Sumo!

You might be surprised that after all these years I had never been to a sumo tournament. I don't know why really. I guess I just didn't find the time to go. But right now I'm getting my culture on and checking it out!

I watched a Youtube video of a recent match and found myself laughing. Near naked fat dudes pushing their weight onto each other to either knock the other out of the circle, or on the ground.

The place to see sumo is at Ryōgoku Kokugi-kan in Tokyo. (Sobu line, Ryōgoku station) Seeing it live was pretty cool. In my haste to get there, I forgot to load my charging battery in my camera, but she was using my old camera so not all bad.

I never realised how short each match is. There's quite a build up as the wrestlers psyche themselves up with some salt throwing, false starts, and butt and stomach slapping. Once the fists touch the ground the fight is often over within seconds.

The sumo hall isn't that large. I think every seat in the house will get you a good view of the action. The cheapest seats are less than 4,000 yen. I paid the second "worst" seat price of around 5,000 yen but I was happy where I was. Sure, closer is always better, unless a sumo wrestler falls on you of course.

This is my video of the final fight of the day. They go a bit longer than usual, so it was a good match.  Stay watching for the pillow throwing!