I want sumo smiles
...written on 07.16.02, @ 11:43 p.m.
Tue July 16, 2002
"12 seconds!" I said, as I looked up from my watch to see one of the pair of sweaty sumos upended in a headstand against the dias. After posing and preening, wiping their bodies with wet cloths, slapping their gargantuan hips and hoisting their tightly wound silk thong outfits for almost four minutes, the actual wrestling came down to a mere 12 seconds.
H, Fred, John and I were at a gymnasium in Nagoya to watch 5 hours of live sumo wrestling. John is a big fan of Sumo Digest which runs on TV, so he had a head start in recognizing everyone and even had coined nicknames for some of them. However, we all were live sumo virgins.
There was a wrestler from China, one from Tonga, two from Hawaii and one from Argentina, not to mention all the native sumo wrestlers. The youngest was 23, the oldest 39. The lightest tipped the scales at 115 kg (253 lbs.) and the heaviest, the champ from Hawaii, Musashimaru Niuyo, the last to wrestle, squashed them at 231kg (508 lbs.). He outweighed his opponent by 58 kg (128 lbs.) and dispatched him in under 10 seconds.
We were in the third tier of seating. Which meant the little purple cushion under my behind cost $100. I found solace in the fact that the $400 seats closest to the dias used the same little purple cushions. Though why anyone would pay $300 extra for the dubious privilege of getting flattened by falling sumos is beyond me.
There were four cushions (each about 20"x20") in our reserved area which was just a little bigger than 4'x4'. We piled our shoes, umbrellas and backpacks on the little shelf behind us and set off in pairs to find food. John and Hide were the first back with two box lunches and 2 cans of beer. If you ordered the box lunches off the menu provided by the usher, it cost $30. If you went and got it yourself, it cost $10.
I opened the lid on my lunch box and hastily chowed down on the seafood within. There was deep fried shrimp, salmon, some strange white thing, many pickles, some veggies and some rice.
We got there at 1pm and stayed until 6pm. I think we all snoozed at some point or other, and we were lucky in the fact that the reserved areas to both sides of us were empty, so both Hide and Fred jumped in those, allowing John and I room to spread out our slumbering extremities.
I found the rituals to be very interesting; the costumed referees, the singing of the names in between matches, the tossing of the salt by the wrestlers to purify the ring, the false starts, the preening, etc. I was surprised at the face slapping during the actual wrestling. Also each match is so short, like I said before, mere seconds, and they play one match and then they are finished.
Fred provided more interesting details like the younger wrestlers must do the bidding of the higher ranked wrestlers. These duties include wiping the flanks of the upper ranks. He also explained the sumo tours around the country, the sponsorships and how the wrestlers pick their prizes.
After the match, the boys went on home to Ogaki, but I stayed to go shopping at Tokyu Hands. It bills itself as the "creative life" store, and I had fun browsing the seven floors of it in the Nagoya train station. My total purchases were under $5. Had it been a bookstore, I'm sure the financial damage would have been more severe, but my apartment seems to have all the accoutrements that it needs.
I had also gone to Nagoya the day before (Sunday) to see presentations on phonics and how to teach children more actively. After those, I went to the Hard Rock Cafe and had a huge, juicy, tender steak with a baked potato. I miss oven-baked potatoes. I have a microwave, but it doesn't do 'em justice.
After the Hard Rock I went to Maruzen bookstore and bought some teaching materials. On my way to Maruzen, I passed a young man in an apron blindly handing out coupons to his dining bar. He handed the business card sized paper to me and when our eyes met, I gave him a big smile. Not a "gee, I can't understand kanji" kind of smile, but an "I appreciate you as a human being" kind of smile. He smiled back.