Sumo!

 

So, a couple weeks ago, we planned to go to see sumo with Michelle and Heather, two volunteers from another part of Japan. We expected to go really early one morning to line up and grab cheap seats before they sold out. We happened to mention to the director of our hospital our plans for the weekend, and he said he would ask a friend of his.

As it turns out, the friend of his was the commissioner of Sumo for Nagoya, Mr. Taichi Matsumoto! So what would have been an early line up for crappy seats, turned in to use getting chauffeured around and given ringside seats right up close. We weren't even able to express our gratitude in japanese! You can see from the picture above, just how close we actually were.

For those reading not familiar with sumo, the basic premise is two muscly, heavy wrestlers to try and get eachother to step out of the ring, or to stumble to their feet. Sounds simple, but the actually wrestling usually involes bestial clashing of men, and wrestlers getting tossed out of the ring! There's a whole lot of ceremony inbetween, bouts, but this is all just as captivating! Inside the ring, everything but the lights feels like it's straight out of Edo-era Japan.

These two grapples for a full two minutes before one just nudged the other out of the ring.

After matches, this guy and his co-workers would come on to read the results in the chant-like song that one should expect from any japanese ceremony, or performing art.

One of the most regal aspects of the wrestling are the gaudily dressed referees.

 Most of the time the Wrestlers are on the mound, they are strutting around making noises and psyching themselves up, or throwing rice or chalk or something around. Or balancing on one leg, and doing whatever this guy is doing. It makes for a suspenseful performance.

 When a new class of wrestlers come on, they parade around the ring with their ta bards on full display. The design is often related to their home town, or prefecture. In the typical Japanese way of mixing old with new, some actually had anime characters emblazoned on theirs! Foreign wrestlers will wear their national flags or heraldry.

 Sumo is a huge commercial spot in Japan, and companies pay big money to the winning fighters to display their ads! As much as 60 000 yen or 600 dollars for one banner! To preserve the traditional aesthetic, the ads are embroidered on banners and paraded by boys in kimono.

In all this was probably one of the most incredible and lucky experiences in Japan. The spectacle of sumo, seen from so close, really transports you back to the past in Japan. Its a shining example of the dualistic nature of Japan's culture. A century old tradition preserved almost completely intact, but still existing somehow in the modern world.

If you have the chance, and the money, to get close seats to a sumo match, do take it. Its definitely one of the coolest things you can do in Japan, and anyone can enjoy it from the 90 year olds to the 5 years in the audience, Japanese, or Canadian. What a day!