On Saturday, we got the chance to watch a sumo tournament in Tokyo. All I can say is AMAZING!! We had so much fun-more than we expected.
Sumo is an all day event that starts at around 8 in the morning and lasts till 6 at night. A tournament lasts about 2 weeks and because we went on a Saturday, it was a sold out show. As we were walking up to the sumo stadium, we spotted a few sumo wrestlers making their way into the building. At first we were too scared to ask to take a picture with them because we didn't know what the protocol was about that--would we offend them if we asked them for a picture? Turns out, they're actually very nice, despite appearances, and don't mind taking pictures with you. We read in our little sumo information booklet that sumo wrestlers can only move up in rank if they are "of good character". I guess that means being gracious enough to take pictures with fans- lucky for us.
I met my sumo wrestler while Mike and I went out for lunch. We were waiting at a crosswalk together and I just had to have a picture with him because he had butterflies (my favorite) on his yukada. As we walked together (alright, actually I was walking quite a few steps behind him), there were fans lining the sidewalk, and it turns out that my guy was pretty popular because fans were shouting to him and cheering him on.
Mike's sumo guy is really tough looking. I was almost scared to ask for a picture, despite the whole "good character" thing, but then this Japanese lady asked for it first and then proceeded to take 5 or 6 shots. After being so patient with her, we figured he was pretty nice, and asked for a picture too. Mike even shook hands with him!Here are a few more pictures and interesting facts we learned that day...
***The sumo wrestlers smell really, really good-- like baby powder!
***This is because of the wax they put to mold their hair into different hairstyles. The more intricate your hairstyle, the higher in rank you are.
***Outside the stadium, there are many colorful flags that have the names of the sumo wrestlers.
***There are non-Japanese sumo wrestlers! Here's one of them walking in. To get this picture, Mike and I were like paparazzi...waiting on the sidewalk with all the other fans. Only we were silent because we didn't know their names, but the Japanese people would clap and cheer for their favorites.
***The wrestling matches can get quite violent, with a lot of slapping. Sometimes, a wrestler is thrown off the mound and lands on whoever is sitting at the front row. I was really concerned once when a big sumo guy landed on an elderly gentleman, but he didn't seem to mind at all. Maybe it's an honor of a sumo wrestler lands on you.
***Higher ranked wrestlers also get to wear fancy aprons when they walk into the arena to be introduced. These aprons can cost as much as 2 million yen ($200,00)!! Which is why you get one only if you're really, really good.
***Sumo wrestlers can be surprisingly muscular.
***Higher ranked sumo wrestlers get the privilege of throwing salt (white stuff on the ground) for purification purposes. This can also prolong the match because they have up to 4 minutes to "purify" before they actually begin wrestling. So most of the time, the purification lasts much longer than the match, which can be over in as little as 15 seconds.
***Here is a "forbidden shot". Mike took this before the security guard got to him. He honestly didn't know it wasn't allowed...oops...
***Here is the Yokozuna, or Grand Champion. Once they make it to this rank, they can never be demoted, although they are expected to retire if they consistently start to do poorly.
The sumo tournament made for a long day, but it was worth it. As long as you bring a ton of snacks with you, you're good to go. We cleaned out a little convenience store of all their sandwiches and onegiri (sushi-like, tuna-filled rice balls wrapped in seaweed) before we went into the stadium and had fun munching on our goodies as we watched a bunch of hefty, yet muscular guys wrestle.
