We took the decision of leaving Japan in a few months and, since we didn’t know if we were going to be back, we made a todo list with places and things we had to do before packing up. Attending to a sumo tournament was one of those items.
There are six Grand Sumo Tournaments, also known as Honbasho (本場所), along the year. We went to the Autumn Tournament or Aki Basho(秋場所) which is celebrated at Ryōgoku Kokugikan.
If you are familiar with sumo you already know that the fights themselves are pretty fast. Most of the times they finish in a matter of seconds. However you might be surprised by the length of the tournament which start with the lowest categories. We ended being there for around 8 hours!
The higher the category is the most people you will see in the stadium…and the bigger the sumo wrestlers will be!
The expectations keep growing with the higher categories. You can not only see that with the wrestlers sponsors but the atmosphere in the stadium gets more and more vibrant. The sumo wrestlers seem to be fiercer and the fights wilder too.
But sumo is far from be just another regular fight sport. There are deep cultural and religious connotations with ceremonies before and after each battle.
I’m far to be from a sumo fan but I was able to recognize some faces like from the Georgian sumo wrestler Tochinoshin Tsuyoshi who retired recently.
Finally Terunofuji Haruo , the current Yokozuna , appeared on stage with the symbolic rope around his wait. Needless to day, this was the highlight of the Grand Sumo Tournament.
He ended winning his battle and, after 8 hours taking pictures, we went home and scratch the Sumo Tournament from our todo list.
it was fun so I don’t rule out another tournament in the future.
