Sumo season is here in Osaka
and with it comes bustling crowds of people in an already bustling part of a
busy city (Namba). This is probably the strangest time for a foreigner to live
in Osaka because not only are you repeatedly mistaken for a tourist (sorry
guys, not at the moment) but seeing rikishi, wrestlers, walking around in very
much the same way they would have centuries ago is rather awe-inspiring and
inspirational – until you see an iPod hidden in the voluminous folds of their kimonos
with headphones trailing up into their ears. It makes you wonder exactly what
kind of music they listen to… Somehow I doubt that it’s traditional koto or shamisen
music.
While I was in Osaka
for last year’s sumo bout I never found the time to attend the event until this
year rolled around and I cleared time for a day of sumo-watching, which was well worth it, if a long day for me.
I rolled out of bed at 6:15 am to meet with my friends at
7am so we could get in line for the cheap ¥2000 (~$20) standing room tickets
which start selling at 8am and end rather quickly after that. Tickets in hand
we meandered to the nearest Starbucks for breakfast but falling asleep over
that we convened until the afternoon to catch some much needed shut-eye,
missing the beginning bouts of sumo that started sometime after 10am. Since it was early in the day the lower-ranking rikishi were fighting so at that point sleep was higher on our priority list than low-ranking rikishi, sad to say.
We reconvened at 1pm for some delicious okonomiyaki, one of Osaka’s specialty foods, hit
up a conbini (convenience store) for some beer and sakura-flavored chi-hi, and
headed to the gymnasium to look around. Settling into some far away seats we
chatted while checking out some of the mid-ranking rikishi go at each other,
trying to throw, shove, pummel, or by any other means push their opponent
outside the ring.
As the day wore on more and more people showed up and by 4pm
the gymnasium was rather packed since the high-ranking rikishi (called maku-uchi)
would start having their bouts soon. The order of the maku-uchi is yokozuna
(top ranking), ozeki, sekiwake, komusubi, and finally maegashira. More pushing,
shoving, and falling ensued and finally the last two rounds came up: Kotooshu (ozeki)
versus Hakuho (one of the reigning yokozuna) and Asashoryo (the other reigning yokozuna)
versus Kaio (ozeki). By this point a lot of alcohol has been consumed and the
audience is avidly watching the performance which involves lots of
salt-throwing, clapping, stamping of feet, and squatting to the ground to get
psyched up before finally pummeling into each other forcefully. The one thing
to be said about sumo is that there is a lot of grand-standing with clapping
and stomping and re-purifying the ring with salt many times until the wrestlers
feel psyched up (if this happens too much then the alcohol-laden audience
starts cheering wildly and the bout starts soon after). So after minutes of
this the fighters rush towards each other, grabbing each others waist band, to
then try and topple each other in a fight that usually last anywhere from a few
seconds to almost a minute.
As to be expected, both yokozunas won their matching giving
Asashoryu a total of 2 loses and 11 wins and Hakuho with a total of no loses
and 13 wins(!). Wow, it makes sense that they’re reigning champions then,
doesn’t it?
There are 2 more days of sumo, 15 days in total, so if you
want to go to sumo you better hurry up and get a Sunday ticket, wake up super
early on Saturday for a standing room ticket, or just check them out when they’re
in Nagoya, Kyushu, or Tokyo.
More info can be found at the sumo website here: http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/
Hope that helps and if you have a chance, do check out a
sumo tournament – they’re nothing like what you can find elsewhere in the
world, as it is steeped in layers of Japanese traditional culture.
Enjoy the intense grappling and the tiny bits of colorful
thong-like clothing. You won’t find it anywhere else in the world!
