Are you ready for some SUMO?!
It’s nice to know what’s going on, when you’re watching a sport. Also, it’s nice when that sport has cute mascots that you can take your picture with.
Also, it’s nice to have goods seats. (Even better when you had not-so-nice seats the first time you came, so you can really appreciate the awesomeness of your über-expensive floor mat.)
These, by the way, were the chairs:
Did I mention yet that our seats were the traditional masu, or box seats, that fit 4 Japanese-sized people really well? We were cozy. It’s a really good thing that we were all friends…
…and that you’re allowed to drink your body weight in beer that you bought at the 7-11. Although in retrospect, Will is probably right. Chu-Hai Strong Zero might not be the best beverage choice for me. An 8% beverage that tastes like fizzy grapefruit juice is toxic to my judgment. (Seriously, was this stuff made for high schoolers? it doesn’t taste like alcohol at all!)
I’m sure I’m not alone in the camp of girls who tagged along for the ride, but somewhere along the way became genuinely interested in the sport they were pretending to like. Before the maku-uchi (upper division) bouts begins, the younger rikishi (sumo wrestlers) have their moment of starshine. Because not many people get there to see these young wrestlers, we were able to sneak down and steal a few shots!
Here you can see the wrestlers, lined up and waiting for their turn. In front, you can see the ceremonial salt. The salt is thrown by upper division wrestlers before the bout, to both purify the ring and to protect them from injury.
You’ll remember that the sumo dohyō where the bouts happen, is held under the roof of a Shinto Shrine, dating back to Sumo’s history of taking place in sacred places. Kind of neat. I love how traditions and history are carried through and modernized.
Before the big bouts of the day, the four of us headed out to have a traditional Sumo feast – Chanka Nabe. In traditional style, we sat on the floor of a little cubicle. As lunch started, the boys began to get used to the idea of sitting on the floor cross-legged for multiple hours. Hah.
I love how many menus have pictures here. It makes ordering super easy.
This is lunch:
Ready for more restaurant pictures? Thought so. Last year, we tried to go to a place called Popeyes, known for it’s 70 beers on tap.
…but, it was closed on sundays. We made a point to come back on a Saturday this year. Among other things, I had an imperial coffee stout aged in bourbon barrels. They only gave you about 8oz, which is less than awesome. I thought it was really neat to see how many of their 70 beers were from the northwest. We live in good a good part of the world for beer, wine, and food.
