22 September
Day 31 Japan
Today is all about sumo. I had a back crack n sack wax, my bikini is clean and I'm ready to rumble.
However - first thing was to send a small package home. I've been carrying a bloody sleeping bag around that I bought for the Mongolia bit because I just wasn't sure whether I would need it. I think I used it once and it's been using up valuable bag space ever since. Since I'm not really planning to do any camping for the rest of the trip (well maybe lake baikal for a night - but I can hire something) I've decided to send it home with a couple of shirts (people were right - I didn't need as many as I brought) and a couple of small gifts for my mum and sister. Cost me about $50 to send a box a bit bigger than a shoebox back to Australia which I didn't think was too bad. Be interesting to see how long it takes to get back.
After that I hop on the train and make my way over to Ryōgoku Kokugikan which is the sumo stadium used for grand tournaments in Tokyo. The morning bouts are mostly about the lower divisions of wrestlers competing. That goes from about 10am til around 2pm (sumo time). Then at about 2pm the higher divisions start to compete with the big boys coming on around 4pm and finishing up around 6pm.
Given this the stadium is generally pretty empty in the mornings because nobody except the real fanatics (and tourists) care about the lower divisions. I decided that since I had the ticket and I really didn't know anything at all about sumo I would go to the morning session and try to educate myself a bit on the rules and see if I could build some appreciation for what makes a good wrestler and what talent looks like. As everyone knows I really love sports so I'm sure to pick this up quickly. #sportsball #golocalsportsteam #scorethepoints
One of the important parts of any sporting event is obviously beer. Despite there being big signs at the gate saying NO FOOD / DRINK TO BE BROUGHT IN everyone on the Internet said they are completely ignored and to bring stuff in from the local convenience store. It's like speed limits. Why bother having the sign if you're not going to enforce the rule in such a rule-oriented society? Probably comes down to insurance premiums and liability.
So after I arrived at the station my first stop was to go get a 6pack of beer and some snacks for the day. I was kind of surprised that there weren't more people about and I thought I may have got off at the wrong stop but no ... it was just the morning session thing.
And the Internet proves itself to always be right again as nobody cared that I brought stuff into the stadium.
There are a bunch of colourful flags outside the stadium on the way to the gate. I'm not entirely sure what they are but I'm guessing they are related to the sumo teams that are competing in the tournament.
The building itself is not actually very impressive from the outside. It's just a big square building in a generic Japanese style. I expected it to be at least a little bit fancy given sumo is the national sport.
There are a bunch of cardboard cutouts of the high profile sumo wrestlers and a few stores selling shitty souvenirs around the place.
Once you get inside the area though it's a different story. It's a big 2 tiered space that holds 11,000 spectators according to the literature. The sumo ring is in the middle of the space with a giant shrine suspended over the top of it. The ring is made from some sort of clay and there are bamboo baskets or something embedded in the clay with only the top sticking out to indicate the actual play area.
And yet again the Internet was right. There was hardly anyone here this morning so you could basically sit anywhere you wanted. They were checking tickets on the bottom level so I couldn't get down there but at the top I was able to sit wherever there was an open spot.
So I sat down, cracked a beer and started to watch my first sumo tournament.
There are 5 past sumo champion sitting around the ring who are there to overrule the referee if he gets it wrong. Kind of like a video umpire. I don't imagine this happens very often but the guys did gather up on the ring a couple of times to ratify the referee's decision. Apparently a couple of decades ago a referee felt so dishonoured after one of his decisions was overruled that he committed suicide that night.
There is so much ceremony involved here! It's really quite beautiful to watch.
- Each match starts with some dude singing the names of the wrestlers. I couldn't understand a god damn thing he was singing even though I knew the names from the program so maybe he was singing in a different language.
- They drink a little water for purification purposes.
- Then the wrestlers do a little ritual. They show the palms of their hands to the sky and the ground to prove they are not carrying any weapons. Then they lift their legs one at a time and stamp the ground to kill any evil spirits in the ring.
- They approach their respective starting lines and squat and try to intimidate each other. This can take a while (especially in the higher division) with the wrestlers crouching, get up and sometimes charge about a bit. This bit was a bit confusing to me. At times the wrestler would squat and then just stand up and go back to their corners and the crowd the would cheer but I don't understand why. Clearly some subtlety I'm missing.
- They grab some salt from the salt bucket and throw it into the ring to purify the ground and then go back to their intimidation thing.
- While this is happening the singing announcers are sweeping the outside of the ring to make sure the clay is smooth and unblemished I guess.
- Eventually both wrestlers have both hands touching the ground at the same time and the match begins!
It's really fast-paced and intense! A lot of the matches only last a couple of seconds which means the match itself can take as little as 5% of the time the wrestlers are in the ring.
It seems to be that the bigger you are the better but that's not always true. It looks like having a low centre of gravity and good balance and lower body strength is more important. Many of the matches were won simply by using the opponent's momentum against them. Very few were won by pure strength though there were some where one guy just picked up the other one and carried him out of the ring or they both ended up out of the ring.
The first person to touch the ground with anything other than their feet is the loser. Which was kind of interesting to tell at times. A number of times both wrestlers were flying out of the ring tangled together and the one who was dominating the match ended up losing either because his momentum took him too far or his opponent managed to twist in the right way in the air.
I feel sorry for the people on the edge of the ring being hit by 400kg of flying sumo wrestlers!
The referees are interesting as well. They are dressed as Shinto priests and there's a ranking system. They can only referee matches up to their rank and there's a bunch of ceremony in the way they enter the match too.
Overall it's a fascinating sport!
So the morning session was close to over and I think I had a pretty good handle on the rules so I went for a look around the stadium. Outside a lot of people were starting to line up on the street outside the stadium and down the side of the stadium closest to the train station so they could see the big fellas start to come in. Every couple of minutes a new wrestler would come in as his car or train arrived. He'd be dressed in a yukata and sandals and he'd walk down the thing mostly ignoring the fans.
Nobody was mobbing these guys and most of them got a few claps as they were walking in. A few of the favourites got some cheers and applause but it was mostly a respectful thing. I think I saw one guy stop and have a chat with a couple of good looking women on the way in so he might have been looking for some fun later.
Since the big boys were coming in I headed back inside and go ready to see the ceremony at the start. They basically file in wearing some sort of half skirt thing and each wrestler gets announced before stepping up onto the ring. They stand in a circle and salute the crowd then turn around and salute each other then walk in a circle around the ring and head back to the dressing room. I thought it was going to last a bit longer but the whole thing was over in about 2 minutes from the time the first wrestler stepped onto the ring.
Then this division starts their bouts. The wrestlers were definitely bigger and better at the sport in the higher divisions. Even I could tell the difference. The wrestlers were fatter but there was less fat and a lot of muscle on display. And these guys are surprisingly agile for their size. They have speed and grace and a lot of burst energy. I'm not sure how they'd go if the matches lasted longer but they are certainly impressive.
It's really fascinating seeing the body types on display as well! Tall guys, short guys, big boobs, little boobs, big round stomachs and saggy stomachs. There was a guy in the lower divisions who looked like the Michelin man with all rolls and blubber and another one who didn't have a stomach at all.
And the arena really did start to fill up from about 3pm. It was nearly full by 5pm. I was definitely in the tourist section as there were heaps of westerners and tour groups around.
I hired a radio as well that had an English broadcast of the matches but that was totally a waste of time. It was just a couple of Americans talking shit. They didn't add any interesting insights and the broadcast was delayed by a few seconds as well so it was kind of off putting. Possibly the only interesting part of it was a couple of interviews someone had done with a couple of the wrestlers which they had someone translate. But even then they were just your standard sports people interviews and nothing was said that I couldn't have lived without.
There was a bit of an upset at the end where the leading wrestler lost his match which meant a few other wrestlers were within 1 win of being in a tie with him. That means he would have to win his match tomorrow for the last day or he might have to go into a playoff with one or more others. There was only 1 Yokozuna (highest rank) present at the tournament. A Mongolian guy. He was clearly one of the big attractions because he was the last match of the day and him and his opponent took the whole intimidation thing to the next level. It took ages for them to actually start wrestling which was kind of annoying. He did do a really good job of dominating his opponent though and he's now one of the guys within 1 win of the lead.
The crowd loved that! The last few matches got some really big cheers from all the Japanese supporters so they were clearly some of the tournament favourites. The atmosphere wasn't as electric as the baseball game in Osaka but people are clearly passionate about the sport.
You also can't avoid advertising even in sumo where there are no big screens around. Periodically they'd have a bunch of dudes come out with flags on sticks and walk in a big circle around the ring advertising various products. This was particularly annoying during the last couple of matches because they walked around twice with different signs and delayed the whole thing. Irritating.
I had a great day! I ended up answering a few questions from some of the tourists around me because I'd done some reading up on the rules and symbolism earlier in the day so I felt really knowledgable ;]
It was pissing down rain and dark when I got outside. You lose all track of time in the stadium as there are no windows or clocks or anything.
I didn't take an umbrella because it was sunny when I left the hotel room so I got soaked on the way back. Stopped for udon noodles at the railway station then just chilled out in my hotel room, packed my bag and did a little bit of research for Russia in a few days.
I had considered going out for a couple of drinks or a last walk among the lights of Tokyo but with it was raining and I was comfortable and I just couldn't be bothered putting pants back on.
