Sumo!

We live one station away from Ryogoku, the location of the sumo arena and museum. Tokyo has 3 big tournaments per year in January, May, and September. I think we need to go to a match for the experience.

These pictures were taken on the second-to-last day of the tournament. Sometimes you can get tickets the day of, but they were all sold out when we got there. We watched some of the matches on tv. I don't really understand everything, but basically whoever gets pushed out of the ring first loses. There is a lot of pomp and ceremony during the tournament. The referee is dressed like a Shinto priest. Even the traffic cop outside was all dolled up in fancy gear.

Can you believe how big these guys are? Since we live so close to the sumo area, we get to see some of the wrestlers out and about near our house. They always wear the yukata (never western-style clothes) until they are retired. I very nearly got run over by a very large sumo man on a bike near our train station.

Here's the only picture of Gen I could get. Poor Gen was very sick this day. We didn't realize it, but he had a fever of 102! He stayed in bed the next day. This statue is located between the train station and one of many chanko restaurants. Chanko is the traditional meal of sumo wrestlers. We haven't tried it yet, because you really need a big group. There's apparently a lot of food involved.