Sumo-!

I notice that i now have TWO blog followers! ah, it feels good to finally have gotten the readership i always dreamed of. now the pressure is on to please both fans. this is where it gets complex. so, to ensure satisfaction for both readers, we attended a full day of sumo wrestling, and i have the photos to prove it. this entry should fulfill all expectations of the readers of a person who lives in Japan. i reckon it should anyway.

when we got out of the subway near the arena, we didn't know exactly which way it was. but just as we were going to consult a map, we saw a huge guy in a japanese robe and his hair up in a knot on his head, walking along. we thought that he just may lead us to our destination.

We arrived at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium at around 9:30am on Saturday, with our friends, Tilly and James, who already had tickets. Mandy and i just hoped that there would be some left, and luckily, there were. We were so early though, and the main events started at around 2:30pm, so we got to sit down on the floor, really close to the ring. and sumo rings are true rings, not like the WWF.

This is a small ceremony featuring the champions. they are supposed to pose and stomp and clap in a show of flexibility prowess. some of them are very flexible. one guy even stuck his one leg straight up in the air over his head. it was impressive. try it, i bet you can't get your leg out to the side! i couldn't.

Sumo is a traditional sport soaked in ritual. it was strange at first, because i expected the wrestlers to be hidden away somewhere in preparation for the day (there were at least 100 wrestlers there), but they were wandering the corridors, going for food at the cafeteria, standing under the bleachers, watching the action, or warming up well in public view in nothing but their straps. at one point i had to go to the toilet, which required a trip through a narrow corridor underneath the bleachers. walking down the corridor, all i could see were sumo wrestlers at the end, and a few even standing in my way. it was a bit of a squeeze walking through.

In the morning all the matches were rookies and lower-ranked guys. it was still pretty good because they were often equally matched, and there was a lot of variation in body type. some of them were shockingly skinny guys, and some of these did quite well. it's not only size that matters in this sport. however, in the photo above is featured Yamamoto Yama, an up-and-comer who is the heaviest Japan-born wrestler in history! he weighs 550lbs, and he tossed this little 340-pounder out of the arena with little effort.

as the day progressed, so did the caliber of fighting and the consistency of body type. the champion league wrestlers all look quite similar, except for the odd foreign fighter who was obviously white. now, the top wrestler is Mongolian, and there is a Russian and a Georgian (the country) in the top 10. it is still very Japanese, but foreigners are widening the audience, it seems. the foreign fighters work very hard to learn Japanese language, and to align themselves to true sumo ways.

The guy facing you is the Russian, i believe. he's a force, but he lost this match. the two sumo wrestlers standing at ringside are the ones who fought the previous match, and it is custom for them to stand there and serve tea to the next fighters. very courteous. we saw no sign of anger or temper, but honour, especially from the losers, who exit the ring first and turn to bow before they leave. sometimes it's humiliating, i think.

this was the Yokozuna, the number one fighter right now, and has been for about 7 years. he's the one in grey, and he won his fight. some of them last only 5 or 10 seconds. the longest one was about 30 seconds. maybe a minute. they're all very short.

the guy behind us took this photo. he was the loudest yeller in there, yelling the names of his favorites, and heckling other guys. people were loving it, and once, when i turned around, he apologized to us for being so loud, and said, "stress, stress", so i guess this is his stress relief. then he went on screaming his lungs out. it was good fun.

Sumo seems to be made for spectators. it certainly doesn't seem to be made for the wrestlers. they are treated with respect and are usually well-paid, but i don't think it's worth the risks. they have to be hugely overweight, give up a normal lifestyle for a life of regulation and training, and deal with a short lifespan. and what if you get injured? then you're just fat and hurt. i wonder what kind of skills they develop that help them in every day situations. after they retire, i think it's really hard for them to stop the eating regime they were used to, and probably impossible to lose any weight. ...i think i'll pass. i've given it a lot of thought.