Sumo

Monday was a holiday in Japan. We put the day to good use and spent it at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium to watch Sumo. We arrived early at around 8:00 AM to get some tickets. Non reserved tickets are sold starting at 8:20 on a first come first served basis. To prevent someone from buying tens of tickets and selling them on the black market, each individual in the long queue is allowed to buy only one ticket.

For our readers in Tokyo: Hurry up! The Season ends on Sunday 23. ;)

Two Sumo-wrestlers enter the arena

Once we had our tickets we directly entered the arena and the matches were already ongoing. There were almost no spectators though, as the day starts with the non ranked junior Sumos.

The Dohyo in the centre of the arena

It’s amazing to see the variety of techniques employed by the contestants. Many bull rush their adversaries to push them out of the ring quickly. Some wrestle the others to the ground, while yet others grab and slap the opponent trying to intimidate him and force him backward out of the ring.

Grappling performance...

For lunch we endured yet another queue to sample the original Sumo diet in the cantina of the adjacent Sumo school.

The rings of the Sumo school

Continuing throughout the day the individual leagues perform in ascending order, with the highest ranked Sumos wrestling between 16:00 and 18:00. One good thing is that since the Dohyo ring is considered sacred no advertisements are placed on it. During the highest ranking and most popular matches of each day, some people carrying advertisements banners of sponsors are allowed to parade around the Dohyo in-between the matches.

Advertisement banners, Japanese style