Sumo

Sumo tournament, Nagoya

Went and saw a sumo tournament at Nagoya Prefectural Gym (next to Nagoya Castle) last weekend. I went with some friends from work, both of whom had seen it before. So lucky me, I got some good explanations of what was going on during the tournament! I also got an english brochure about the history and rules of sumo, but I wanted to watch the wrestlers, not read a brochure! Pretty basic rules anyway, whoever falls out of the ring first or touches the ground with anything but their feet, loses. They have about 10 days of matches in each city (I think it's held 6 times a year, and only one of those is in Nagoya). I had seen sumo on tv, but it was really neat actually being there. Got to watch a maiko (geisha in training) sit with all the high rollers who had paid big cash for the most expensive seats. One guy had this big silly grin on his face the whole time she was sitting with him. At one point he was waving to his friends on the other side of the stadium and pointing at the maiko, like "Hey guys, look who's sitting with me!! I'm so cool!!". It was pretty funny to watch! The wrestling was interesting too, some matches ended really fast, and others actually had a nice 1-2 minute long bout. The most exciting match was at the end, with the yokozuna (grand champion). My friends wanted him to lose, because then the audience would launch their floor cushions at him into the ring. No such luck, he won. No cushion missiles! The pictures were taken when the wrestlers parade onto the stage before starting the next round of matches. It was also interesting to see all the sponsor's banners that got paraded onto the stage when it was a big money match. Those wrestlers must make some serious cash if they win (and of course, being Japan, it's handed to them in cash in an envelope - no big tacky fake cheques here!). I was also a little confused about the man who came on stage with a fan and was singing something in between each match. My friends said he is actually singing the names of the next wrestlers, which I thought was an interesting way to do it!

The only drawback for the whole day was the American woman who came up to us after the match to complain. "Oh, thank god, you speak english. Why do they keep delaying the actual start of each match so long? It seems so silly. Blah blah blah blah...", all in a super loud nasally voice. Honey, sumo is a very old sport, and very different to anything else you are going to see in the world. Please don't irritate the rest of us with "But why?? I don't like that!!"! Grrrrr. If you don't know, feel free to ask, but don't assume that just because we are english speakers, we have no desire to discover the reasons why things are done a certain way! I have many American friends, and most are really nice, but it seems like there is a general mentality that anything that isn't within their scope of knowledge is wrong and strange. I think it's just a lack of experience with different cultures and ways of life, as well as a general education system that is very heavily biased towards the US, with not much focus on anywhere else. I'm not saying anywhere else is any better; in Canada, we learn very little about the history of Canada at school, which many would see as a drawback. However, we do spend a lot of time learning about other parts of the world, different points of view, etc. I found this style of education invaluable, as we are all living in a very multicultural global world now, where things that are happening on the other side of the world do affect us very much. Of course, I have some prejudices and biases and ideas based on ignorance myself, but I do try to keep an open mind, and discover why I think like that, and what I can do to change it if it's not fair. Nobody's perfect, especially not me, but I like to think of myself as someone who tries to understand things and become a better person a little each day. It doesn't always work, and sometimes I go backwards, but I do try. Maybe I am a bit biased against Americans, but I am trying to overcome that. I think I heard too many insanely unintelligent questions when I was working in the tourism industry in Banff, that you just start to expect it of them. Don't believe me? The worst one I ever heard was "Excuse me miss, how much does that mountain weigh?". Say no more!!