Sumo
And then there was one.
Okay, there was one per “bout” and there were about 45 bouts….
We’re in the middle of the sumo tournament, which is when all the sumo wrestlers come into a stadium that looks surprisingly like Key Arena (in seattle) and they fight (or “bout”) with each other in ascending order throughout the day. The tournament is 15 days long from 9am – 6pm with the matches of the top two wrestlers being last in the day. Since sumo is the national sport of japan, you can think of the fanfare something like football playoffs. It’s not the superbowl, but it’s climaxing to it. It’s big, big, big.
Below is the ceremony before the matches, when each wrestler enters the dohyo (ring). The crowd cheers for their favourites. The little boy next to us seemed to know each of their names.
Being a sportsfan, jon has latched on to the idea of sumo and has decided that he’ll hustle home each day so he can be in front of the tv by 5pm when the broadcast of the top fights begins.
So jon and I travelled up to sumo-town on Sunday. It was our first solo experience on the trains, and our first time in Tokyo. Thanks to jon’s research and some really handy internet sites, it was REALLY easy.
When we got out of the train station, we heard the pounding of a drum. “Okay”, we thought, “We’ll go towards the drumming”. And when we got there, there were people running to get in line for the general admission seat. Only 300 to be given out, and we made it just in time!
Once inside, they give you a roster of the matches for the day, with each sumo’s ranking on the other side. Following along makes the sport so much more interesting – and it’s not just fat people running into each other for four hours.
After some breakfast and wandering aboot, we went in to see some of the younger guys fight. That was really nice – since not many people were there yet, we were able to stand up pretty close and get some good pictures.
“Celebrities” in japan, like these sumo wrestlers, don’t get treated with the same fanfare as we treat our american athletes. There they were, just walking. Like normal people. With one lone Seattleite as their paparazzi.
After that we had our Chanka (see below) and explored a bit more. While not a very exciting picture, our mothers like photos of us. So here we are, at the chanka restaurant.
Jon found a beya (or sumo stable) to “explore” (read: stalk) and we peeked inside to their sumo dohyo (ring) in the lower level. After the tournament we came back again to “explore” this area and we saw them all in their street clothes, eating dinner. As it turns out, sumo wrestlers look a lot like big fatty hawaiians. Kind of homie.
In the middle of all this, we found a memorial in the area. There was a great fire back in the day, and 40,000 people died. This memorial was errected to honour their deaths, etc.
Why this is relevant: before sumo was named the national sport and official moved indoors in the 20th century, sumo bouts were held at temples or monuments. So while these photos are of a pretty cool cemetary (which the 15 year old in me just really loves), they are ALSO a historical sumo spot.
Okay, two more things. We also found a fugu restaurant (remember, fugu is one of the deadliest sushis around, and only licensed sushi chefs can prepare it in Japan. It’s something of a thrill for adventurous foodies. I hear it doesn’t taste very good and it’s VERY expensive. This is jon, as a fugu. (pufferfish)
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