Sumo, March 23

Once in Osaka, we slept in our sketchy hotel, then woke up early to attempt to procure sumo tix. We exited the train station, followed our directions, picked up some breakfast to eat in line. As we approached the gym, we heard incredibly loud drumming. We scanned the area, but couldn't place it. Finally, as we reached the gym, we realised the drums were on the roof of the gym-- a summons to sumo!



And we were happily surprised to find ourselves 4th in line just before 8. Obviously, we felt sure we'd not only get seats, but also some decent ones. And we were right! As we were only allowed one reentry [which we saved for lunch], we went into the gym about an hour before any bouts started. The matches are held on a raised platform made of clay, in the center circle. This circle was being continually swept by broom-boys. Occasionally a different broom-boy would water the circle, and the others would set about sweeping it. At one count, there were seven broom-boys engaged in sweeping...




The morning matches were the lower level players. Some were ok, but many seemed to be just going through the motions. But the upper-lower level players had some fire! THe gym was fairly empty until 3:00 when the higher divisions started. These are the players who get to enter ceremoniously, wearing a fantastic apron, and throw salt before their matches. While they are definately better players, I can't imagine spending so much on tix just to show up for a mere two hours of sumo. We got to see crowd favorite Kitazakura, whose beautiful salt toss was met with wild cheers. Julius-named Robocop [due to his stilted walk] was adored by the crowd, but bitch-slapped [literally!] by his opponent. And we saw the ranking yokozuna [that's the highest level] Asashoryu knock Kotooshu out in a very anticlimactic final bout.

Interesting notes:
*While sumo is the quintessential Japanese sport, in many ways it seems completely against Japanese tendencies; it's one-on-one istead of a group sport and strength matters more than spirit [you can debate this, but generally the bitty guys get tossed around].




*Because it's so traditional, you'll see many women wearing kimono to the matches.

*Seeing sumo guys out on the street is quite surreal. They can't go incognito due to their size, and seeing them peruse the electronics aisle seems at odds with their traditional lifestyle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo]