Pilgrim's Progress by Mr Everyday
May 20th, 2009 8:48 AMThe plan was that a workmate here, who has never really known about sumo, but who had it on his "list of 20 things to do in Japan", and I would go to see the sumo together on one of the 2 weekends it was possible for us to do so... Unfortunately closing weekend sold out WAAAAY in advance, which only left the middle weekend. This was fine, except that I was busy on the Saturday, so I could only make it Sunday.
20 minutes worth of phone call (In Japanese - I hate speaking Japanese on the phone) finally produced the realization that there was only one SINGLE ticket left on the Sunday. I quickly booked that, and received a booking number, booking my workmate into one of the last 3 spots on the Saturday. The seats were in the nosebleeds, but such is life.
Next of course I had to secure the tickets themselves. Japan has a convoluted system whereby you order the tickets, get a booking number, and then consummate the purchase on a certain machine found at convenience stores. This machine provides you with a barcode, which you take to the counter, pay for in cash, and then they make your ticket on a different machine. This process was hampered by my not reading Japanese, and by the staff member "helping" me being completely unable to understand the workings of the special machine... A half hour of foolishness ensued, but, EVENTUALLY so did 2 shiny tickets.
On the appointed day I made my way to the sacred space (it is a somewhat unusual point of sumo that the stadiums, or more specifically the rings are holy spaces, the tournaments religious rites, and the wrestlers living gods - at least until their hair is ceremoniously shorn) in Ryugoku, full of excitement and awe at the prospect of finally seeing it live.
The atmosphere in the stadium was indescribable - It really did feel like being in a church, or some other sacred space. The crowd was electric. It's the only time I've seen a crowd cheer when something DIDN'T happen, such as when the wrestlers decided that they would take a little walk and postpone the match another 30 seconds (Which they get to do 4 times). The throwing of salt felt like a benediction... It was quite simply amazing. After I was left with the feeling that I would have returned immediately the next day, were it not for work, and I will definitely be making this pilgrimage again.
Oh, and I got some quite good photos too - Got lucky with the timing of the shots.
The only thing missing from this pilgrimage was a pilgrim outfit of some sort, but maybe when my alter-ego does his version of this task I'll get round to that...
The sacred space
The ring, which is a sacred space. The hanging roof is the "roof" of the shrine.
Down for the count
A marvelously executed forward throw.
Throw
Another forward throw. The wrestler uses the leverage from his grip on the belt to throw his opponent over.
Turn
The judge (Who is an official priest) Has to move quickly as the fighters move around the edge of the ring. The one on the outside held of the one in the middle and eventually won.
Pattycake
Another of the religious ceremonies involved in the tournament. All the wrestlers from one direction (The card is split into east and west) enter the ring, in their priestly vestments, and clap, chant, and raise their hands to summon the attention of the various gods.
Opening
One of the sacred rites involved in the tournament. The final section of the day (for the top ranked wrestlers) is ceremoniously opened by the highest ranked wrestler from each direction. It's a sacred and moving sight - Also, do these pants make my arse look big? All kidding aside, it was another one of those things that should have been a bit ho, hum, and yet was deeply moving instead...
Carnage.
I managed to luck into a shot of the most controversial win of the day... It was replayed ad nauseum on the nightly news, but basically the guy in black threw the other guy about 6 foot into the air, and onto the judge below (who's hand you see waving frantically). However, his foot JUST touched the ground before the other guy left the air, so the guy in silver was the victor...
Closing.
The closing ceremony, whereby one of the wrestlers twirls around a bow in various proscribed forms (one of the things most people don't realise is that samurai were originally horse archers, and the bow is still VERY much part of various ceremonies).
12 vote(s)
JJason Recognition
5
Rin Brooker
3
Lincøln
5
The Found Walrus
3
artmouse
3
Poisøn Lake
5
Waldo Cheerio
4
Jellybean of Thark
2
Spidere
4
Ben Yamiin
4
Balaustine Envoy
4
Palindromedary
Terms
sports, japanophile, throw, ceremony2 comment(s)
Thanks for the kind words... Beat Takeshi IS Quite the thing - I just saw him on TV dressed as a giant Octopus (complete with water squirting tentacles). The program was making the point that he's in his 60s now, and has been doing this stuff for OVER 40 YEARS NOW... The old footage was pretty funny too.
Still, it's MY contention that you will never understand Modern Japanese Media until you somehow get your head around Tamori...
Here I am blathering about the importance of Beat Takeshi to modern Japanese media, and I never thought of Sumo as more than a martial art.
Thank you for showing us that, those are wonderful photographs. Your picture of the controversial throw is unbelievable.