Nihon & Lee: February 2015

In late January, my Japanese friend and I visited Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium in Tokyo to see what the fervor of sumo was all about. We started off with a traditional sumo meal of chanko nabe at Chanko Tomoegata: http://www.tomoegata.com. Chanko is essentially a hot pot dish filled with nourishing meat and vegetables in a savory broth flavored with meat and dashi. Dashi is a traditional Japanese broth made from boiled kelp and katsuobushi, which is fish flakes made from dried, fermented fish. In my humble opinion, Katsuobushi itself doesn't have much flavor, but should be paired with other foods to draw out the salty, fishy quality it naturally provides. The lunch set I ordered came with not only a hot pot, but several bite sized dishes, and rice. The vegetables, consisting of Napa cabbage, Japanese mushrooms and mizuna (Japanese mustard leaf) brought out a sweetness in the broth, while the beef gave it a rich, meaty flavor. Side dishes included, fresh pickles, a potato croquette with salad, chilled spinach, sashimi over a shiso leaf, chicken with peas and a bowl of rice. The tender cuts of sashimi stood out the most, as I enjoyed the freshness of the meat combined with the wasabi and soy sauce. Next in line was the croquette, as I love fried foods in moderation, although fried foods don't necessarily like me in return. The croquette was a creamy mixture of potato and tiny seafood bits of possibly imitation crab meat, which is made from processed Pollack (fish) meat and not actually crab.

We hit up Ryogoku Stadium in the late afternoon around 3 pm. The games began as early as 8:30 am and would continue until the early evening, but knowing it would start with mostly junior athletes and then move onto more senior players later, we delayed our entrance, so we could see the cream of the crop in the afternoon. Before entering, we spotted some younger sumo players outside, randomly standing about in the rain, so we invited ourselves to take photos with them. They were pretty cute, but probably about a decade younger than I. I was surprised to notice that the salesperson working at the ticket booth was probably a sumo wrestler at one point, given his tall physical stature confined within a small ticket booth. My friend pointed out that many sumo players upon finishing their sumo career, still remain connected with Ryogoku Stadium, which explains why I spotted several men working there who sported the typically tall, round and bulky sumo wrestler build. We proceeded to seat ourselves at the top of the stadium, which housed the cheapest available seats for less than $40 USD. Unfortunately, taking photographs of players from the top of the stadium proved to be difficult, as my smartphone lacked the in depth focus of a traditional camera. Interestingly enough, quite a number of people surrounding us were foreigners, as they were probably spectating for the first time and unwilling to spend much for something they knew very little about, while folks sitting on the front row, kneeling on mats, directly in line with the ring were all Japanese. Those seats are apparently an upward $200 USD or so. The audience were mostly distracted during the match, playing on their smartphones, chatting amongst themselves or snacking away. But they somehow knew when to tune into climactic moments. The usual procession of each sumo match began with each player facing different sides of the ring, sprinkling salt over his body to purify himself and then, making hard slaps all over one's body, usually the thighs and arms to get the body in gear for the match. Usually a match was finished within a couple of minutes at the most, which makes sumo a perfect sport for people with limited attention spans. The process repeated itself, over and over. At random, unexpected moments, I would hear the same person loudly shouting for a player's name. (Although on a completely different occasion, this also happened when I watched Kabuki theater last year). I found this to be startling, annoying and amusing all at the same time.

Out of pity for his poor performance and fascination of his foreign origin, I cheered for Osuna-arashi from Egypt; his name appropriately means desert storm to reflect the terrain of his home country, as he was an underdog who suffered from various physical ailments being mostly bandaged up. He could have been better named as the "mummy," according to another friend's non-politically correct remark. But unfortunately, he was quickly pushed off the ring. Also, Ramadan is reportedly tough for him, as his performance is weakened from fasting. On the other hand, speaking of top players, I was surprised to learn that most of the lead winners are Mongolian. Hakuho Sho from Mongolia is currently the top champion.

A highlight of being at Ryogoku Stadium was not watching the matches, but admiring the competitors' attired during the opening ceremony, when all the players would form a circle in the ring, displaying their colorful loincloths, known as mawashi. Typically during the match, the mawashi is worn just as a loincloth, but during the opening ceremony, players drape a long cloth over the front of their mawashi. This long cloth can display colorful, creative artwork such as Japanese fish, the rising sun, Mount Fuji, and as a total anomaly, Charlie Chaplin! I also love the hairstyles they sport of long hair wrapped up in a soft bun. Their overall roundness, miwashis and adorable hairstyles remind me of adult babies. Next to actual babies, sumo wrestlers rank second in cuteness!