Once again we were lucky enough to be joined by friends. "A"'s classmate and her family were also taking the tour. Having friends along made the bus trip go by much faster. Well, friends and Nintendo DS.
We arrived at the Ryogoku Kokugikan (The National Sumo Arena). However, since the January Sumo tournament is an all day competition we went to visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum which is right next to the Arena. Walking towards the Edo Museum, we saw that the Arena was decorated with Noburi flags for the tournament.
Once inside the Edo Museum we had about an hour to explore the different displays.
The girls enjoyed the interactive displays the most.
So did the adults. Wow, my form is really bad.
Doug's is much better.
As with any museum, you could take hundreds of photos of each and every exhibit. We did but I'm nice enough not to put you through that. And anyways, the coolest thing about the Edo Museum, in my opinion, wasn't necessarily the displays but the escalator to exit the Museum. It zigzagged up & down!
We then walked next door to the Sumo Arena. By this time the lesser wrestlers had already begun their matches. Sumo has a long history in Japan, much too long for me to explain in a blog. However, I do recommend a visit to the link I provided for a basic explanation.
Once in, we walked around the arena visiting the food vendors and seeing some non-competing wrestlers walking around. These younger and not well-known wrestlers make little money and depend on monetary donations from fans and sponsors. This gentleman was kind enough to take a picture with "A". She had been wanting to meet a real life sumo wrestler since arriving in Japan.
The food vendors sold a variety of dishes, one of them being Chankonabe, a popular dish eaten by the sumo wrestlers. Unfortunately, the food vendors ran out of food fairly quickly but we managed to grab a few basic bento dishes.
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| Chankonabe |
We made it to our seats and prepared to enjoy the competition. Our seats weren't grand but we had a decent view of the venue.
As the tournament progressed the arena filled up and the excitement built.
The matches became more dynamic also. For such large men, the wrestlers are amazingly agile.
Rituals play a big part in sumo, here the wrestlers gather around the referee in the middle of the circle as they perform the ring entering ceremony.
As the wrestlers gain in rank, the ritual performances increase.
Along with the increase in rituals, the higher ranking the wrestler the more money is given to the match. Each of these flags represent a few thousand dollars. Whoever wins the match takes the cash.
By the way, sumo wrestlers are not always fat and Japanese. Here is a skinny, European sumo wrestler. Unfortunately, he lost his match.
As with most professional sports, it is more exciting to watch it live, and sumo is no exception. Unfortunately, the video shows a very short match. Most matches last a few seconds, but the excitement of seeing these huge men throw each other around is very contagious.
I wish I could share how enjoyable and exciting watching sumo live is. However, the best I can do is to recommend seeing one yourself. In the end, it was another great time and we can't wait until our next adventure in Japan.
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