[sumo] Re: Icy Ise report

[Katrina <katrina@shoin.ac.jp>]

Following Kurt Eastwood's request for information about the upcoming
Yasukuni sumo event, I thought I might tell you about last week's one at
Ise.

It was freezing.  The coldest I ever remember in more than 10 years of going
there.  Raining too.

The venue opens at 7 so I was there about 6:45 to get our usual a spot in
the front row.  This year there were very few people waiting and no need to
battle for the best places.  Probably the bad weather was to blame for this.

Keiko begins before 7:00 so the lower ranked rikishi, who are somebody¹s
tsukebito, were there already.  Some were doing shiko below the dohyo and
many doing moshiai keiko on top of it.  Little by little more rikishi
emerged from the Jingu Kaikan where they had stayed overnight and stood
around near the top of the arena under the cherry trees, which were
perfectly in bloom.  Some were doing shiko, some push-ups, most just
shivering in their yukattas.

When the juryo began to do keiko I was surprised to see a large number of
the foreign contingent and not so many Japanese sekitori.  Roho, Kokkai -
very early, Ama, Tokitenku, Hakuho, were all up at the dohyo.  Made me
wonder if this is not one of the reasons why foreign rikishi are doing so
well these days.  Greater motivation, more effort?

I left during the juryo keiko to go over to the Ise shrine where the
Yokozuna, ozekis, tate gyojis and some Sumo Kyokai officials go up to pay
their respects and pray at the shrine.  They wear montsuki (Japanese formal
wear consisting full length wide pants, like a divided skirt over a black
kimono, and a black silk jacket with a small white 'mon' - family crest - on
the back near the collar).  They walk  - with difficulty but dignity in zori
sandals - along the gravel path up to the shrine and go inside to pray.  On
the way back they stop for a commemorative photo and then the rikishi and
gyojis go to change into their respective keshomawashi and shozoku to
perform a dohyo iri in the shrine environs.

The procession of gyojis, yokozuna with attendants, and sanyaku rikishi
crossing the Uji Bridge is a spectacular sight  and the dohyo iri, performed
outdoors on a sand covered area, really makes one feel the connection
between sumo and the shinto religion.  Unfortunately, due to the crowds of
spectators at both spots, it's impossible to get a good look at both, so you
have to choose between waiting at the bridge or the dohyo iri site.

Unfortunately this year the weather was bad.  We waited patiently in light
rain, but just when the procession emerged the rain began in earnest, so
that the sumo group in their silk regalia were thoroughly drenched.  As it
was also very cold, the "naked" rikishi were freezing and moved with greater
speed than usual on the way back.

Over at the sumo venue, the usual entertainments continued, chibikozumo -
with kids - sumo jinku singing, shokkirizumo - comedy sumo - taiko drumming
performance by a yobidashi and then the juryo dohyo iri and exhibition sumo.

It was still raining and still very cold.  The tsukebito were hard pressed
to keep umbrellas over their sekitoris as they hurried between shelter and
the dohyo area.  All the rikishi were shivering and trying to keep warm by
rubbing their arms.  Their breath was frosty, like on winter mornings.
Strangely it made them less serious than usual.  Instead of the usual stoic
and businesslike rikishi we normally see,  they were laughing and smiling
and mouthing "Samui" -cold - at the dohyo iri and making grimaces while
waiting their turn by the dohyo.

The makuuchi rikishi do a dohyoiri followed by the yokozunas and then
exhibition sumo, but the sanyaku actually have a tournament.  There is a
ceremony where the upper ranked rikishi come back to the dohyo in mawashi
and line up on east and west.  The national anthem is played, there are some
speeches and the 'player's oath' by the yokozuna, followed by the return of
the arm band medal and flag by the previous year's winner.  Then the
knockout tournament begins.

The competition didn't seem quite as fierce as in past years and I couldn't
help thinking that the lure of the dressing room and a hot bath was stronger
than the glory of winning.  Asashoryu beat Shimotori to once again claim the
prizes, including a kamidana - miniature shrine, and wooden carved chickens
?? (don't know the significance of these) a beautiful ceramic dish and
others.  Unlike the regular sumo, the runner up, Shimotori, also received
several of these prizes as well.

As there was no jungyo the following day, the sekitori, sumo kyokai
officials and upper ranked gyojis were able to return to Tokyo at their own
pace.  The younger members of the sumo world gathered at Uji Yamada station
to wait for their chartered train to Nagoya.  They made a colourful and
cheerful group as they shopped for souvenirs or snacks and joked and chatted
among themselves and with fans or passers by.  The biggest topic of
conversation was how cold it had been.

Kotooshu was particularly happy saying this jungyo season would be his last
time as a tsukebito.  He¹ll have his own tsukebitos when he goes up to juryo
next basho, and the thought of not having to cook, clean, fetch and carry
for someone else and do all those other tsukebito duties, should be a good
impetus towards getting a kachikoshi.  Ganyu, when he was promoted to Juryo,
said that the thing he was most happy about was not having to do chanko
cooking duty anymore.

In spite of the freezing temperature and soaking rain, it was still a fun
day at Ise and I highly recommend it to any sumo fans.  Next year will
probably be boiling hot, it always seems to be one extreme or the other!

Katrina







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[EndPost by Katrina <katrina@shoin.ac.jp>]