Sumo

Last weekend a few of us JET's from Gunma went to Tokyo to watch some sumo.
Some may wonder whats the fascination with watching a couple of fat guys in what looks like thongs (mawashi) push eachother around. Well it's a Japanese sport and i thought i might as well see for myself why it's considered interesting.

* women aren't allowed to touch the ring since it is seen as violating the purity of the ring or it is so by tradition.

We were told to be there no later than 930 since the event is supposed to be from 8am to 630 pm. But when we got there we found out that the thing wasn't going to start until 1030 (which happens only on certain days).

Well me and Rebecca didn't want to be there for the early matches of the rookies and we were planning on going to the Tokyo National Museum. We finally left around 1040 just to see how they start and the rookies matches ended really quickly.

We came back after lunch to watch the juryou and makuuchi matches, the top ranking sumo's. These were way more exciting than the rookies. We actually started betting, ok not really but we started to pick to see who would win. We even got to see Asashoryu Akinori, a Mongolian yokozuna (the highest ranking sumo) in a bout with Hakuhou Shou, another Mongolian. It was kinda amazing to see these 320 lbs+ guys be able to pick some other guys up n throw them out of the ring.

* the aprons that they're wearing are worth thousands to tens of thousands dollars worth. some are even encrusted with jewels and some light up.

I had fun watching sumo and wouldn't mind seeing it again...of course it would be better if we were a little closer, but then again it might be too expensive.

If you want to know more about sumo, wiki it. If you want to see a short film of some bouts and more pics go to my photobucket page.