Sumo Westling

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After relaxing in the morning, I decided to head out to a Sumo Wrestling match at the Ryogoku Stadium and see the preliminary mathes of the Grand Summer Tournament. Upon my arriaval, I caught some of the Makuuchi division wrestlers (these are the big boys!) as they made their entrance into the arena.

Inside the octagon shaped arena where the floor seats are gouped in four's and are cushions, I sat in the cheap seats up top. But thanks to my quick thinking, I made my way down to the second level by smiling, pointing and bowing to ushers. From these seats, you can feel the impact when the two combants crash into each other.

The sport is very appealing to watch. Most of the time of ecah match is spent conducting ceremonial acts like bowing, stomping, and chalkin-ing up hands (like a gymnast). During this 3-4 minutes, the crowd builds into a frenzy so when the actual match begins, excitement has almost peaked. Most of the actual wrestling in a match takes somewhere between 3-6 seconds, with a few going up to as much as 15 seconds.

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Photos

Greeting the Audience
the wrestlers come out and form a circle and acknowledge the spectators by facing outwards, then turn inwards to acknowledge the referee.

About to wrestle
here, two combatants reach the end of the ceremony and are about to crouch and attack.