Sumo

There is a big sumo tournament on in Tokyo at the moment. It is a Grand Tournament. There are 6 Grand Tournaments held each year, three of which are in Tokyo. They are held in an area of Tokyo called Ryoogoku and the stadium is called Kokugikan.

I had been twice before during my previous visits to Japan but i still find it interesting. After observing a few bouts, you realise that there is technique involved, and it's not just a case of the bigger guy always winning... and these guys are big... You can see that they have alot of muscle under that fat too (have a look at my pic with the two sumo wrestlers- they are only from lower divisions but are still huge).

Another aspect of sumo i find intriguing is the ammount of foreigners that are now competing. In the top two divisions alone, there are 19 foreign wrestlers (out of a total of 70 wrestlers). They come from places such as Hawaii, Mongolia, Russia, Bulgaria, and some other Eastern European countries. One of the most popular wrestlers is from Bulgaria and goes by the sumo name Kotooshu Katsunori- Koto is a name shared from all wrestlers originating from his stable and oshu means Europe. He's very tall (6'8) and leaner and fitter looking than most of the other wrestlers. He fights in the top division (makuuchi) and has the ranking of ozeki or 'champion', which is the second highest level in the sumo ranking system. He is also sponsored by a yoghurt company.

My personal favourite is Japanese wrestler Takamisakari. He is renouned for getting very fired up before each bout and puts on a bit of a show, slapping his face and beating his chest... the crowd love it though. This is far from normal for sumo as most wrestlers seem very placid and controlled... the usualn Japanese way of hiding all emotion.

Well, enjoy the pics...