Sumo in Osaka

It’s Sumo time in Osaka!

I’ve been in Japan for almost four years now, but this was my first time to a Sumo event. The one was held at Osaka Furitsu Taikukan. A quick look at the crowd told me that I wasn’t exactly the first foreigner ever to attend this amazing sporting event… I swear at least 20% of the audience were obviously foreigners. So I’ll save you the well-known facts. You can get those here at our friend Wiki!

Yokozuna!

I think most people know that the most elite title that a sumo wrestler can get, is that of Yokozuna. An interesting fact is, once you are Yokozuna, you can ALWAYS be Yokozuna. The title can never be taken away from you officially. The Yokozuna will remain Yokozuna until he resigns. Even if the Yokozuna loses 2, 3, 5, even 10 matches consecutively, he is still the Yokozuna until he gives in and call it quits (引退する）. Of course, as you may expect, feelings of pride and honor are strong in Japanese culture, especially in a traditional sport like Sumo… So if a Yokozuna starts heading down hill, you can be sure that he will retire quickly in order to save face.

The picture below was taken just before a match between two Ozeki sumo wrestlers . Before the match, the most famous wrestlers have their sponsors banners displayed. This is what those colorful flags are down below. Each one of these banners is an advertisement for some company.

If the sumo then wins this match, he gets some set amount of money, I think it was 50,000 yen per banner in pocket money. That ain’t bad!

Not pictured at all here, but another interesting thing I learned was called “mono-ii”. This is where, if a sumo match is too close to call, for example if both wrestlers fall out of the ring (dohyo) at about the same time, the judges will gather in the center and have a “mono-ii”. Literally translated, 「物言い」 means “say the thing”.

It looks like a huddle of coaches and players on a pitchers mound when they are considering a change really. If they cannot come to a conclusion, the match will be re-fought.
The picture below is completely unrelated to mono-ii, and is showing the higher ranking sumo gathering before the matches begin.

This picture below is of the expensive seats down front. You may have heard if the Yokozuna loses the final match, or there is some other huge unexpected upset, the crowd will throw their zabuton (these pillow cushions) into the ring to show their disgust (or joy?). Apparently this not allowed anymore because it is too dangerous.

Another cool thing about these seats is that they come equipped with a beer bottle opener! Excellent! I heard that the 4 seats here cost 12000 yen… About 120 USD… Better be some good beer…

Pictured below are some sumo goods that were for sale in the auditorium. Cool t-shirts.

You may have noticed in sumo matches, that the fighters will face each other, squat, look like they’re gonna knock each other to oblivion… and then calmly stand up and walk back to their corners to go through the salt throwing ritual again. They may repeat this three or four times before actually getting down to business.

Before 1928, sumo were allowed to repeat this process as many times as they wanted until they really felt ready to throw down. In some cases it would take hours. In 1928 a 10 minute rule was implemented… later this was changed to 7, then 5, and now the limit is 4 minutes. The lowest ranking sumo do not have the luxury of even the 4 minute preparation period, and must get down to business immediately.

なるほど〜。

The trouble with being a Sumo wrestler is that you can never blend in with the crowd… Even after taking off your jersey.

I would recommend for every visitor to Japan to challenge every sumo they meet on the street to a duel. That’s a joke.

- Harvey