Nagoya Sumo Championship

Sumo rocks. It is so much fun. We finally went to a live sumo match, as the Nagoya Basho(Nagoya Sumo tournament) has been going on for a few weeks and we got tickets for the final day. It was awesome. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but we did see a few special things.

1. Two Yokozunas fight: I guess there have not been two Yokozunas (the highest ranking) at the same time in Japan for at least a few years. One was just promoted before this tournament and the two wrestled on the final day. Such a matchup of two Yokozunas has not happened for over four years. It was very dramatic with lots of false starts where the two sumos squat and put their knuckles to the ground and stare eachother down before getting up again and retreating to their corners to wipe sweat, stretch and throw some salt around (the salt purifies the ring, but seems more like a nervous habit).

2. The final day ceremony: There were a few ceremonies that only happn on the final day. The top three sumo from the East and from the West step up onto the ring and position themselves in the shape of a Japanese fan. They then perform shiko or traditional sumo foot stamping (to remove any evil from the ring). This serves to further purify the ring for the coming ultimate competition.

3. The presentation of the trophies: I would say there was a line of 40-50 Japanese men in suits (and a few honkeys)ready to present the winner of the tournament with his trophies. The trophies were MASSIVE. Some were big trophy cups, others stranger like a giant glass vessel filled with mushrooms or an enormous Coca Cola bottle. The winner stands there listening to each man read something, then hand him the piece of paper they read, bow to him and hand him the oversized giganta-trophy. This particular winner has won like 21 tournaments, so God only knows where he puts all of these. Probably, some of the trophys simply add a name plaque with the name of each winner and rotate. Let's hope so for his wife's sake (or life partner... sumo's can have life partners, too!)

The whole thing was amazing. Everyone but the back rows sat on small square pillows with their shoes off eating their pre-ordered bento boxes and fanning themselves with the fans that come in the goody bags you get with the fancy seats. When the wrestlers do their thing, and one falls out of the "ring" and off of the mud platform that the ring is on, they fall right into the laps of the people watching or the press.

The fighting was incredible to watch...bloodless and punchless, but still violent and aggressive. The fast fights are only fun to watch if someone turns themselves into an air ball by lunging for their opponent who steps aside while they dive towards the ground. The better matches where they lock arms for 30 seconds at a time or where they don't get into a lock, but slap eachother around for a few minutes are fun.

So, here are a bunch of photos. Look at them quickly and it is almost like a movie (which you would have, had my battery not gone dead).

Tomorrow: INSANELY EXPENSIVE PRODUCE...FIERCE!