Posted by Jay
11 January 2011
I had the amazing opportunity to attend the opening day of the January Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday with some friends. I have to say that going in I had no idea what to expect and practically knew nothing about the history, rules or the ceremony involved. I could spend hours detailing all of the specifics of Sumo, but decided it would be more beneficial to point you to an amazing official website that is in English (www.sumo.or.jp/eng/)
Six Grand Tournaments are held throughout the year, three in Tokyo and one each in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyushu. Each tournament lasts 15 days and each Rikishi (sumo) wrestles a different opponent each day. The winner isdecided by the best record over the 15 days. An actual sumo match at most lasts a minute or two, most ending in a few seconds after the start, much shorter than the ceremony leading up to each match.
When I first found out that I would be going to the tournament I expected to attend all the matches all day long, what I didn't know was that each tournament day has two divisions competing. Earlier in the day the juryo division competes (essentially the JV wrestlers), and in the afternoon the maku-ichi division competes (Varsity). My more-experienced sumo friends said that you really only need to go to the maku-ichi round as these are the marquee Rikishi and the best sumo to see.
When we arrived at the Kokugikan (sumo stadium) we found our seats were near the top of the stadium, but we still could see the Dohyo (ring) very well. I was informed that the Emperor was attending the matches as his special seats were present to the side of the ring. The Emperor and Empress only attend one day of one Grand Tournament each year and I was lucky enough to see them there!
Sumo is heavily grounded in formalized ritual and traditional etiquette. There are numerous displays of ritual before, during and after each bout. Before a Rikishi enters the ring they toss salt into the ring to ward of evil spirits and wipe away the bad luck of the previous loser. The Rikishi then face off and "stare" down, slap themselves, and lift their legs and stamp down in an attempt to intimidate their opponent, leaving the ring multiple times and reentering. Now, I think that in the past the Rikishi might have actually attempted to intimidate their opponent, but nowadays they know their opponents very well and have studied their techniques so it is more ritual in nature than intimidation.
Once the bout starts the Rikishi use many different techniques to attempt to remove their opponent from the ring or make them touch the ground with any part of the body besides the bottom of their feet. There are names for all these different techniques, and most are well known by sumo fans. As I really did not know any of the Rikishi in advance I was grateful to have knowledgeable companions and an English guide. We made the matches more interesting by placing a wager on who could pick the most bouts correctly, I sadly took 2nd place and lost my 500Yen. We also enjoyed a few cans of Kirin and some chips.
Overall it was a really neat experience and I am totally hooked. They show the maku-ichi matches on cable here with an English commentator and I have really enjoyed reading about the history and the Rikishi. I don't think Ella really enjoys watching the matches and she can't understand why they don't where any clothes.
Interesting side notes:
Women are never for any reason allowed on the Dohyo. This presented an interesting problem as traditionally the mayor of the city gives the trophy at the end of the Grand Tournament on the Dohyo. For the first time ever the mayor of Osaka was a woman and had to present the trophy to the side of the Dohyo to preserve the tradition as it would have been very bad luck to allow her on the ring.
High ranking Rikishi are viewed as national heroes and hold very high regard within Japan. Last year a huge baseball gambling scandal and links to the Japanese mob was revealed tainting the sport and causing one of the two Yokozuna (highest rank in sumo) to leave sumo.
Kanpai!
Jay
11 January 2011
I had the amazing opportunity to attend the opening day of the January Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday with some friends. I have to say that going in I had no idea what to expect and practically knew nothing about the history, rules or the ceremony involved. I could spend hours detailing all of the specifics of Sumo, but decided it would be more beneficial to point you to an amazing official website that is in English (www.sumo.or.jp/eng/)
Six Grand Tournaments are held throughout the year, three in Tokyo and one each in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyushu. Each tournament lasts 15 days and each Rikishi (sumo) wrestles a different opponent each day. The winner isdecided by the best record over the 15 days. An actual sumo match at most lasts a minute or two, most ending in a few seconds after the start, much shorter than the ceremony leading up to each match.
When I first found out that I would be going to the tournament I expected to attend all the matches all day long, what I didn't know was that each tournament day has two divisions competing. Earlier in the day the juryo division competes (essentially the JV wrestlers), and in the afternoon the maku-ichi division competes (Varsity). My more-experienced sumo friends said that you really only need to go to the maku-ichi round as these are the marquee Rikishi and the best sumo to see.
When we arrived at the Kokugikan (sumo stadium) we found our seats were near the top of the stadium, but we still could see the Dohyo (ring) very well. I was informed that the Emperor was attending the matches as his special seats were present to the side of the ring. The Emperor and Empress only attend one day of one Grand Tournament each year and I was lucky enough to see them there!
Sumo is heavily grounded in formalized ritual and traditional etiquette. There are numerous displays of ritual before, during and after each bout. Before a Rikishi enters the ring they toss salt into the ring to ward of evil spirits and wipe away the bad luck of the previous loser. The Rikishi then face off and "stare" down, slap themselves, and lift their legs and stamp down in an attempt to intimidate their opponent, leaving the ring multiple times and reentering. Now, I think that in the past the Rikishi might have actually attempted to intimidate their opponent, but nowadays they know their opponents very well and have studied their techniques so it is more ritual in nature than intimidation.
Once the bout starts the Rikishi use many different techniques to attempt to remove their opponent from the ring or make them touch the ground with any part of the body besides the bottom of their feet. There are names for all these different techniques, and most are well known by sumo fans. As I really did not know any of the Rikishi in advance I was grateful to have knowledgeable companions and an English guide. We made the matches more interesting by placing a wager on who could pick the most bouts correctly, I sadly took 2nd place and lost my 500Yen. We also enjoyed a few cans of Kirin and some chips.
Overall it was a really neat experience and I am totally hooked. They show the maku-ichi matches on cable here with an English commentator and I have really enjoyed reading about the history and the Rikishi. I don't think Ella really enjoys watching the matches and she can't understand why they don't where any clothes.
Interesting side notes:
Women are never for any reason allowed on the Dohyo. This presented an interesting problem as traditionally the mayor of the city gives the trophy at the end of the Grand Tournament on the Dohyo. For the first time ever the mayor of Osaka was a woman and had to present the trophy to the side of the Dohyo to preserve the tradition as it would have been very bad luck to allow her on the ring.
High ranking Rikishi are viewed as national heroes and hold very high regard within Japan. Last year a huge baseball gambling scandal and links to the Japanese mob was revealed tainting the sport and causing one of the two Yokozuna (highest rank in sumo) to leave sumo.
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| Mural inside |
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| All the Rikishi are introduced |
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| Yokozuna Hakuho performs dohyo-iri "entering the ring" ceremony |
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| Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko |
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| Yumitori-shiki "Bow dance" closing day of matches |
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| Kokugikan |
Jay
5:21 AM |
Category: |
1 comments
Comments (1)
Glad you got to go. It looks fascinating.