Unlike most sports Sumo is a highly controlled way of life. The Sumo Association can prescribe the behaviour of its wrestlers in a way that would be more commonly associated with life in a commune. For example, in the wake of a serious car accident involving a rikishi the Association banned wrestlers from driving their own cars.

Sumo wrestlers can be identified immediately when in public. On entering sumo, the rikishi are expected to grow their hair long to form a topknot, or chonmage, similar to the samurai hairstyles of the Edo Period. Furthermore they are expected to wear traditional Japanese dress when in public.

The type and quality of the dress depends on the wrestler's rank. Rikishi in Jonidan and below are allowed to wear only a thin cotton robe called a yukata, even in winter. Furthermore they must wear a form of wooden sandals called geta when outside. These make a clip-clop sound as one walks in them. Wrestlers in the Makushita and Sandanme divisions can wear a form of traditional short overcoat over their yukata and are allowed to wear straw sandals, called zori. The sekitori can wear silk robes of their own choice and the quality of the garb is significantly improved. They also are expected to wear a more elaborate form of topknot on formal occasions.

Similar distinctions are made in stable life. The junior rikishi must get up earliest, around 5 a.m., for training whereas the sekitori may start around 7 a.m. When the sekitori are training the junior rikishi may have chores to do, such as assisting in cooking the lunch, cleaning and preparing the bath, or holding a sekitori's towel for him for when he needs it. The ranking hierarchy is preserved for the order of precedence in bathing after training, and in eating lunch.

Rikishi are not normally allowed to eat breakfast and are expected to have a nap after a large lunch. This regimen helps rikishi put on weight so as to compete more effectively.

In the afternoon the junior rikishi will again usually have cleaning or other chores to do, while their sekitori counterparts may relax, or deal with work related issues related to their fan club. In the evening sekitori may go out with their sponsors while juniors stay at home in the stable, unless they are to accompany the stablemaster or a sekitori as his manservant when he is out (this is normally a more privileged role given to a rikishi who may be nearing sekitori status himself).

Sekitori also are given their own room in the stable or, if married, may live in their own apartment. The junior rikishi sleep in communal dormitories.

Thus the world of the Sumo wrestler splits broadly into the junior rikishi who serve and the sekitori who are served upon. Life is especially harsh for new recruits, to whom the worst jobs tend to be allocated, and there is a high dropout rate at this stage.

The negative effects of the sumo lifestyle become dangerously apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy of between 60 and 65, more than 10 years less than the average Japanese male. They often develop chronic diabetes and high blood pressure, and are prone to heart attacks. The excessive intake of alcohol leads to liver problems and the stress on their joints causes arthritis. Recently, the standards of weight gain are becoming less strict, to try and increase the health of the rikishi.