Sumo Sunday

Boom! One foot hit the ground with an earth shuddering shake. Boom! The right leg followed with a loud grunt from its owner.  And that was just me getting out of bed yesterday morning before we headed out for sumo spectacular. Plenty more foot stomping and flesh wobbling to follow.

Yesterday we went to the first day of the May sumo tournament at Ryōgoku Sumo Hall. While waiting out front for our friends to arrive we spotted a few of the big boys arriving.

You can bring in your own food and snacks or pre-order bento boxes from inside the stadium to get delivered to your seats. There are ringside seats, 4 person boxes or stadium seats to choose from, with a range of pricing levels. We went for Group A stadium seats which cost about AU$100. We ended up in the front row of the level 2 seating with a fantastic view of all of the stadium. You can also buy standing room tickets on the day of the event too.  We took our seats at about 1:30. The matches start from 8am but they start with the lower division matches first and there are 3 divisions.  It all finishes up at about 6pm after the final bout between the two highest ranked wrestlers.

This was the Juryo Rikishi  ceremonial entrance, the 2nd division of wrestlers.

So here is the gist of what happens in a match. One big dude enters from the west side of the ring, one big dude enters from the east side. They strut around the middle of the dohyo, raising their legs and doing a few squats. Then then walk back out and grab some handfuls of salt and throw them around to purify the ring. Then they do a few more leg raises or squats in the centre, they might even start to face each other off near the white lines in the middle. Then they will get up, walk back out again and wash their face a bit. Then they meet in the centre again, and as soon as they  place both hands clenched in fists on or behind the shikirisen (the white lines), the bout begins. The initial charge, is extremely important in gaining the advantage and momentum over your opponent.

 There are actually very few rules once the bout has started. A rikishi loses a match when any part of his body other than the bottoms of his feet touches the dohyo or when he is pushed or thrown outside of the ring. The only things you are not allowed to do are to pull your opponent's hair, hit them with a closed fist, box their ears or choke them. Anything else is good to go. 

The sponsors are shown before one of the Makuuchi bouts (top division).

Here are some of the more interesting moves we saw..... 

The ol' leg hook around / how's your father.

 Would you like some salt with that dirt you are about to eat?

Slappy slappy makes no-one happy.

What was that about no hair pulling?

 And that looks suspiciously like choking to me....

How about a headlock?

 Or a slap on the butt?

 But I just want a cuddle!

The Bow-twirling ceremony to close the tournament for the day by the Yokozuna (Grand Champion).

 The bouts only last a few seconds but they were amazing to watch. There were so many different techniques and move combinations. Each fight felt different from the next.  We really enjoyed all the pomp and ceremony and considering buying more tickets to one of the events later in the year. 

Tickets are released a month in advance and usually sell out quite quickly. We bought ours online through the English site http://sumo.pia.jp/en/  The tournaments in Tokyo are on in January, May & September. Osaka tournament is in March, Nagoya in July and Fukuoka in November. Each tournament lasts 15 days.