This morning I headed over to Namba, where they're having a daily Sumo tournament this month. I was able to get a ticket, but the main event wasn't for a while, so I left to grab some takoyaki at a street vendor, then I got some coffee, and finally decided to just head on in. There were some matches taking place already, but they were kind-of junior league matches. It was still pretty interesting to watch.
Here's the few shots I was able to get. One of the sumo wrestlers' openning ceremony, where they introduce all the sumo that will be fighting from the east side, and then they do the same for all the fighters on the west side.
Here's a shot of the sumo doing their posturing toward their corners (where their attendants are)
When two guys come out into the ring, they have some motions they go through first toward their corner, and then toward each other. Then they go to their corner, rinse their mouth with water and grab a handful of salt. When they turn to go back into the circle, they throw the salt to cleanse the ground and to ward off injury. Then they face each other and do one squat with their feet close together. Then they stand back up and squat again with their feet further apart. At this point the match could start if both of them look at each other and place both of their fists on the ground. However, most of the time one of them will not look at the other (either to indicate that they're not ready, to irritate the other guy, etc), or they could just take too long, and so the other guy will stand back up and leave the ring. As soon as either one decides to leave, they both do. Then they wipe themselves off with a towel, grab some more salt and start it all over again. This process can repeat for up to 4 minutes (I think).
Once both of them are finally ready, as soon as all four fists are on the ground and they're making eye contact, they launch at each other slapping each other in the chest and around the face. They'll try various tricks that involve grabbing the waistband of the other guy, trying to trip him, etc. As soon as one of them steps out of the ring, or any of their body (besides their feet) touches the ground, they loose.
When the match is over, they both go back to their sides of the circle, bow toward each other and the loser leaves the ring. The winnder squats, and the referee declares them the winner by gesturing to them with a fan-looking thing. The sumo wrestler makes a gesture. Then, if there is a cash award for the match, the referee walks up to the winner and offers him the prize. The wrestler then has one final gesture they use to take the prize, and then they finally leave the ring. The winner then stays to offer the mouth-rinsing water to the next wrestler on their side of the ring.
It was really interesting, and I ended up sitting right next to some people from Los Angeles, and they were pretty fun, so I got another dose of anti-lonely medicine. Then once it was over, I headed into Namba's shopping area, and I found a restaurant that serves fugu in _everything_. I went in, ordered some fugu nigiri (just a couple of slices of raw fugu on rice), tried it, and left. Then I found an okonomiyaki place, and had the rest of my meal =) The fugu was okay, but nothing spectacular .. the okonomiyaki, however, was superb. Then on my way back to the JR station, I saw a street vendor selling sesame seed balls with sweet red bean paste in the middle. They were also selling these little chunks of potato covered in a sugary glaze and then carmelized so that the glaze became a hard candy shell. I got some of both, and it was great.
Well, that's about it. I came back to the hotel and wrote this. And now I'm gonna get some sleep. I head back to Tokyo tomorrow, and if I make it in time, I might head over to Harajuku. That place is awesome on Sundays.
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