It's a sumo world after all

I have been sumofied!

I went to a sumo tournament yesterday. It was actually really interesting. We went from around 1pm. It was meant to finish at 5pm and I hadn't expected to stay for the entire thing because frankly I didn't think I'd be that interested. We ended up staying for the entire thing which ended at 6pm.

It was a sweltering hot day and when we got to the Aichi Prefectural Gym, Ryan got Takoyaki (octupus balls) so I scored some from him. But they were too hot to eat on such a bone-melting day.

Then straight onto the action. In exchange for our ticket we got a 'cute' little sumo key ring thing. It was funny. Since we got the cheapest tickets we were actually right at the back of the arena in the hard blue bucket seats. But because we got there 'early' (usually people don't come until the last hour or so when the champions come out) we went down to the boxes. So we were sitting on little pillows right up close to the ring. Those tickets cost $100 at least. It was great for photo taking.

Okay, so when one mentions sumo one immediately thinks of fat men wrestling. But the event is really more of a ritualistic art form. For one thing, the sumos aren't actually as obese as I expected. They are actually quite muscular for most part with a big tummy. And for fat men they are pretty damn flexible. As they prepare for their bout they have to do a few ritualistic moves. The lifting of each leg. They looked like cranes...industrial cranes that moved majestically but shake the earth beneath you.They throw salt into the ring for purification purposes but a lot of them threw that salt like they had a personal vendetta against the ground. Then they squat and knuckle the ground. They'll stand up again and scrub their faces with a towel and a glare. Take a sip of water for purification (or sake as we suspected), then head back to the center for some more squatting, glaring and knuckling. Then boom! they charge at each other.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh wasn't actually as squishy as I'd been expecting. It actually sounded more like to giant bags of rice hitting each other. Then the object of the bout is to get your opponent to touch any other body part (besides the bottom of his feet) to the ground or throw him out of the ring. So if a sumo falls and his hand touches the ground he's out. Or if he gets thrown out of the ring, he's also out. Each match lasts for a maximum of 30 seconds so it's really fast paced. We saw a lot of sumo.

My favourite ones were the ones that didn't end straight away but they got into a battle of the bear hugs and stood there hugging each other trying to psych each other out, gripping each others nappies and giving each other wedgies. It made me cackle with glee.

At one point a, sumo got thrown out of the tiny ring and actually landed on a little old lady sitting ringside. She was petrified and moved immediately. Funnily enough those ring side seats cost the most. They can fetch up to $400.

They also have sumo groupies with handmade signs and squealing...hehehe... The nappies were also a surprise. They are so intrically tied and yet so secure. I didn't see any butt crack or wedding tackle at all. Another major surprise was the sumos themselves. When we walked past the big sweaty sumos to get to our seats, I realised they smelled like big babies. It was as if they'd been rolling around in baby powder.