Lets Try Sumo

Short note: Pictures were taken with Hong Yao's Nikon D5000.

That was what written on the pamphlet of the event we attended on Halloween over the last weekend.

Held at Toyano Sogo Gymnasium (鳥屋野総合体育館）in Niigata, it is an event organised by Niigata City International Exchange Association and Niigata City Sumo Federation. We attended a similar event last year, but it was kendo and karate back then.

Passed by Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, which hosted three matches during the 2002 World Cup, including the match between Denmark and England.

The venue of the sumo event.

Sumo is a competitive contact sport where a wrestler (rikishi) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyō) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. (taken from Wikipedia).

It is a sport in which the winner is determined in just a few seconds, despite the long-hours of preparation prior to the competition.

The circular ring or more commonly known as dohyo.

Our initial thought of this event is that we would be shown the demonstration of the sumo wrestling by the wrestler and perhaps given the chance to try a few simple moves in sumo wrestling. But we never thought that we would be allowed to enter the ring and join the other wrestlers as well. Everyone had second thoughts when one of the staffs asked who would like to wear the mawashi, which is the belt that the sumo wrestlers wear during training or competition. Who won't feel shy, to expose your butt and wrap your bottom half of with just a long piece of white cloth that is less than half feet wide.

Imagine the embarrassment if it is not worn properly and the mawashi drops halfway in the ring haha. Free tiger show-lah, what else.

Had one of the staff to wear the mawashi on me.

Sumo-wrestler wannabe haha.

The first thing was the warming-up session. In the beginning, we just did the normal stretches like we always do before playing any sports. But after a while, they made us to do several moves which is only done by the sumo wrestlers. I would say this is one of the most difficult and tiring session of the whole day.

It was that demanding that I told my Vietnamese junior, "I think we did a big mistake by stripping and get ourselves into this ring haha".

Moving the arms back and forth; very simple but not until...

This is one of the most difficult moves, where we need to stretch our arms straight and without any bends.

You see, I have a pair of long arms that even a chimpanzee would be proud of.

That made it almost impossible for me to make sure both of my arms are put into a straight position, no matter how hard I tried. Although one of the staff helped me to make my arms straight, they were still not perfectly straight. Blame it on my non-proportional body measurement. The next one was just the same case; this time it was my long legs lol.

We gotta lift our legs as high as possible.

Next up, we learn how to walk like a monkey. My juniors didn't walk like a monkey; he did a robotic walk haha.

This is the right way to do it.

Please do not try this at home.

People asked us to make sumo moves, but I kung fu-ed in the ring instead haha.

After spending more time laughing on every one's weird moves than making sure we did the right moves, we were taught how to push an opponent from the ring. This is one of the basic moves in sumo wrestling that will determine the winner in a competition.

First was the demonstration by the two wrestlers.

Again, I asked my junior, "Are we really gonna do this?"

Two little kids went to show us another last time before it was our turn.

If the little kids can do it, it shouldn't be a problem for young adults like us, we thought.

My Vietnamese junior and me was the lucky (or should I say the unlucky duo haha) to be the first two person to try it. Good thing that my opponent was a smaller size wrestler and my poor junior got the giant size sumo wrestler haha.

So, I closed my eyes and hope that I will still be in one piece when I opened my eyes.

Two orang utans trying to do the impossible mission - pushing two sumo wrestlers out from the ring.

Wondering what the outcome was?

I shall save the details here haha. Okay-lah, both of us successfully pushed our opponents out from the ring. I am unsure if this is something to be proud of, because I got the feeling our opponents pressed the gostan gear while we were pushing them haha.

Before we took a break, we were made to do the pushing practice without an opponent.

We made the wooden wall as our opponent and made similar pushing moves continuously.

Everyone was exhausted by that time and we were given a break. But it was only a ten minute break and we were begging them for longer time haha. Trust me, those warming-up sessions and practising the moves might look simple, but you will know how tiring it could get once you tried it yourself.

Perhaps I am just finding excuse to cover my poor stamina recently haha.

Three Niigata prefecture's champions of their respective categories - Primary Six, Five and Four. All three will be representing the Tohoku region in the national championship.

The one on the left is the country's top thirty, while the one on the left is the country's top sixteen in the last national championship.

After a few demonstrations by the kids, it was time for us to get into real business.

We skipped the normal rituals, derived from Shinto practice that are performed during competition this time. Instead, we were shown the basic customs before a competition. First, both of the wrestlers will step into the ring, squat facing each other, clap their hands, then spread them wide (traditionally to show they have no weapons).

Then, the wrestlers crouch down at the shikiri-sen, or starting lines, each trying to stare the other down. When both wrestlers place both fists on the ground on or behind the shikiri-sen, they spring from their crouch for the tachi-ai (the initial charge). The important point is to get on above your opponent, hence that will make the opponent to loose his balance. Placing your head on the opponent's chest is also one way to add extra force onto the opponent.

「何も持ってないよ」 ("I have nothing with me").

Next up was a South Korean, which gave me quite some fight.

In the end, both of us fell outside the ring but I won that round because he touched the ground first. I thought I had lost until the referee declare I am the winner haha.

In terms of size, he is not a match for me, but sumo wrestling is not only about body sizes.

Almost there...

Next opponent was my junior. He later told me, "You are heavy also huh" lol!

Defending is the word for this round against Wei Shen in the third round.

After two rounds, I was quite exhausted already. But until I lose a match, I will remain in the ring. My next opponent was Wei Shen and I was only defending the whole round because I ran out of energy already. So, it wasn't a surprise that he rolled me out from the ring haha.

However, guess who was his next opponent?

Who wanna bet the winner for this round?

That sumo wrestler didn't move at all no matter how hard Wei Shen pushed him lol!

After we got to try competing with each other, the tiredness from the warming-up session was forgotten completely. It was really interesting and I am glad we decided to give it a go even though we had to wear baby-like diapers while in the ring haha.

As a finale, the two wrestler gave us an exhibition match and it was my first time seeing a sumo competition live. Both of them graduated from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Nippon Sports Science University.

On your mark.

Almost thrown out, but not quite.

Grabbing the mawashi of your opponent is one strategy to make your opponent loses his balance.

Both could still take a rest while competing haha.

The excitement of seeing two wrestlers competing from near was just too thrilling for me to describe them with words. It is like you could feel the energy and force from both of the wrestlers while they were competing. Although it was just a friendly match, but it was still a cool experience.

When we thought we would be allowed to clean ourselves, they made us to warm-down first. Again, we went through the same processes earlier in the day. Luckily, it was a shorter one.

We were tired already, that we did it in cincai way only haha.

Everyone gathered in the middle of the ring to compete the ritual to mark the end of the session.

Cleaning the ring before we clean our body.

Lastly but not least, a group picture together.

Juices for everyone during the refreshment session.

A short and simple get-to-know session was held after that. Basically, it was more to a question-and-answer session and we were free to ask any questions regarding sumo wrestling. I asked the three kids how long they have been involved in this sport and according to them, they started indulging into sumo wrestling since they were three or four years old.

That is like learning how to wrestle when you just started learning how to walk.

Trophies cabinet at the venue.

That sums up another interesting trip for the international students of Nagaoka Kosen.

Tokyo Tower

One of the last stop I made before I returned to Nagaoka was to visit one of the famous landmark in Tokyo - Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo Tower.

On a personal note, I have never seen the tower ever since I stepped my foot in Japan more than two years ago. I know that sounds quite sad, doesn't it? I have always longed to see the tower with my own eyes, not from postcards or photographs every time I visit Tokyo, but it never materialised. That was until one evening when we were inside the train to Odaiba. Although I saw Tokyo Tower from far during the train ride, it was still my first time and you can ask WinD how excited I was when I saw it. Something like when a little kid saw his favourite Disney character in Disneyland haha.

That was not enough; I wanna see Tokyo Tower from the bottom of the tower. The experience of seeing a tower from its foot and afar is totally two different things. After our Thai dinner at Bangkok Kitchen, WinD asked Takashi if he would like to join us to Tokyo Tower, which he agreed. So, the three of us took a train to Hamamatsu-cho station. A further fifteen-minute walk took us to the bottom of Tokyo Tower.

Hello from Tokyo Tower.

We didn't go up the tower because of two reasons. One, because it is quite pricey compared to other towers in Japan and secondly, it was quite late already and we decided to go up on another day.

We actually had plans to go to Kabukicho in Shinjuku, but going there would make us miss the last bus back home. So we gave Kabukicho a skip as well. By the time we reached home, we were exhausted already but I still need to pack my stuff since I am leaving the next morning. Here is the before-and-after combo picture of WinD's living hall that night.

Before.

After thirty-minutes.

If you notice properly, his house is not really that messy 'coz most of the stuff are mine haha.

The next morning, WinD sent me to the Chiharadai station before going to his university, while I make my journey back to Nagaoka. I overslept that morning and was almost late for my afternoon classes. Fortunately, when I checked my time table, there weren't any lecturers on Tuesday as I only had to go to the lab to do my research.

This is how close the houses and shops to the railway tracks in Japan, yet it is rare to read news about people being hit by the trains. More often, people hit the train by jumping into the tracks.

The track of the upside-down monorail which can be considered a 'white elephant' project.

Bye bye Chiba.

There is actually a funny story when I first visited Chiba in June this year to sit for my university entrance exam. You see, here in Japan, it is common for them to announce the station's name several times when the train arrives in the station. When you arrives in Shinjuku station for example, the announcement will sound something like "Shinjuku... Shinjuku... Shinjuku...". So, same thing happened when that train I was taking reached Chiba station.

"Chiba... Chiba... Chiba..."

Put an Ah Beng in the train and I am sure he will reply with "LJ... LJ... LJ..." straight away hahaha!

Charging my iPod and MacBook while waiting for the shinkansen (bullet train) in Ueno station.

Old and new friends.

Pardon me for the dirty joke above, but if you don't get it, that would be better haha. I hope no under-age kids read my blog lol. But you know nowadays, the young kids are getting more informed that ever, that I am not surprised that they know more detailed stuff than me. Okay, I think I am getting out of topic here already.

On my way back in the shinkansen, I sat next to a grandma. She did not talk to me the whole journey until the last ten or twenty minutes before I got down. She first asked me if the mobile phone cannot be used when the shinkansen goes into the tunnel. I explained to her that the signal will b gone once the shinkansen is inside the tunnel. I guess she wanted to call her child when she reaches her destination. Then, it was back to silence between the two of us. However, out of a sudden, she started to talk to me. My Mom said she might not be able to bear by being silent anymore; that is why she finally got someone to chat with haha. The grandma commented on the girl who just couldn't be bothered to give way to other passengers in the window seat who wanted to get down at a station. She continued by lamenting on the attitude of the youngsters nowadays, how they have changed to have lack of respects towards the elderly and stuff like that. I just nodded my head away, listening to her rants haha.

She also asked a few stuff about me, like where I am studying but she didn't ask where I came from. I guess she thought I am a Japanese lol. Just five minutes before I got down, a lady selling snacks and drinks walked pass our seats and that grandma bought a cup of coffee for me. So nice of her, right? I thanked her, and she wished me good luck. It was a short but sweet meeting with her.

Anyway, while sitting down in the waiting room of Ueno station earlier that morning, I notice a group of grandmas who were talking and exchanging photo albums about their vacations. I am sure these three grandmas were on the way to somewhere. But one this is missing in this picture - their hat haha.

"This is me, twenty years ago"

That sums up my Tokyo trip this time.