Sumo

After catching some Sumo on Japanese TV we decided it would interesting to go see a tournament live. Incidentally, Sumo is about the only entertaining thing I've seen on Japanese TV as its mostly cheesy, plastic version of reality, consisting of a lot of people expressing options about everything by going “Uuuuuurh!” But there is something oddly captivating about fat men fighting. People seem to like see a David and Goliath match, the underdog beating the giant. In Nagoya, one of the best matches we saw all day in the earlier bouts, between a slightly chubby guy and the largest guy we saw in the tournament by a long way. This sumo-san was so big he looked liked he would have problems getting though door ways and even the crowd gave a gasp of amazement at his sheer volume when he entered the ring. I, like most, thought the smaller guy didn't stand a chance against this mammoth of a man. The crowded seemed to rally behind him and the guy actually won and hyped by his victory and the cheering crowd began waving his arms around in celebration.

The level between the top Sumo-san is noticeable though, and there were some really interesting bouts to be seen. There is a lot of tradition and fluff between the bouts though and when the match gets going there is usually only a few seconds before a winner is declared (The aim being to get your opponent on the floor or out the ring). On one match the referee had to hold the match as one of the guys 'nappy' was coming loose. These guy has to stay in the hold while the referee tried to hoist the loose end back around before it left a giant naked man in the middle of a stadium. This was easier said than done, as it took some pulling and the crowd began to chant to encourage the ref to pull harder, giving him a round of applause when he finally pulled got it together, allow the slightly embarrased Sumo-san to go on and win the bout.

I was surprised how the reserved nature of the Japanese is put on hold for events like this and how they can get quite vocal. In my desire to get a closer ringside photo I was asked to return to my seat by the Sumo police. I think I was on the verge of being ejected from the building.