In the sumo ring at the Kamegaike Hachimangu shrine in Sagamihara, west of Tokyo, two hulking wrestlers held up toddlers dressed in tiny sumo belts and aprons.

It is the wrestlers’ job - who are allowed to gently shake the baby if needed - to make the spectacle end in tears.

“My boy was crying from the very beginning and I felt a little bad,” said mother Tomoyo Watanabe.

“But as I watched my baby crying, I was praying for him to grow up healthy and strong after this event.”

The “crying sumo” ceremony is held at shrines and temples across Japan, to the delight of parents and bystanders.

“The cries of babies are believed to drive out demons and protect the infants from troubles,” said priest Hiroyuki Negishi.

It is believed to date back about 400 years.

The rules vary from region to region. In some places parents want their baby to be the first to cry. In others, the first to weep is the loser.

In the Sagamihara event, which has been running since 2011, the babies accompanied by parents and grandparents were first taken before a Shinto altar and purified by the priest.

Pairs of toddlers were then brought into the sumo ring, where most of them were in tears even before facing off against their rival.

* Agence France-Presse