This photo was taken by me at the recent Sumo tournament- called basho- in Nagoya in July. I went to 3 days, it is the summer basho and it was incredibly hot and often humid in Nagoya but it was such fun. Nagoya has a new stadium called IG Arena and this was the second year the sumo has been held there.
Sumo has become particularly popular amongst tourists going to Japan and many of us watch the bashos from afar which take place every two months. Most tourists join tour groups to be able to obtain seats. Aonishiki, the young Ukrainian won this basho, this was his 3rd win, after being injured and not performing in the previous basho due to a foot injury, which was still an issue in July.
Each tournament take place over 15 days, commencing generally on the second sunday of the month and finishing 15 days later. The winner of the tournament wins the Emperors cup, plus lots of other prizes.
We will start with a few common phrases.
A sumo wrestler is called a rikishi.
The ring where they fight is called a dohyo specially built for each tournament, built of clay.
Rikishi wear a mawashi- their loincloth belt- made of silk
There are a number of different divisions for rikishi. The senior and most popular group are in Makuuchi and the intermediate division is Juryo. The Makuuchi starts about 3.45 Japan time with the ring entering ceremony called dohyu-ri.
There is an East and a West group of rikishi- the common thought is the east has somewhat better rikishi. than the west, although that is not always so If they have more loses than wins- called a make-koshi- they can be demoted to juryo or lower down the list of Makuuchi
Those who win more-that is 8 or more get a kachi-koshi and can start to make there way up the board to become a Yokozuna – I will leave how that happens for another day.
The sumo can be watched here on Youtube channels and there are 30 minute daily highlights on NHK- they have an app if you don’t have it through foxtel.
The next basho takes place in Tokyo commencing 13th September- I will send out information before it starts. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask me, and if you wish to add attending a tournament your next trip to Japan, or just start thinking of visiting Japan I can arrange.
#sumo
#japan travel
