Sumo wrestlers are surprisingly flexible and light on their feet. They are more muscle than fat.

We were lucky enough to have access to the equivalent of box seats for the final day of the New Year Grand Tournament – the premier event on the sumo calendar. The seats were actually cushions on the elevated floor which was sectioned into boxes about 150cm by 150cm for ten or so rows back from the bout area. Four people (shoes removed) were expected to fit in each area. They were designed with the Japanese physique in mind so we were a little cramped.

It was fortunate that we even had these tickets as our Japanese de facto tour guide contacted someone whom she’d done translation work . This person happened to be a minister or a friend of a minister who then contacted a geisha house as most of them have reserved seats for about 90% of the premium area. The extra benefit of buying our seats from a geisha house was they had people that brought around food and drink. There was so much food that we couldn’t finish it so we took some skiing and the rest back to HK. We are still eating some of the nibblies!

The bouts themselves last for less than a minute with the winner being the one that pushes the other outside the roped off area of sand or forcing him to touch the ground with any part of his body other than his feet. There is a lot of ceremony involved as sumos are the protectors of gods (I’m still surprised they need protectors) which is one of the reasons they are so revered. The other reasons are their skills and their personalities.

This particular tournament ran for 15 days with the wrestlers accumulating points each day. Ideally the final day should see two Grand Champions come together in the last bout which should also be the final. Grand Champions are those who have won a certain number of previous tournaments and they are then selected to be Grand Champions.

For this event though, the winner was decided on day 14. He was a Grand Champion and was considered to be the ‘bad boy’ of sumo. Some had tried to strip him of the Grand Champion title for bringing the sport into disrepute as he had been in some fights, had been out drinking and so on. Sounds a bit like the NRL issues. On the final day, he still fought the other Grand Champion and the crowd went wild when the ‘good guy’ won the bout.

There were many sponsors of this particular bout. Boys bearing flags for each sponsor came out prior to the bout and did a lap so everyone could see who was providing the money. The more boys with the same flag, the greater amount of cash that sponsor was supplying. McDonalds had four flags for that particular bout and the one before, they had two.

Aside from a huge wad of cash which is presented by the referee in an ornate outfit using an outstretched paddle, the winner of the tournament was presented with a trophy which was nearly as big as him and a plate that matched. We incorrectly assumed that was it until we saw a line of about 30 dignitaries and various prizes being placed in a queue. Prizes were donated from countries and organizations and included one tonne of beef, a year’s supply of Corona and a year’s supply of garlic. Some of the other winnings were more ornamental in nature like jade plates.

I enjoyed the ritual of the whole event. There’s a particular way that things need to happen, uniforms that need to be worn, salt to be thrown and ceremonies to do (the wikipedia site has similar photos to what I took and explains the ceremony too). While the bouts are short, all the pomp and ceremony adds to the experience and it ends with the induction of a few apprentices into being sumos so they can fight in the next tournament.

Highly recommended.

* It was difficult to find a decent song that would go with this post so instead, it’s called what it’s about.