legend, and like the "god" of freestyle.

I thought he looked super cool, so I wanted to give it a try.

I was about seven or eight at the time.

Rodney Mullen completely changed my life.

Rodney did a trick called the "rail stand," where you stand the board on its side.

That was the first ever trick I learned to do.

I then progressed to the "rail-to-rail."

With that one, you flip the board half a turn, before standing it up again.

I then did the "rail flip."

After the half-turn, instead of standing the board up again, you add an extra move to land on it flat.

Wow!!!

Isamu just couldn't get off his skateboard, practicing hard for long hours every day.

His skills became more and more advanced,

and he eventually turned pro when he was just twelve years old.

At the age of fourteen, he won his first World Freestyle Round-Up,

the world's premium Freestyle Skateboarding tournament, beating some of the planet's top adults.

He's since won it an unprecedented five times.

The city of Ohtsu is Isamu's hometown, just east of Kyoto.

Isamu's father, Shoji, an award-winning calligraphy artist,

has played a vital role in cultivating Isamu's artistic sensibilities.

From his perspective as a calligrapher,

my Dad gives me ideas and advice on things like routine composition and the style of my tricks.

I think he helps me considerably with my creative expression.

You can draw parallels between the calligraphy paper and the skating venue.

With calligraphy, it's all about how far you extend the brush strokes on the paper.

It's about movement and having a beginning and an end.

The blurring of the lines gives a sense of speed.

In a similar way, I look at a skating venue and consider Isamu's artistic approach to it,

the way in which he expresses himself.

In both calligraphy and skating, the expression changes,

whether it's at a specific point, or a curve, or a line.

Isamu doesn't do calligraphy himself, but since he was small, he's always loved to draw and paint.

His original and artistic skating style owes a lot to the creative environment he was raised in.

I haven't quite finished yet, but I plan to cover the whole dining room in my art.

Recently, I've also been creating skateboard animations on my tablet.

I like to visualize what kind of tricks could be possible,

but most of them I haven't actually landed yet.

I just draw them from my imagination, and try to come up with new ideas.

It would be cool if I could develop some into actual tricks one day.

That's what I'm hoping to do eventually.

Isamu is certainly one-of-a-kind in the world of Freestyle Skateboarding,

and he's created a style that is unmistakably his own.

Hot on his heels though, is a new crop of young Japanese skaters,

each of them extremely talented and all vying for his crown.

Vancouver, Canada, is the location for the World Freestyle Round-Up,

the world's premium Freestyle Skateboarding tournament.

Every year, it brings together the planet's top Freestyle Skateboarders.

In 2020, Isamu was aiming for his 4th successive World Round-Up title.

The event turned out to be a pivotal moment in his skating career.

"We are LIVE!"

For the first time in its history, the tournament was held online due to the pandemic.

Each skater had to submit an unedited two-minute-long video routine.

Based on trick difficulty, innovation, consistency, flow and variety,

they were evaluated by five judges.

Each judge scores a routine from zero to one hundred.

The highest and lowest score are discarded,

with the three middle scores totalled up to give the skater his overall points.

In 2020, a new kid on the block was out to take Isamu's crown: 14 year-old Fujii Yuta.

Yuta's skating style is more "street" than mine.

And he has tricks in his collection that I can't do.

So, even though he's younger than me by a few years,

I can respect him regardless of his age or the amount of time he's been skating.

The judges, made up of former world champions and legendary skaters,

have presented who they think are the best skaters from hundreds of entries sent in from across the globe.

They reach the final two.

Everyone watching knows it's come down to a face-off between Isamu and Yuta for the title.

Yuta's submission shows off his streetwise style.

"720 Shuvit..."

Every one of his tricks is highly advanced and perfectly executed.

"540 K-Flip!"

"We're talking about power tricks... flowing together like this!"

"Oh! 3 flip back Casper?"

- "Oh, man!"
- "Oh wow!"

"Whole new level! I love it!"

- "Oh my goodness!"
- "Very good!"

That was awesome, Yuta!

Isamu Yamamoto, 17-years-old from Shiga, Japan.

Isamu gets straight into his trademark artistic flow.

Fast footwork from Isamu!

His routine is packed with an array of complex tricks, too.

- "Oh! Press to the handstand!"
- "Oh my gosh!"

He pushes the envelope with his originality, switching to two boards in a fascinating sequence.

- "Wow!"
- "Holy smoke!"

- "That's unbelievable, right?"
- "Very good run."

"Mind-boggling!"

Isamu delivers an incredible routine...

but Yuta takes the title.

Isamu experiences his first defeat at the World Round-Up in 3 years.

Yuta scored 284 points and Isamu 283.

The one point difference was probably down to a single trick.

Yuta landed a 720 Shuvit, spinning his board in two 360-degree rotations before landing back on it.

It was the first 720 type trick ever landed successfully at the World Round-Up.

720 tricks are extremely high level.

But Yuta was able to land one in his routine.

It made me realize that I needed to work more on my own 720 tricks.

I felt I had to raise the level of my skating in that area, because of that experience.

Isamu was determined to turn the disappointment of defeat into an opportunity to grow.

Both he and his Father made the development of his 720s a priority.

He gets straight into working on them.

Isamu ups the ante by practicing even more advanced 720s than Yuta's 720 Shuvit.

Making the rotations isn't an issue, but landing back on the board proves to be a challenge.

My positioning is off.

That one was good.

But you can't land them every time.

In 2023, for the first time in 4 years, the World Freestyle Round-Up was back in Vancouver before a live audience.

In the men's event, thirteen of the world's top Freestylers were taking part.

Everyone was fired up and skating brilliantly.

"Waaa!"

What can Isamu deliver?

Right from the off, he makes a 720 trick combination.

Making such a combo at the very start of his run is a risky strategy.

The first is a 720 Gazelle.

He spins his body 360 degrees...

And at the same time, he rotates his board 720 degrees.

His 720 Gazelle flows into a 720 Backside Big Spin.

This one starts with his back facing the direction he's skating.

He then spins his board 720 degrees, before finally landing on it facing forwards.

"Wow! 720... two 720s right in a row."

Yuta made his 720 Shuvit in 2020 after filming his routine many times,

but Isamu nails two 720s live in a combo, and both are more advanced.

He follows up with some intricate footwork and some flips.

And then, yet another complex 720.

This time, a 720 Two-footed Shuvit.

It starts with his feet balanced together at the front of the board,

before spinning the board two rotations again.

Isamu's artistry and skill is simply mesmerizing.

Isamu's run is flawless!

He wins the World Round-Up once again,

beating the second-placed skater by four clear points, to notch up his 5th world title.

I put three 720 tricks in my routine.

And, overall, I think I put together a pretty complex run.

I was able to complete it without a single mistake.

So, it worked out really well this year.

Being creative isn't fun, if you don't strive to try something new.

If you do the same thing over and over again, it gets boring, right?

Isamu never tires of being creative.

It's not like me to stick to the norm.

I always try to take things to the next level and stay innovative.

That's probably what sets me apart from other skaters.

As the Freestyle Skateboarding scene continues to evolve,

there is still a lot more to come from this "artist on a skateboard."

Yamamoto Isamu exemplifies the skill and dedication many young Japanese people have for Urban Sports,

and having that artistic background just adds a deeper dimension to his talent.

It'll be exciting to see how much further he can push the Freestyle Skateboarding scene,

and inspire future generations in the years to come.

Former Ozeki Konishiki.

He took the world of sumo by storm with his powerful pushes and thrusts, in the 1980s and 90s.

He was the first foreign-born "rikishi" to make Ozeki.

More than four decades after coming to Japan from Hawaii, Konishiki still lives here.

Today, I'm happy to be joined by a Sumo legend and former Ozeki and that is: Konishiki-san.

- Hi, Konishiki! Thank you very much for being here today.
- Nice to see you.

In high school, Konishiki was an American football player.

He came to Japan 40 years ago, after being recruited by Hawaiian-born rikishi Takamiyama.

About 47 years ago, what was your first impression about sumo?

Sumo was I never experienced before, never seen it before.

I was very surprised with everything, you know.

My active days, the first match they ever done in my sumo is something that... it always pops in my head.

My first first Nagoya match, 42 years ago.

Because I was so scared and nervous.

I didn't know what I was doing, and then the guy that I was wrestling was half my size,

and I was thought it was "Man, if I lose, this is 15 years old... 18... and if I lose this, it is so embarrassing!”

So that nervousness, that... my first first thought,

I will never forget because that's where my whole career started.

What about the Japanese language?

How did you become, you know, overcome the language barrier?

How did you become so fluent in Japanese?

But language came on later on.

I just kind of, you know, people don't have to know that,

you have to know that when you join sumo, you don't say anything anyway.

Your first year as Shindeshi, you lean on the bottom,

so all you have to say is "Hai, wakarimashita (Yes, I understand), Gotsuandesu (Thank you)," you know...

and then it's more listening than learning.

I would get up early, I'll be the first one in practice area, before anybody would come off,

I'll be sweating, I'll be waiting, I'll be warmed up.

and it motivated me, and that's one thing I remember those early days of my career.

I was so... like fired up every single day.

There was not one day I didn't want to practice.

Konishiki trained hard, overcoming many adversities to become a strong and successful rikishi.

He made a name for himself by overwhelming the great Yokozuna Chiyonofuji.

In 1987, he became the first foreign-born rikishi to earn promotion to Ozeki, sumo's second-highest rank.

Quite often, his dominating strength drew criticism and backlash from sumo fans.

How did you overcome these negative perceptions that people had about you?

I really didn't feel it because I understood.

I knew I was in Japan.

I knew I was a part of a culture that's been here over a thousand years.

And I could understand somebody who's never... it's not a Japanese

they come in and kind of change everything, you know?

And there's nothing I could do about it, that really didn't bother me.

I think you can be Yokozuna. I couldn't do that.

My best thing I could do is fight every day, get as much wins as I can...

Konishiki came up short of reaching the top rank of Yokozuna.

But as a three-time champ, he knows better than anyone the wonder of sumo.

This is the only a martial art or contact sport in the world that there's no weight classes.

There's only one weight class, and that alone is something huge,

that people look at, the traditions that... the throwing of the salt,

the ceremonial thing that goes on is very Shinto, where they keep it very traditional.

It's a culture. It's a culture that it's very different,

but yet, if people look at it, it just looks like a sport.

But like I said, when you step away from the ring, the mood, the way they carry themselves, they represent...

you look at all the ex-"sumotori," even those that have not been involved with the Sumo Kyokai,

they carry that pride even after being retired, you know.

Currently, Konishiki, together with other former rikishi, organizes sumo events around the world,

hoping to spread the appeal of the sport globally.

My goal is to make them understand why sumo is what it is.

The unique, the uniqueness of sumo and why it is, the history of sumo, what kind of lifestyle we live,

and the only way you can do that is actually going to promote it in front of the people, live.

- And let's hope that, you know, sumo fans increase around the world, and get more recognition in the future.
- Yeah, I think it's gonna grow even more.

- Alright, appreciate it.
- Yeah, man.