Aminishiki sits his 300 pounds of flesh wrapped in a black, silk kimono to partake in another revered custom — the Las Vegas buffet.

Aminishiki is one of 38 sumo wrestlers are in Las Vegas this week. A cumulative 5 tons of athletes, followed by 140 handlers and scores of Japanese media have arrived for the Grand Sumo Championship.

Sumo tournaments are 15 days so the event, which started last night and ends tomorrow, is an exhibition with no titles on the line.

Since Grand Sumo last appeared in the United States in 1985, the sport has built a fan base throughout Europe and Asia. The champion, or yokozuna, is Asashoryu of Mongolia.

"It takes a lot of discipline," said retired Hawai'i-born sumo star Saleva'a Atisanoe, or Konishiki. "Of the 800 or so wrestlers out there, less than 70 can make it, less than 70 are getting paid."

Besides Hawai'i, sumo is largely misunderstood and mocked in the United States, said Dan Yoshida, the Las Vegas event's promoter. He wants to present a new side of sumo.

"This is the entertainment capital of the world," he said. "This is where it happens."

Las Vegas sport books won't be setting odds on the Grand Sumo matches, Mandalay Bay's chief operating officer Bill Hornbuckle said. Officials from the Japan Sumo Association say gambling isn't part of the sumo tradition.