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In June 2008, the Japan Sumo Association held its third U.S. koen in as many years.  This one took place in Los Angeles to the absolute delight of sumo’s many American fans – both of the professional and the amateur varieties.  As with the Hawaiian and Las Vegas

tours, there was much enthusiasm among fans across the United States – it had been 27 years since the previous professional sumo tour in L.A. - but, alas, as with both previous tours, little marketing was done to make the event as truly successful as it could have been!

 

The promoter was the same as for the Hawaiian tour, Mr. Shigemitsu Inohana. As I mentioned in my report on the Hawaiian koen, Mr. Inohana was*  an avid sumophile, who, since moving to Hawaii several years ago, missed seeing the live edition of the sport, thus, his well-intentioned efforts to have the sumo in the United States. An initial problem confronting the Los Angeles tour was the size of the stadium. The Blaisdell Arena in Hawaiian has a capacity of about 8,800, whereas the Los Angeles Sports Arena accommodates 16,000. However, of the 16,000 seats, approximately 2,500 were not for sale. Well, that didn’t matter because the sales for the first day were around 9,600 – 71%, and attendance on the second day rose to close to 11,000 – 81%, so Mr. Inohana publicly considered the tour a success with an average 75% attendance for the two days together. I would tend to agree. I’ve seen the sold out banners come down above the dohyo at the Kokugikan in Tokyo when a majority of the second floor seats were obviously unoccupied!

*Unfortunately, this past June 23rd, Mr. Inohana was found dead in Honolulu. According to the autopsy report, he committed suicide by self-inflicted stab wounds to the neck. Someone has said that suicide seemed highly unlikely, which seems reasonable to me as well, but that he also made everyone miserable. Well, not this writer. He was very charming and personable, and had nothing to do with booth or concession. assignments; he had a cadre of assistants making those decisions for him.  In fact, he was probably the most excited and delighted fan at both venues. At this writing, there is some suspicious that this may have been homicide. In any event, R.I.P. Shigemitsu Inohana; thank you for bringing live sumo to us here in America. I only hope that if you did commit suicide, it was not from an irreparable emptying of your wallet, but because you had fulfilled your dream of having sumo in Hawaii and Los Angeles.

 

As usual, Musashimaru and Azumazeki Oyakata (former Sekiwake Takamiyama, real name Jesse Kuhaulua) did the rounds of the talk shows - although not nearly enough as would have been necessary to properly publicize the event. And as in Hawaii, Jesse was

trotted out on the dohyo for an opening day tribute to him that seemed to make him a bit uncomfortable. The Kyokai Oyakata who were responsible for the overall administration of the koen were Sendagawa Oyakata, the former Akinoshima and Musoyama Oyakata, the former – who else? Musoyama.

 

And then there was the LA Times’ very brief article in the Entertainment pages of the weekend edition that was rife with misstatements. The reporting in the Sunday Times was way more entertaining, although a tad too late to boost attendance. You can read it here.

In any event, the crowd was enthusiastic, rooting for their favorites, and very audibly cheering on all of the rikishi.

 

So, here, once again are my own impressions, experiences and thoughts, rather than a blow-by-blow description of the bouts themselves, which can be found on other websites.

 

The rikishi arrived on Wednesday, June 4, via two different flights on Japan Airlines and Korean Air. I thought the latter was an odd choice – why not ANA? – until I realized that the host hotel is a partner with Korean Air, which is a sponsor of the tournament. The Yokozuna were each on one flight – Hakuho on the JAL with, among others, Kaio and Kotooshu, while Asashoryu traveled on the earlier KAL flight, with Chiyotaikai, Kotomitsuki and Kyokutenho, plus several others. (I had arrived from New York on a relatively early flight, hoping to greet the boys from the JAL flight, but JAL was a full hour early than scheduled, and, by the time I would get to the appropriate terminal, they’d already be at the hotel.)

 

My first “sighting” was of Kyokutenho, sitting in the lobby, as I arrived for check-in at the Wilshire Grand Hotel. The sekitori was with his wife, baby, parents and parents-in-law. This was about 10AM, and, since check in time was 3PM, some rooms were not yet available, but I lucked out. ‘Tenho was obviously very jet-lagged, but was pleasant

nonetheless, posing for photos with hotel guests, many of whom had no clue that sumo had come to Los Angeles. As in Hawaii, I found later that most Angelenos, including taxi drivers that I spoke to did not know about the tour.I also ran into three tsukebitos, or attendants - and then ran into them again and adain, every place i went.

 

A few other rikishi had also brought their families – and girlfriends! Hakuho came with wife and daughter; the little girl is really tall for just 13 months old, but cute as a button and looking more Japanese, at this point, than Mongolian. Of course, that could change and I’ll look forward to seeing little

Amiu as she grows. Kakizoe was there with his wife and child, Iwakiyama with his wife and Yoshikaze with his very beautiful girlfriend. (These men seem to find, for the most part, extremely gorgeous women!!!)

 

Although one would think that the boys would be in their rooms recovering from their often professed jet lag, I was amazed to see so many of them wandering around the lobby. By the way, Tochinoshin is gorgeous with the most beautifully clear complexion, but I didn’t get a picture  - bummer! Most of them wanted to go shopping, although they were mindful of the so-called welcoming reception at 6PM that evening.

 

Kokkai and Roho, both unshaven and with hair in disarray, were particularly funny. Roho gave me a hard time, pointing

and wagging his finger at me,  as he did Katrina in May, about our chanting for Wakanosato in Hawaii. There, he had to fight Wakanosato, so we, - Katrina, her sister and I - alternated doing our Wakanosato chant, then, in a different voice, yelled RoooHoooooo! Nevertheless, whoever won, Roho would kiddingly wag his finger at Katrina in mock rebuke.  In May, I happened to be sitting next to the West hanamichi on a few occasions, and as Wakanosato would come out, I would do a more sedate version of the Wakanosato chant. And who came out after Wakanosato? Yup! Roho, just glaring at me (all in fun, though)! We laughed about it this time and assured Roho that we would holler as loud, if not louder for him, as we would for Wakanosato. It must have worked because he smiled and winked at us for the rest of the tournament.

 

Back to Kokkai and Roho, they rode up and down the escalator from one hotel entrance to the other, allegedly looking for a taxi. They asked me about reserving a taxi – I guess they were too shy (!) to wait outside the hotel entrance for a suitably large cab to pull up. I’m sure it wasn’t a language barrier as Kokkai was speaking English

pretty well, to my surprise and delight. As it turned out, they were waiting for Roho’s brother. Hakurozan appeared  about an hour later asking frantically if I had seen the other two men, who had apparently given up on waiting for the younger Russian and, after shaving and getting their mages done, ensconced themselves by the pool. (The pool turned out to be favorite relaxing place for the wrestlers, oyakata and other staff.) About another half hour later, Wakanoho emerged from the elevators, nicely coiffed, and the four disappeared into the Los Angeles traffic.

 

As for me, I spent the rest of the day in the lobby lounge with my dear friend Linda N. Now, for a luxury hotel, the Wilshire Grand is a little weird, as such hotels go, not having a lounge area in the main lobby in which to have tea or cocktails or any other service. I had to go down to the lower level and order a couple of glasses of wine in a misconceived sports bar, and bring the wine upstairs to the main lobby!!! The concierge told me that he had often suggested that the vast area in the main lobby with tables and a large, unused bar be put to use as a limited service bar and meeting place, but that fell on deaf ears.

 

Digression – One thing I absolutely love and never cease to enjoy is the expression and body language that is common among the rikishi, oyakata, and, for all I know, many Japanese persons, as well, when they unexpectedly meet someone they know. I’m talking about, well, when one comes face to face with me, I getting a resounding “OH!” with a look showing surprise with raised eyebrows and pursed lips, and a slight pulling back of the head. I only wish I could have captured that on film. Maybe next time………..

Just a reminder right here, click on the thumbnail photos for larger views, but, also please be sure to look at my photos on Photobucket right here.

 

Well, anyway, with wine in hand, Linda and I resumed our rikishi- and oyakata- watching, until the 6 PM reception. Unlike the Hawaiian welcoming reception, tickets were not available for purchase, and, frankly, most of the people I saw going to the reception area were 1) press, and 2) Japanese ‘civilians”.  It seems that the reception lasted a mere 45 minutes or so, after about 10 or 15 minutes allotted to the press, and apparently did not offer enough or type of food to satisfy everyone, since, at around 7:20 PM, the last of the  boys were leaving and asking where they could get a meal. (I must say, though, that some of the rikishi were impressed by the sizes of the buffet dishes, but, again, not otherwise blown away.) Some of the Mongolian boys were anxious to have Mongolian barbecue – others wanted American food in those huge portions that are so typical here and virtually unknown in Japan. In fact, later on, Linda took me to a wonderful sushi restaurant and bar, Sushi Gen, in Little Tokyo, and who should walk in but Wakanosato

with a few of his supporters. On the QT, we were told that a few more rikishi would be at the restaurant on Saturday. Needless to say, that solved the issue of where to eat that weekend day!

 

On Thursday, some of the boys were scheduled to have a group photo opportunity outside the Kodak Theater (home of the Academy Awards). After that, they made a stop at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, to the amazement of many other visitors to those tourist sites. Later, several rikishi were also going to Universal Studios to visit the theme park. One of the most excited about the visit was Nishikido Oyakata, formerly the original Big Salt, Mitoizumi, who paced happily while waiting for the buses to pull up. However, most of the rikishi I spoke to were more interested in going shopping, and indeed made sojourns to a shopping outlet for Big Dog merchandise (Baruto, Kisenosato), Beverly Hills (Asasekiryu, Hakuba) and the local Macy’s shopping complex - a nice, leisurely day in anticipation of the accelerated schedules for the weekend.  Some retreated to somewhere that a casino could be found and made plans to visit Las Vegas before returning to Japan**.

Dear Katrina Watts – my soulmate - known to some in Hawaii as Bettina ☺ - arrived the previous day but spent the night at friends’ since the hotel had no vacancy until Friday night. She came over to the Wilshire Grand and joined me in rikishi-watching. We were very pleased to see Jesse with two rather small Japanese men, to whom he jokingly referred as his “bodyguards”, and to sit and speak with him for a couple of hours. Later, the director of the USA Sumo

Association, Andrew Freund, came along and invited us to the press coverage of the dohyo matsuri and special exercise and kimarite exhibition at the Arena the following day.

 

Kotooshu was seen strolling around inside the hotel on a number of occasions, with his brother and a young Bulgarian woman in tow. His brother spoke fairly decent English, and when I saw him, he was at the concierge desk, demanding to know where the private car they had hired was. Kotooshu himself was generally unfriendly and aloof, rarely taking

photos or signing an autograph. I did manage to catch him reluctantly giving up his signature, but generally, he totally ignored requests and marched straight ahead, even when a couple with a young child asked for a photo. Oh, dear. Needless to say, he was not the favorite in the personality department, especially when everyone else, including the two yokozuna, were happy to grant photos and signatures. But now, I can tell you my story: Katrina, Meike and I have been following the young Bulgarian and supporting him since the very day he came in to sumo as a maezumo rikishi. It’s all well and good that individuals who have followed since he became juryo think that he is  now the cat’s meow, but I remember him asking the three of us the names of whom he fought, what certain words meant, etc., etc., etc.,. As soon as he became sekitori, we approached him to extend our hands and congratulations, and he put his nose in the air and walked by. Not just once, but each and every time we saw and reached out to him. In Los Angeles, Katrina, being her always gracious self, approached him to congratulate him on winning the May yusho. Well, the self-centered s.o.b. just gave her a limp hand, a disdainful smile, and turned away. No way in heck was I going to say anything to him, then or ever again. Period. I don’t care how much I dislike anyone fighting against Kotooshu, I will always cheer for that opponent.

 

Back on track. About eight fans, including yours truly, went to the Dodgers game that night, as did some sumo personnel from the various heya. Thanks to Peggy and Sue (yes, that’s right) for obtaining the tickets. Of course, we knew that a group of rikishi, headed by Hakuho, were to go on Friday, but I think we and the sewanin (heya assistants) got the best of the deal on Thursday night.  While the Friday evening attendees received key chains, all of the Thursday night patrons received bobblehead dolls of Dodgers pitcher Takashi Saito, who unfortunately did not do his job well that evening, causing the Dodgers

to lose to the Cubs. Having said that, I’m sure that the boys were given the bobbleheads, too. Who could refuse Hakuho and the rest of the gang? Heck, I would have given mine up for any one of them! (As it turned out, since Jesse had arranged for the tickets for the sewanin, the previous night, one of them gave up his bobblehead to the Oyakata.)

 

Friday brought the dohyo matsuri, exercise and kimarite demonstrations for the press, and more shopping by the rikishi. Two, who opted out of shopping this day decided to enjoy a good part of the afternoon at the hotel pool. I simply cannot express how wonderful it was to see Kisenosato and Baruto acting like a couple of small kids in the hotel pool. Kisenosato had already scoped it out on Wednesday, and it was a very cold day in Los Angeles on Wednesday, too. But

today,  Baruto, sporting his brand new Big Dog swimming trunks, and Kisenosato, having posed for a photographer on Wednesday, were now having unadulterated fun together, while a bemused Ama and entourage, and Oyakata watched from  tables at the sidelines. Many fans perceive Kisenosato to be a pouting poor sport, but that's only his dohyo persona. In reality, he is just a kid, who just wants to enjoy his private time.

Baruto stayed in the pool until it was time to eat in the communal dining room. He did  many, many dives into the 9' end of the pool, but one poor little lady was concerned that the water may have been too shallow and that Bart woud hurt himself. He didn't care - he indicated that he was bouyant enough. Later that evening, after sending Baruto off on a beer run (and myself to the sports bar several times for wine),  I sat down with him and had a very revealing conversation about his childhood, his family, his tastes in food (big pieces of beef - a man after my own heart!) and his general happiness at being where he is today, despite numerous adjustments that he had to make and the hardships he encountered in making them. And all in excellent English! A true gem of a person that has made the most of more misfortunes in his short life to date,than most of us would experience in a lifetime,  he instilled in me a great sense of respect for him after all of the difficulties he has been able to surmount.

 

Right here, and at the risk of sounding like a real drinker, which I can be at times, I need to tell you that after all of the excitement of the day, I usually went to the sports bar to get a glass of wine to bring to my room. I’ve seen several of the boys – Russian/Georgian and Mongolian contingents – sitting in the rear of the bar and, thank you, Asasekiryu

and Tokitenku, was invited to sit with them. But, the strangest thing was ordering my wine at the bar and speaking briefly to one of the sewanin. The sewanin left and I was sitting there face to face with Takamisakari!!!! It gets even stranger. Anyone who attends a basho in Japan, or who was in Las Vegas or Hawaii is aware that he is usually nonresponsive to fans. Well, maybe it was because I didn’t fawn over him, just said “good evening” and began to leave, that he decided to speak to me. Omigod! He spoke AT (that’s the only word I could think of) me for a full 15 or 20 minutes – in Japanese. Now, I’m an expert at aizuchi, the Japanese art of listening in Japan, since my gentleman friend is Japanese and I get it all the time, so I “so desu ne’d”, “hai-d” “ehhhh”d, and “nnnnnh’d” just hoping he

would not say something ending with “ka”, which would indicate a question. Happily, he didn’t, and I was finally able to extricate myself, but with my third glass of wine. Naturally, we became New Best Friends Forever after that. Oh, I had to pay for my own drinks – no treating from RoboCop.  But I certainly impressed the patrons at the bar who thought I had to be fluent in Japanese!

 

But wait, I’m missing someone. Where was my beloved Yokozuna Asashoryu? I had seen his attendants come and go over the days, but no sign of him on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. He did put in a brief appearance at the “welcome” reception on Wednesday, but had to leave quickly for an engagement with another group. Finally, on Saturday morning, I accosted Asadoryu, one of the yokozuna’s attendants and asked where the Big Man was. He pointed to the hotel gift

shop, and sure enough, there HE was, the gift shop totally packed with people vying for a photo or a signature. Asashoryu very graciously took pictures with and signed autographs for all who were patient enough to wait his and her turns. I think a lot of opinions about him changed during these few days- bad boy in his yokozuna hat, personally wonderful. But, then,  I knew that for many years already.

 

When the Yokozuna’s fans started to thin out, I was asked to help another of his attendants change money. Asashoryu was to visit an orphanage the following morning and wanted to donate funds in US dollars cash. What a chore that was! The hotel had a policy of not exchanging more than 30,000 yen (approx. US$ 260 at the hotel’s exorbitant exchange rate) for one guest. Asa needed over 300,000 yen exchanged. Through various means, we finally

got almost US$ 2,000 together, and were able to do the rest later on. I think I visited every bank within five blocks north, south, east and west of the hotel!

 

In the meantime, the Yokozuna decided he wanted to have tempura for lunch, with his cousin, attendant and me tagging along. Well, guess what? Except for food courts in the various shopping centers, very few restaurants were open for lunch in our neck of Los Angeles. We did try the Japanese restaurant in the hotel – open at 5:30. The concierge tried finding Japanese restaurants in the area serving lunch – open at 5:30. Finally, two journalists from Ohzumo Magazine recommended we go to Little Tokyo. Surely there would be restaurants that were open there and that served tempura. We were lucky to see Kakizoe and family getting out of a van which Kakizoe offered for our use, and we made our way to Little Tokyo. Talk about rock stars!! Japanese, other Asians, and Westerners alike clamored after him until one of the journalists asked for a little private time. But as we walked through the promenade that is a major part of Little Tokyo, we were, even there, unable to find anything open for lunch except a curry place (with a long waiting line), and a ramen restaurant that only had counter seating. Meanwhile, we gathered a following within Little Tokyo itself. A shopkeeper, Nakao “Nikki” Ikeda, offered to take us to get tempura, but the New Otani Hotel restaurant, as well as most of the other restaurants in the Otani complex, was also closed for lunch. We did eventually find tempura, but by that time we needed to rush since the yokozuna had to be at the meeting area for the buses to the venue at 2:30 PM.

Of course, on our return, the fans again surrounded the Yokozuna, including in the hotel elevator. At one point, the door opened, and there were two women who didn't know whether to get in or get out; Asashoryu beckoned for them to get in, as we left the elevator, they seemed as if they wanted to ask for a photo. Asa beckoned to them, they took the picture and were both happy as larks. Note: I met he two women in Kino's the next day, and who did one of them turn out to be? The Marketing person for Sakura, Linda Lyon. Later, we took a photo with Wakanosato -  you can see it below.

 

Much has been written on other websites about the boys congregating to board the bus taking them to the venue on Saturday, with the three Russians, Roho, Hakurozan and Wakanoho, showing up on the late side, very sheepish looking, and needing to take a taxi. The cab driver, however, refused to take all three and poor Wakanoho had to take one on his own. The following day, everyone was looking for Asashoryu, who had returned from golf early enough to be ready for the bus, but whose attendants were nowhere in sight with his room key (not to mention the assistance he would need to get into his kimono). Contrary to reports, since we were there, he did not disregard the meeting time. He is able to shower and change into his kimono within 5 minutes, and, after finding his key, did exactly that. I think the powers that be and the press were irritated that he stopped to sign autographs and take pictures with fans, even though he was a bit late for the bus.   Notwithstanding these little glitches, by both days’ time to group, most of the boys were relaxed, posed for photos with the fans and signed autographs, except ozeki you-know-who.

 

The venue had many freebees, if one knew where to look. Tables had clear files for all, pronouncing “Come See Our Cool Japan”, bags of three instant soups, Sakura SumoGrip pens (LOVE the new SumoGrip II!) , bottle opener key

rings, pamphlets introducing the sport of sumo, and samples of tea. T-shirt purchases from the venue came with a free stencil set, courtesy of Sakura, which, by the way, was THE major sponsor, and uchiwa (flat) fans. There were raffles for tea and other goodies (I was notified when I returned to NY that I had won a box of delicious Aojiru green barley grass tea!). Of course, the ringside seat spectators were each given a gift bag with chocolates and other comestibles. The souvenir programs went for $20.

 

As usual, the first evening began with oyakata, gyoji, yobidashi and the

rikishi lining up for  welcoming remarks, this time by Oshima Oyakata  - apparently Kitanoumi decided not to make the trip. Pre-tournament performances included a spectacular taiko drumming demonstration around the dohyo – just fantastic, but the decibel level at that proximity could split one’s eardrums - , children’s sumo and comedy sumo. I have much of this sampled in my Hawaii koen report. This was followed by the regulation dohyo-iri. During the bouts, as expected, a variety of kimarite was used by the winners, and there were a few mono-ii.

 

The wrestlers generally played to the crowd, with Ama, Takamisakari, the two Yokozuna, and Kotooshu (despite his ill-mannered behavior with the fans) receiving the most support. Mongolian fans were there in hordes (no pun intended)

supporting their countrymen. My fellow sumo-lover, Jim, aka Takanorappa, had made two signs (see photo). Asashoryu acknowledged them with a wink to Jim and with a “thumbs up” when he won the match.

On Saturday, Linda, Katrina and Linda’s friend returned to Sushi Gen, and true to word, Wakanosato was back along with Iwakiyama, Toyohibiki and others. Since the proprietor and sushi chefs are all sumoaficionados, the atmosphere was one of extreme excitement and joy. Later, in the hotel lobby, we had a very nice long chat with Iwakiyama, but I do not remember nor did I understand most of it.

 

As expected, Asashoryu won the first day. As NOT expected, Hakuho lost the second day to Kisenosato, who was then beaten by Asashoryu, the

winner of the Sakura Cup in the playoff. Everyone left the venue each day in good spirits, and a fine bow-twirling ceremony was performed by Minanosato, Asashoryu’s very able attendant who had been passed over as yumitori shiki in Hawaii. 

I am very puzzled about one thing on this tour. I was very much looking forward to listening to Troy Collins, an amateur sumo man and sumo lover, along with Musashimaru, as the stadium commentators. Troy had gone to Japan last year and, after receiving some tips and training from the NHK commentators, was an invited guest on one of the NHK broadcasts for the Kyushu basho. Instead, they were replaced and we were subjected to a very clinical and dry description of the bouts, with no color or additional or explanatory information. A far cry from Ross Mihara and Maru in Hawaii (although I didn't really care for Konishiki's WWF type commentary in Las Vegas). I cannot understand who made the decision  to replace Troy and Maru or why it was done. In my opinion, the Los Angeles audience was deprived of what could have been a vastly entertaining give and take between Troy and Maru, with lots of sumo explanatory information for the newbies to the sport as well as eneterating and humorous tidbits about the sport and the individual wrestlers. And that's what I have to say about that!

The Mongolians wrapped up the week with a party in the hotel Ballroom, but it was quite crowded, so I made my way back down to the sports bar.  There, I spent the rest of the evening until the bar practically closed with Katrina and Asashoryu's exceptionally handsome brother, Serjbudee. Not a bad substitute and the perfect way to end a most enjoyable trip.

 

 

Alas, all good things come to an end, so I had to leave Los Angeles early Monday morning, way before the boys did, and say bye-bye to another fantastic time. If dreams do come true, however, perhaps the rumors of future tours in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Thailand will become reality. Naysayers say that there’s no reason to have sumo in the United States, that there’s no sufficient audience nor any future here. Sounds like sour grapes to me. We are, after all one country among only four in North America, unlike the multitude of countries that comprise Europe - and there are a lot of fans in Canada, as well - , but we do have our very popular amateur sumo here, as well as untold numbers of professional sumo watchers, particularly on the West and East Coasts.  I say, bring sumo back again and we’ll see how the audience and appetite for sumo will have grown with these three last American tours. Besides, like it or not, naysayers, the BOYS love it here, too!

 

As for the immediate future - sigh, there’s always Mongolia later this year and London next year…………………

 

Thanks for putting up with me, to Richard, Janice, Chuck, Peggy, Sue, Jay, Jim, Barry and especially to Linda and Katrina!  I know I forgot someone, so tell me, please who you are.

Thanks to all my “boys” for being themselves.

 Special thanks also to Linda Lyon, of Sakura of America Marketing, for giving up her own, not-yet-on-sale SumoGrip II gel pen. I can’t wait until its official launch.

 

**Note to gossipmongers: Asashoryu DID go to Las Vegas for his friend’s wedding; he was

never seen snuggling with a showgirl – (if any snuggling was done, it was likely with me ☺), so get over it! In fact, one of the Japanese sports newspapers showed a photo of Asashoryu kissing me on the cheek in front of his yusho photo in May. I had his daughter in tow, but the paper just HAD to caption “Papa, Papa, That’s bad! Don’t kiss her!” Give him – and me - a break!

 

 

More photos can be found on Kotoshogiku’s blog, http://ameblo.jp/kotosyo-blog/page-3.html , Futeno’s blog, http://futenou.ameblo.jp/ with an adorable photo of him and the baby he was holding during the rikishi dohyo-iri. I asked if she were his child, but he laughed and said it was the daughter (I think) of a distant relative. Nishikido Oyakata was anxious to pepper his blog with photos, http://blog.livedoor.jp/nishikido/archives/2008-06.html#20080611 .

 

Don't forget to check out my other photos right here,too. See ya later this year!

And remember the fine print: © Barbara Ann Klein 2008 Please do not reproduce  text or images from this blog, without permission in writing from me, which I usually give. Links to this blog are permitted as a matter of course.  All rights reserved. Special thanks to Linda Ninomiya and Katrina Watts for the use of some oeir own photos from the tournament. Their images are also copyrighted.

Well, this is quite a year for sumo overseas. In addition to the LA tour below, it looks like there will also be a tour to Mongolia on August 27 and 28.

This time, instead of just the top ranks of rikishi boarding the plane across the sea, all of the Mongolian boys, of whichever rank, will be able to attend. That's nice. A few of the Mongolian rikishi have languished in the non-salaried ranks or lower than the makunouchi (top ranking level) division, so I know they will all be happy to visit their homeland again! Usually, non-Japanese rikishi are not permitted to return to their homelands until they reach juryo, or, in some cases, high makushita. There have, however, been some stablemasters who have rewarded a good performance or who have tried to boost morale with a trip "home", such as Nishikido Oyakata for Kazafuzan and Tatsunami Oyakata for Daionami, (not necessarily for each of those reasons, respectively). In fact, I just heard from one of the sandanme boys who is just ecstatic, and justifiably so,  about returning home after over three years..

This is also exciting, of course, for the two yokozuna, who I am sure are anxious to perform together in their home country for their sumo fans there who may not be able to go to Japan! I know that Asashoryu has been lobbying for this tour for quite some time now.

Stay tuned.........

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION

For anyone interested in attending the Los Angeles Grand Sumo tour in Los Angeles, to be held in the LA Memorial Arena on June 6 and 7, here is the place to go for information on tickets: www.sumotour.com, Beware - the site is quite slow in loading and information is not quite complete as of this time - but, it is a site to return to for the sure-to-come updates.

The tickets for the tournament will be offered to the general public beginning mid-March.

If you feel that you have any drawing skills, the sponsor, Sakura of America, is having a sumo manga competition with two tickets to the tourney awarded to the winner. There is also a sumo quiz. The press release is here, or you can go to the sponsor's website at http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/sumo

There is also a Sumo Guide, which is basically still a work in process and has a few inaccuracies, which I hope will be ironed out before the tournament, so no flaming yet, please :-)

OH, NO, Akebono!

Amidst the rumble and roar of purported undignified conduct on behalf of the great yokozuna Asashoryu, Russians Roho and Wakanoho, and most recently, Estonian Baruto, comes this:

Former yokozuna Akebono sucks on a pacifier for one his WWE-type performances bout with a new shikona - if you can call a joke-as-a-sport fighting name a "shikona" : Monster Bono. Give me break!

The "world's oldest active rikishi" is how one of my fellow sumo enthusiasts refers to Ichinoya, the wrestler from

Takasago-beya who will celebrate his 47th birthday this December and his 24th year in sumo with the Kyushu basho this November. Now Jonidan E83, he achieved his highest rank at Sandanme 6.

I know I have been promising photos and video from morning practice, or asageiko, for some time, but yesterday, a wonderful article about Ichinoya on the Asahi.com website,  http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200709150071.html, inspired me to finally, at least put up one video - a rare, albeit somewhat shaky-hand video of Ichinoya going through one of his morning routines this past May. I say "rare", because just over a year ago, Takasago generally closed its doors to spectators- with some exceptions, of course - and because Ichinoya is usually the first man to arrive on the dohyo  - at a pretty early time, and way before the usual visitor would appear at the heya door.

Just a little explanatory text: The ambient light in most heya is somewhat short of being even remotely satisfactory for a decent amateur attempt at video or photography. Viewers are mostly facing a dohyo backed by a large window with the light streaming in.Tripods are not permitted, unless one

has a press pass, so the action is hard (for me) to catch with my unsteady camera grip.

The first clip has Ichinoya starting his practice sessions in the foreground. His training partner is Asakubo, a 24-year-old Jonidan W54 man. After his combat session, Ichinoya did do quite a bit of "shiko", i.e., leg-raising and stomping, but the light in that corner was just way too poor to capture this exercise, although you can, at times, hear his grunts in the background.. After Ichinoya finishes his own training, and his stablemates begin practice, Ichinoya leaves the dohyo and the "public" practice area to either go to the Kokugikan for his bout, if he is on the schedule that particular day, or attend to his duties of overseeing the meal preparations and performing other general managerial duties for the heya.

Since I was already working with the videos for Takasago, I extracted another clip that

will show some of the other wrestlers, including Asadoryu (formerly Asahanada)

Hananostao, Minanosato (now yumitori, or, bow-twirler), Asanotosa and Asahimaru (the really big guy who is as gentle as can be). In the white mawashi, in the split postion on the floor is Mongolian

Asasekiryu, west Sekiwake, who is another favorite of mine (aren't they all?) - always with the ready smile and always inquisitive.

If I have more time later this week, I will finish documenting the Takasago practice, but in the meantime, please enjoy these two videos.

 

 

© Barbara Ann Klein 2007 Please do not reproduce  text or images from this blog, without permission in writing from me, which I usually give. Links to this blog are permitted as a matter of course.  All rights reserved.