Sumo

I went to see one of the last exhibitions of sumo wrestling this season.  I'm glad I did because I had missed most of the season by the time I arrived here and it would have been a shame to miss authentic sumo wrestling.  So we went with our usual hodgepodge team of gaijins and a friend of Hilda's who was going to be our guide for the day.  She asked if she could bring a friend or two, she brought ten.  I think we scared her friend a little when she showed up and was suddenly in the middle of a crowd of foreigners. 

The Fighters

We were pretty excited to see a sumo fighter on the subway on the way over.  By the time we arrived to the arena, they were everywhere and were all flocking towards the stadium.  They are all quite big, not just fat, but tall as well.  Some towered over us around 6 1/2 ft tall or so?  Most of them were over 6 ft tall and maybe 2 or 3 feet wide?  What was also surprising is that there were many white guys doing sumo AND they were good.  Most of them are leaner than the Japanese sumo wrestlers, but they were actually very good at the techniques of sumo wrestling.  And yes, I've saved you from the sight of some of the less flattering pictures I took.  I seriously was shocked and disgusted by some of the pictures which were not that bad when I took them on my 2 1/2" LCD display but when viewed on my 15.4" laptop was quite a different thing.  Some are very hairy, maybe so they gross out the opponent enough that they won't want to touch them or they'll forfeit. 

The Fights

We arrived in the afternoon after lunch.  But the tournament spanned about 2 weeks and started every day in the morning and ended around 6 PM.  Each fighter would fight one fight each day and would be paired up with a different fighter each day.  The fighter with the best record of wins-losses would be the winner of the tournament at the end of the 2 weeks.  There were a lot of fighters.  Two endless lines of fighters streamed out of the bowels of the stadium all day.  The fights in the beginning of the day were quick, fast paced and rushed along.  They performed very little of the traditional sumo wrestling motions before the fight.  I kind of liked it a little better because they just got right into it and there was less idle time in between fights.  On a few occasions some of the fighters actually tossed other fighters out of the ring which is just big enough to contain a ring and is elevated up about 2 feet at which point they tumbled into the crowd who paid literally hundreds of dollars for the honor of being smushed by a naked obese man.  I was thankful for my seat.  We had bought medium priced seats (for about $30) because the nosebleeds were sold out.  But we snuck down towards the middle isles and chilled there with no problems the whole time.  The seats were actually very comfortable and honestly the best seats in any other stadium I’ve ever been in.  There are tatami booths that can accommodate 2-4 people comfortably, we each shared one.  There’s plenty of room to spread out, relax and enjoy the continuous titanic battles.  But make no mistake, these guys are athletes.  They were not just fat, they were muscular and they ram right into each other head first.  Although, some were just too fat, one guy supposedly weighed 590 lbs... I'm not sure that's possible, but he was VERY fat.

The Main Event - Yokozuna

The main fights are a really big deal.  There are children in the back bleachers cheering with handmade posters, chanting and clapping.  The whole stadium got into an uproar about 3 fights in particular.  One was a fighter who was from Fukuoka and who was really representing.  He won and everyone freaked.  The other two were for two grand champion fighters known as Yokozuna.  It’s very difficult to become a Yokozuna and there have only been 68 Yokozuna in the 1500+ years of sumo wrestling and two of them were at this tournament, Asashoryu and Hakuho.  With an undefeated record, they were the two last fights.  The 30 or 40 fights before them were of intermediate and advanced fighters.  They performed a number of sumo rituals that the beginner fighters do not perform.  First the referee sings to the crowd turning to each side of the ring and holding a fan.  He then invites the two fighters into the ring, they stare each other down, get in a position as if they are going to fight, then stand up, go to their respective corners, throw a handful of salt onto the ring to give them fortune and protect their safety, wipe themselves with a towel (poor towel boys) and repeat the process over and over for about 4 minutes.  This is supposed to psyche up each fighter and builds the tension of the fight.  It did get a little repetitive eventually but apparently this process used to last much longer (like 10 or 15 minutes).  Both Yokozunas won their bouts not surprisingly and everyone left happy and pumped.

Look at how high that Yokozuna can kick!