I understand that some of my relatives, following the blog, wanted to see more pictures of overweight males wearing little. So today’s entry is for them.

It is at moments like those shown in the above photograph that you are glad you don’t have a first row seat. There isn’t much space outside the ring before the Sumo wrestlers fall into the spectators below. With hundreds of bouts in a day, several people end up with hundreds of pounds of flesh falling into their laps. I’d be surprised if there haven’t been some injuries.

Today’s pictures are from the September tournament. The November tournament is now underway in Fukuoka. The above photo is of the Ryogoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) in Tokyo.

As mentioned in a prior entry, the above yokozuna, Hakuho (白鵬), was defeated on this night. Hakuho has been the best sumo wrestler of late, winning 10 of the prior 15 tournaments. This photo captures his last happy moment of day 6 in the tournament. Hakuho went on to win the rest of his bouts, including one over the other yokozuna, Asashoryu. Unfortunately for him, Hakuho’s loss on day 6 of the tournament meant that he would have to beat Asashoryu twice to win the tournament. Asashoryu doesn’t lose twice in a row often and he didn’t on day 15 of the tournament either. Asashoryu won the September tournament with a record of 15-1, including the playoff victory, for only his fourth tournament victory in the past 16 tournaments.

I can hardly wait for January to come around as the tournament will return to Tokyo. I have tickets to the final day. Stay tuned.

Related posts:

1. Hakuho loses again On Day 13 (of 15) in the current tournament, Yokozuna Hakuho lost to Ozeki Taio, giving him three losses for the tournament and virtually assuring Yokozuna Asashoryu (who only...
2. Sumo – Part 1 After a break of “just” 21 years I finally had the chance to see sumo in person again earlier this month. I was extremely excited, especially after watching it...
3. January Sumo Tournament 相撲 平成22年1月 初場所 The recent January 2010 Sumo Tournament held in Ryogoku Kokugikan (Tokyo) held great promise of being one of the most exciting sumo competitions in a while until the last...
4. More Sumo Photos Some special events happen on the final day of a sumo tournament. One is a short demonstration or ceremony put on by the Yokozuna- and Ozeki-ranked rikishi before the...
5. Yokozuna Asashoryu retires 横綱朝青龍の引退 After Asashoryu won the January sumo tournament, I predicted it would be his last time being grand champion, never imagining that it would be due to his retirement. I...

Posted on November 21st, 2009 under Japan • Tags: buildings, clouds, hakuho, people, sumo. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed