Are you ready for some Sumo?!?!

This past Sunday we went to Sumo for the first time. It will probably be the last time. It is one of those things that you want to see while in Japan, but do you want to go a few times a year? To sit and watch really large men wear over-sized diapers and wrestle? Not so much, at least for us. However, we did want to see it at some point, so when friends had two extra tickets in box seats, we decided to take them up on the offer and join them. I wish I had gotten a picture of our box seats. They were not box seats at the Kentucky Derby where you each had your own personal chair. We each had our own personal pillow to sit on and the setting was rather intimate...or shall I say "tight." Let's just say there was not a lot of room in these box seats and we are glad we went with people we like and feel comfortable with. My friend and I would encourage the men to go get snacks or drinks so we could stretch out our legs. The Sumo wrestlers/participants (I am not sure what you are supposed to call them) travel around different cities in Japan to perform matches, and the matches usually last a couple of weeks. In September, they were in Tokyo. When you purchase a ticket, you can literally get there at 9/10 in the morning and watch people compete all day until 6PM. However, the bigger boys come out in the late afternoon/early evening. We got there around 2:30 and stayed until it ended at 6. We knew nothing about the rules or history of the game, so we were reading up on those at the match thanks to Apple and Steve Jobs, RIP. The hubs and his friend got into some friendly wagering, more for pride than for yen, over who would win each match. The difficulty would come when the wrestlers were both wearing the same color of diaper and the stakes had to be claimed based on physical appearance rather than color of uniform. You could not just say, "I'll take the big guy" because they were all big. All except the dude from Czech Republic. I kid you not...he looked like he should be playing American football, wide receiver. He was not that big at all, and he was competing in the elite group. We assumed he had to be good to make it into this group. However, the local Japanese sumo player he was up against took one look at him and sent him back to Eastern Europe on the first plane. There were also competitors from Hawaii, Syria, Bulgaria, and Russia, but on the program they all used Japanese names. It was a really fun experience. I am glad we went. I enjoyed getting involved in the atmosphere of the sport and cheering with people. Was it Neyland Stadium on a Saturday night in the fall against Florida or Rupp Arena on New Year's Even against Louisville? No. But it was fun, and I am glad we can check it off the Japan Bucket list.