SUMO!

By luck, the Nagoya Sumo Tournament was going on while we were in Japan.  Sumo tournaments are held every 2 months and rotate between Tokyo and 3 other locations.  On a whim, we decided to go to Nagoya for 2 nights to see if we could get tickets.
We did a little research and found there are often relatively inexpensive “same day” tickets available.  After a quick breakfast, we headed to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium to see if anything was available.  We followed a sumo wrestler carrying a bag of snacks from a convenience store and found the gym. 
We bought two and headed out for some sightseeing before coming back for the “Big Guys” in the afternoon.  The tournament starts around 8:30am with the lower ranked classes and progresses through to the top rank in the late afternoon.

As we headed back to the Gymnasium around 2pm, crowds of people had gathered along a road near the stadium.  Since we’ve learned its always a good idea to see what big groups of excited people are looking at, we joined them.  One by one, the top ranked guys and their entourages came strolling past.  As you can see by the reactions in the pictures, people were VERY excited!  It was pretty awesome to see them up close.

With our “cheap seats” tickets, we had our choice of available chairs in the top two rows.  We were pleased that our cheap seats were actually seats!  The better, pricier seats are traditional cushions and mats on the floor so I was happy we didn’t have to try to fold ourselves into those for several hours.
(I would like to point out that my hair looks atrocious in this picture because we had been outside in the rain for a long time in the morning.  I put in a little more effort than this on most days…)

My neighbor for the match were the above pictured very old lady.  I spoke to her in Japanese to start but she seemed to think I was speaking English.  Gradually she warmed up to us and we had a good time with her.  When I went out souvenir shopping, she told Doug (in Japanese) that I was very pretty!

Our other neighbor was a 7 year old who enjoyed screaming the names of the wrestlers.  I may have egged him on at the beginning of the afternoon…and wished I hadn’t by the end. 

These are the names of the wrestlers and the match ups for the day.  Typically sumo wrestlers choose a name that has to do with the “stable” (coaching group) they come from or their hometown.  This has come in handy in recent years as there are several top ranked wrestlers who are not Japanese.   

Part of the fun of sumo is the pomp.  At the beginning of each grouping, the wrestlers come out wearing their decorative aprons and is announced by name.  Each apron has meaning.  I get the dragons and the vicious looking bird. I’m not sure what the pink one means… 

These guys are all very big but we noticed that the top wrestlers are actually very muscular.  We didn’t see a lot of “bouncy” flab on them. They are also very, very flexible.  Just for fun, I tried this leg move when we got back to the hotel.  I’m 100% sure I didn’t look this graceful.  Also notice the next wrestler is sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the ring.  Try that for a while. 

Sumo wrestling actually is (or comes from) a Shinto ritual.  The shinto shrine in our Japanese hometown now has its own ring.  We were tempted to check it out but Makiko cautioned us that it is considered sacred and ordinary people are not to walk on it.  The “wizard” (not the real title, just our title) is the referee and also shouts encouragement to the wrestlers during the match. 
The salt throwing you see in the above picture is part of the ritual.  The guys who threw their salt most enthusiastically got huge applause from the audience. 

The stadium was a sell-out and because of this, there were extra monetary prizes given to the winning wrestlers.  The average age of the attendee was well, retired.  When we lived in Japan and I told my students I liked sumo, they told me it was an old man’s sport.  That’s probably because it’s on at 4pm when most people are at work! Several of our friends had been to sumo but nobody had been more than once as far as I remember.  We got lots of amused looks from our friends when we announced we were going to Nagoya for the sole purpose of going to the tournament. 

Part of the fun is watching all the posturing before each bout.  There’s plenty of stretching, chest slapping, dabbing of the forehead, and sipping special “chikaramizu” (power water).  They settle in on their feet like this (try that for a while too), they walk away and do the above routine all over again.  It’s a lot like watching cats getting ready to rumble.  We noticed the higher level guys got even more time to posture.  Eventually both men put both fists on the ground and they begin.   

The first person who has a body part touch the ground in the circle or steps out of the circle is the loser.  Almost anything goes for moves, though.

Pushing and grabbing the mawashi (30 foot long loincloth that is wrapped very securely…thankfully) are typical moves.  Leading with the head, grabbing and occasionally just stepping out of the way also work. 


Each bout is fairly short although we were treated to one epic battle between a yokozuna (top ranked wrestler) and his next lower level nemesis. 


There were several times when it looked like a particular wrestler was set to lose only to have him come back in the end.  It was very exciting and the crowds roared with excitement each time.
Eventually somebody went down – sometimes in a spectacular fashion and other times it just sort of ends. 

The winner bows and accepts his prize which is a bundle of cash.  As we got closer to the end, the bundles got noticeably bigger.  The loser takes off his decorative “strings”, bows and walks out.
Although it sounds a little strange, going to a sumo match was a dream come true!  It is a truly Japanese experience and we had so much fun!