Sumo

Tomorrow’s big adventure is the sumo tournament.  While it was basically sold out, we heard that you can get general admission tickets if you get there by 8am.  So!  We’ll have our first adventure on the train system going into Tokyo.

I’m excited!  It’s going to be great and scary! Woo!

Some interesting facts: The sumo tournament is in the Ryogoju district of Tokyo, also called Sumo Town.  There are sumo stadiums, stables, temples and Chanko restaurants in the neighborhood. Chanko restaurants serve the traditional sumo meal of Chankonabe – it’s like a protein / veggie rich stew that is served in high quantities to bulk up the wrestlers.

The rituals behind Chankonabe sound really neat too.  On the day of the match, they only eat stew with a chicken base and with chicken meat – no beef or other four legged animals or fish, which have no legs.  The idea is that a good sumo wrestler (rikishi) should always be on two legs, like the chicken.