Sumo

The first Sumo tournament of the year was held in Tokyo from 11th to 25th January, and we thought, "If we were ever going to see a Sumo match, it would have to be now". We've seen Sumo highlights many times on TV but it would be a great experience to see it live.

We did some research on the Internet and found out that tickets could cost as much as 14,300 yen for a ringside seat. We opted instead for the seats furthest from the ring on the second floor which costs us 2,100 yen. The catch was that those tickets are limited (only 350 available) and are sold on a first-come-first-served basis from 0830hrs.

Choon Ling and Eileen were in Tokyo for a holiday and 4 of us went together. We arrived at the Kokugikan stadium at 1030hrs to find that we were just on time to purchase the last 4 tickets! There were not many spectators when we entered because the junior level wrestlers were competing. The crowds only started to pour in later in the afternoon when the top ranking wrestlers were featured.

As the day passes we realized that Sumo is more than just some over-sized, slow-witted blokes in diapers manhandling each other off the ring. It requires lots of strength, skill and balance to win. There are 82 winning techniques such as the 'frontal push out', 'slap down' and the 'leg trip'. There are plenty of traditions and ceremonies too, which contributes to the colorful character of the Japanese national sport that is called Sumo.

This Sumo tournament proved to be memorable. Yokozuna Asashoryu (the wrestler with arms raised doing a dance) missed the last three tournaments because of injury was considered to be nearing the end of his career, but went on to win the competition by the narrowest of margins.