Sumo Tournament

Last Sunday I went to the Sumo tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the sumo stadium in Tokyo.  Facts about the Kokugikan: it was opened in 1985 and holds 13,000 people!  As the day went on the stadium definitely filled up!

We arrived at about noon and saw some of the junior wrestlers compete.  In sumo the wrestlers are called rishiki.  Here is the stadium at the beginning of the day.  The ring - called a dohyo - is covered by a roof like a shrine.

We ate obento named for the wrestlers for lunch.

 Here is the inside of the obento.  It had unagi (eel), rice, chicken tenders vegetables, a slice of Japanese omelet and some other things.  It was really tasty!

Not too much later they introduced the young sumo wrestlers that were at their first tournament.  They around 15 years old.  The fancy aprons they wear (called kesho-mawashi) are very expensive and since they are so young they borrow them from their mentors.

 This picture isn't the best, but it is an example of what happens when the judges disagree with the referee (the gyoji).  They usually sit one on each side of the ring, but when a decision about the match is unclear they gather in the ring and make a decision.

 Here is one way to win - if the rishiki leaves the ring or touches the ground with anything but his feet he loses.

 At around 2 pm we went outside to see the senior rishiki arrive.  It was very exciting and many people were outside waiting. The security officers had to keep reminding people to stay back and leave enough room for the rishiki to pass.

 We were so close!

 This young boy was so excited to see the rishiki!  He knew all of their names - he was really into it!

 At the beginning of match the man with the flag sings out the names of each of the rishiki fighting.  Then they enter the ring and begin to show their strength and flexibility.  They have four minutes before they must begin.

 In this picture you can see that the stadium is really filling up!  The wrestler on the left is one of the skinniest rishiki we saw all day.

 The senior wrestlers enter the room wearing the kesho mawashi and perform a small ceremony after being introduced.

 The most senior rishiki throw salt into the ring before they wrestle to purify the ring.  They do this 2-3 times each.  Sometimes they throw a lot and it arcs through the air.  The crowd really seemed to like that!

 Here is some of the show of strength that they do before the bout.  They pick their legs up and slam them back down.  Also, they hit themselves and sometimes pump their arms up and down.

 For the very top wrestlers there are prizes if they win their match.  These flags list the prizes.  For the very top bouts there were almost 30 prizes!

 Both rishiki have to put their fist onto the ground before they start to wrestle.  Once that happens they move pretty fast!

 I had such a good time at the tournament, I was sad when it ended!