I went to see the 34th Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Stadium on Sunday. This was the first time for me, seeing live sumo, although as a kid I always used to watch it on Channel 4 in the UK. At that time however sumo was still pretty much a Japanese only sport, but now foreigners are coming to dominated the top ranks. You can Wikipedia for more info although the foreign born reference is out of date. This site shows a list of all wrestlers and states there are 57 active foreign fighters out of 703.

Two wrestlers going at it

Doesn’t sound a lot, but as you restrict to the higher ranks, the percentage goes up a bit. Although, I had gotten the impression that there was a crisis in sumo with the number of foreigners outweighing native Japanese. From looking at the stats I still see a great number of Japanese. Maybe it’s because the top rank, Yokozuna, has been dominated by foreigners for the last 10 years (see bottom of page).

But in any case, Sunday’s 1-day tournament is outside the normal schedule for determining rank, and was won by a Japanese, apparently a feat last done 7 years ago.

Will they start this time?

The final was between a Bulgarian born Ozeki (2nd rank) by the name of Kotooshu, and a native Sekiwake (3rd rank) wrestler called Goeido. Goeido had made it past several higher ranked wrestlers, including toppling the reigning champion and Yokozuna in the semi-final, before tripping up the Bulgarian to claim the top prize, a hefty 円3,200,000 (about $36,000 dollars). Not bad for a days work, although in global sporting terms quite modest I suppose.

Bulgarian finalist

As could be expected from a drought of native champions, everyone was quite pleased when Goeido won, the post championship interview focusing on how great it was a native had won after so long. Although as in the best sumo tradition, the interviewer did most of the talking.

The sumo itself was much as I remember. A long preamble in which the opponents glare at each other and pretend to get ready to start, although you know full well they won’t at the sweeper guys haven’t even gotten out the way yet. Once they’ve done this 2 or 3 times, they start the match, which is usually over in 10 seconds. Although, you couldn’t feel bored as the matches continued one after another pretty much without rest, the ceremony of the whole event always allowing your eyes to be kept busy with something interesting, be it the guy who sings at the end of each

Keeping the ring tidy

bout, the sweepers keeping the ring clean and correct, the wrestlers themselves and their elaborate preparation, or magnificent dress of the referees.

Traditional crooner

We were there for about 2 hours, in not too shabby seats on the second floor. Although maybe next time I’ll fork out for the first floor cushion seats, so I can throw them at the ring when something happens I like (or not), as many people did for the final two bouts.