IN A NUTSHELL: Sumo
To Sumo or Not to Sumo I woke up feeling not-so-great, but a definite improvement
over yesterday morning, even if my opinion was biased by REALLY WANTING to go on the sumo trip. I decided that
I was good enough to drive and so, after taking my prescribed medicine, drove to Miyoshi early to catch the bus
to Hiroshima. Hiroshima was the meeting place for forty-five others (mostly JETs from Hiroshima) who were also
going on the Hiroshima AJET Sumo Trip Extraordinaire.
* * STUPID THING OF THE DAY * *
My Stupid Thing of the Day was just barely saved by Over Preparation. After I parked at my usual spot in Miyoshi
at the bus station, I had
a feeling I should take a train to Hiroshima, not a bus. There was no logical reason to take a train and the
fellow at the parking place really wanted to sell me a bus ticket.
(Inner Stupid Thing of the Day: I filled out a reservation form to Osaka, thinking I was filling out the form
to park at the station overnight. They were both all in kanji and looked similar. That caused some minor confusion,
but I luckily I ditched the form and did not end up going to Osaka.) I almost walked the three blocks to the
train station when I was done, but the bus tempted me far too much, so I took it. It was a lovely, comfortable ride.
I ended up
right at the familiar Hiroshima Bus Center where I hung out, bought some snacks for lunch and looked
calmly around for the
'shinkansen entrance' that the JET-chartered bus was waiting at. I did not find it, nor the "Loteria Burger" joint
that was part of the directions.
After talking to a fellow at a random ticket booth, I found out that...
I WAS AT THE WRONG STATION!
I was supposed to be
meeting the bus at "Hiroshima Station" not "Hiroshima Bus Center." Although Hiroshima Bus Center is a big stop
for trains, it is not the stop for the shinkansen (bullet train). I think I assumed since I was getting on
a bus, that
I would board at the bus center. Wrong! If I had taken the train from Miyoshi instead, chances are I would
have
ended up at Hiroshima Station. Serves me for not listening to my inner feeling. ANYWAY,
the very nice employee who told me where I needed to be also took about 10 minutes of his own time to
jog me a fair distance through the underground shopping center and then upstairs outside to show
me what streetcar to get on that would get me where I needed to be in 10 minutes (I only had about 15 minutes left
before I needed to be there.)
I could go on and talk about my panic when I finally got to Hiroshima
station (a big, freakin' station) thinking I needed to be on
the inside of the gates and not knowing what to do, or getting directed to McDonalds when I asked for Loteria
Burger, but it was mostly fitful panicking and when all was said
and done I made it on the sumo bus and I wasn't even the last person.
The Bus Ride The bus ride was pretty nice, though the people on board - mostly JETS -
became louder after the free beer was passed out. They offered bottled tea as well, thankfully.
I sat toward the back with one JET with cool hair next to me and a book to read if needed.
We listened to music (mostly Bob Marley),
watched a movie ("About a Boy" which was pretty funny) and stopped three times at well-equipped
Japanese rest stops. We were given a bit of chocolate on the way, too.
On the whole, not a bad way to spend five hours of traveling.
Some Background on Sumo We arrived at the Fukuoka International Center not too far
behind schedule. Fukuoka is one of four cities that hold the six tournaments per year (the others being
Tokyo, Osaka, & Nagoya). Big sumo tournaments (there are small ones I'm told, but those don't count for a
sumo wrestlers rank, which is based solely on the number of wins and losses) happen on every odd month and
Fukuoka's turn is in November. I realized we were pretty lucky to be able to get tickets, then again the tournament
goes on for two entire weeks and we were in the middle weekend, not the final weekend.
Anyway, Sumo is a lot more interesting then I gave it credit for.
From the outside, it looks like two fat men grappling for control of a ring. But on the inside, it's full
of strange and bizarre traditions that date back ages. (And I mean AGES. Early records of sumo are 1500 years old!
That's way, way before Shakespeare and Mozart!)
The most interesting fact I found out about sumo
that made my watching much more enjoyable, is that the wrestlers have to start at exactly the same time.
There is a lot of build-up before that, with glaring and stomping, up to 4 minutes
(the limit used to be 10 minutes and before that, there was no limit) but, they must both sense the moment is right
before lunging at each other. There are huge penalties for starting early. There are all sorts of grabbing techniques,
but wrestlers are not allowed to poke at the eyes, groin, or grab their opponent's ornately decorated hair.
(Their hair is so elaborately
done up that they
have official sumo hairdressers. If you start going bald, you have to retire from the sport.)
Each wrestler
has a special name they use for sumo that is not their real name. That is why high-ranking non-Japanese
sumo wrestlers
(including Musashimaru, pictured below) seem to have Japanese names. Musashimaru is from Hawaii I believe and
is one of my favorites.
He is a Yokozuna - the ultimate rank in sumo - but apparently has not been doing well lately because of a lingering
wrist injury...
Besides the actual match, there are opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, four black-garbed
judges, a colorful referee and, my favorite,
a fellow who comes out and sing-speaks (in a specially trained voice) the sumo names of the upcoming wrestlers before each match.
Can you just imagine that in Boxing? A fellow walking around the ring singing "Miiiiiiiike Tyyyyyyysooooooon" before
the match?
Two phases of a sumo match; sumo champion Musashimaru
The Arena Before we walked inside, a sumo wrestler walked by in a robe! I
think it was Musashimaru. I'll find out when I get my camera developed (I had to squeeze a picture
in among all the others crowded around his path.) When we walked inside the building, we were greeted with massive
booths selling gifts all lined up across the center of the room. To find myself a snack or late lunch,
I had to go behind all the gift-sellers (and people madly buying) to the back corner,
but I did end up with a relatively decent fast-food yakisoba.
Yakisoba literally means fried noodles, but unfortunately for the vegetarian next to me, it secretly
included meat.
Anyway we were led up and up to our seats. They were the last three rows of plastic seats in the back.
Oddly, they were the only actual 'seats'. The lowered levels below us only had big purple cushions
for people to sit on.
The main problem with the seats was that they were NARROW. These seats were not made for gaijin butts.
I was soon hip to hip to
both the people next to me (who were also oversized foreigners.) Despite being in the back, though,
we had good visibility and could easily see the action through the haze of cigarette smoke.
The Bouts
We were placed on the West side which helped since it gave us
someone to root for (since almost none of us knew any contenders). We arrived a little later than planned but
a sumo tournament is an all-day event from the children and lower levels in the morning to the higher levels later
in the day and the grand masters facing off at about six o'clock pm, so we still had several hours of sumo action.
One of the first bouts we saw went on for over five minutes. It was far, far, far longer than usual.
Sumo bouts (after the 4-minute tension-building warm-up) only last 30 seconds or a minute usually, so
it was kind of exciting to see such a long one. I talked with the girl next to me through a lot of it and we
took turns quoting things out of the English mini sumo history booklet we were given.
The bouts were interesting enough to watch, but also easy enough to space out. Anyway, despite all the
ceremonial rituals at the beginning and the end of each level of sumo rank, there was not a big build up
when the two grand champions finally
came on. I only noticed them because I actually recognized them. Yes, I've been in Japan too long.
It was over quickly and that was that except that many members of the audience threw their purple cushions into
the air toward the center. I hear that they aren't supposed to do that, which surprises me since it
seems like the Japanese would not be so rule-breaking and brash. It was quite funny. I saw an older woman
sitting toward the front get nailed in the back of the head by one purple projectile cushion. This is
another good reason to be sitting toward the back.
Anyway, during the sumo tournament, there was a fellow walking around in a uniform selling his wares.
I half expected him to start yelling "Hot dogs, get yer hot dogs," but then I realized what he was selling.
More gifts, of course.
Onsen That night, I decided to take it easy. I still was not a hundred percent
feeling okay and
was pretty tired. After I bought myself a bento from the FamilyMart nearby, I
decided to check out the hotel's onsen (hot springs.) I walked in the women's side, prepared for anything.
I knew a little
onsen etiquette: to wash thoroughly before entering the water and that bathing suits are usually not worn.
My plan was to do what everyone else was doing. The onsen had a locker room where
I stored my clothes, then proceeded to disrobe (making fully sure I saw another woman in the nude before doing so).
I walked into the bath area and met Jamila, the trip's organizer (who really deserved a soak in the hot spring) on her way
out. The room was a large, tiled room with two big, steaming square baths. There were maybe a half dozen Japanese
women present, who I imagine were trying not to stare at the big blond who just walked in.
I sat down on one of the little plastic stools in front of one of the shower faucets and filled
the plastic basin with water.
It would have made more sense to me just to take a shower like normal, but the other Japanese women were soaping
their bodies with the faucet off, then dumping the water in the basin over them to rinse. (I also saw this done in the bath house
episode of Ranma. See how useful anime is?) I did that instead, except for my hair, which seemed to be within politeness
boundaries for using the shower. Anyway, then I stepped in one of the baths (next to a little waterfall bit) and had a lovely soak.
It was hard to sit somewhere inconspicuous, but it was still nice. I could only really stand the heat for about
fifteen minutes, but it relaxed me very well. And that ends my First Onsen Experience.
