In Japan they hold only 6 big tournaments each year where the professionals strut their stuff so we counted ourselves very fortunate to get a ticket to the tournament held in Nagoya. Sumo is the one traditional Japanese sports that still makes it onto primetime TV and draws in the crowds consistently.
We queued up very early in the morning for a ticket and watched sumo from 8:30am to 6 in the evening. It was a long day, but it was great to see these guys all over 25 stone plough into each other. These guys are absolutely massive. The photos do not do their size credit. Jeanette called it the MOOB convention - Man Boob, and you couldn't argue with that assessment.
Each sumo tournament lasts 10 days. Each wrestler has one bout per day which can last a matter of seconds.
So the amateurs start off at 8:30 in the morning and then the standard slowly gets better right through to the main action around 5pm. Its like going to watch a junior c hurling match at the local field in the morning and then finding yourself in the Cusack Stand at the All-Ireland Senior hurling final come 6pm.
We spotted the amateur (junior c) sumos coming on the subway to the venue with us, whereas the pro's arrived in their chauffeur driven mercedes.
There is a whole lot of ceremony and tradion still prevalent today in the sumo bouts. In fact sometimes the ceremony lasts longer than the bout itself. The sumos begin by facing up to each other with a bit of posturing. They lift each leg up alternately off the ground and the crowd really loves it when they lift it really high - one guy had his legs almost at 180 degrees at one stage - see the photo.
Try this at home. I'm telling you its really difficult!
The the sumos go to the corner of the ring to pick up some salt which they duly throw into the ring - apparently to purify the sumo ring. Then they proceed to slap their big bellies a number of times. I loved this bit! After some more posturing the bout begins. And sometimes its over in a few seconds if one of these mammoths slips, or sometimes the battle can go on a matter of minutes which the crowd really appreciates. These guys can be real entertainers.
Its amazing how many non-Japanese sumos their are. On the programme we spotted Russian's, Bulgarian's, Mongolians' Hawaians etc. all they all seemed to win their bouts.
Another thing we learnt about sumo was that the referee carries a small dagger with him as he officiates. Apparently in the olden days the referee was expected to commit suicide if it was determined that he had made a wrong decision during a bout. Hence, the dagger was kept by his side. Sumo is serious stuff. Today, the referees only carry the dagger to continue the tradition but thankfully not the act itself.
By the way, the front row is a dangerous place to be seated. We saw a few groups getting clobbered when a sumo was pushed from the ring.
All in all it was a great day.
Sumo out shopping!
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