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 should have put some money down on that guess as he retired today.

Since the tournament he has been under fire for hitting someone in the early morning during the tournament. Then it turned out he lied about who the person was. Now it looks like the Japan Sumo Association may have told Asashoryu that if he didn’t retire, in order to stop making them look bad, they would take some strict actions against him.

Ironically, some may have thought, including myself, that the final day of the tournament may be Kaio’s last bout. Camera flashes were going crazy to capture what were his possible final moments in the ring. As it turns out, we were witness to Asashoryu’s final match, a defeat to Hakuho. Here are some more scenes from Asashoryu’s last tournament day as a professional sumo yokozuna.

Asashoryu’s final yokozuna ring-entrance ceremony (土俵入り) in three parts…

The final stare down between Yokozuna Asashoryu and Yokozuna Hakuho…

The last picture I took of the day… Yokozuna Asashoryu waving the Mongolian flag as he rides away from Ryogoku Kokugikan for the last time as Grand Champion.

Posted on February 4th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: asashoryu, hakuho, sumo. Comments: 3

I previously mentioned the nice view from Ebisu Garden Place Tower on the day after the typhoon when the skies were extremely clear. I was recently there again, this time with my camera, on a day when the weather was changing.

Beyond Ebisu, in the immediate foreground, you can see Shibuya. I like the way the sun, between a break in the clouds, drew a line under the Shinjuku skyscrapers in the distance.

Posted on February 3rd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: aerial photography, ebisu, shinjuku. Comments: 2

I read somewhere that on Coming of Age Day (成人の日, second Monday of January) there is an annual archery exhibition at Meiji Jingu (明治神宮). My class was cancelled for the holiday so we went to take a look. Unfortunately, there are no signs and we got bad directions a couple of times. It turns out there were two different archery activities going on (but we didn’t realize that until later). Anyway, we found this one (on the north side, much closer to Yoyogi Station than Harajuku Station), and it was fun to watch.

Each archer fires at their own pace after going through a series of ritualistic steps. They get two arrows each. I believe only those who hit the target twice are invited to stick around for the finals. I don’t know this for certain as we didn’t stay until the end, but some people were leaving while others weren’t.

In the photo above you can see the results of a couple of archers who had to be thinking “if only…” It doesn’t matter which part of the target you hit. Dead center (a bullseye) counted the same as an arrow stuck in the outer fringe.

There were two, really amazing archers. One was the guy above and another was a lady. Why were they amazing? Both were shaking like crazy until a split second before they let their arrows fly. One of the lady’s arrows actually fell to her feet while she was loading it she was shaking so badly. But both hit the target with both of their arrows. From the way they were vibrating I would have bet they would have hit someone in the audience before they hit the target.

After departing we found the place doing momoteshiki (百々手式) and caught the tail end. Pictures from that more stylish event will be coming soon.

Posted on February 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: archery, meiji jingu, Tokyo. Comments: 2

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 final few bouts of the day. Above you can see Asashoryu, Kaio, and Harumafuji doing the sanyakusoroibumi (三役揃い踏み) which includes shiko (四股, ceremonial sumo leg raise and stomp). In the background you can see Hakuho and Kotooshu.

Ellie and Ryan are in front of the entrance to Ryogoku Kokugikan.

You can watch the top rikishi enter the grounds between about 1 and 2:30 p.m. on the south side of the building. Fans are supposed to stay behind the blue cones, but this little guy ran out for a handshake. Neither the rikishi (this is Toyonoshima 豊ノ島) or security seemed to mind.

Posted on February 1st, 2010 under Japan. Tags: asashoryu, hakuho, sumo. Comments Off on More Sumo Photos

For 14 straight days I was spoiled by sumo on TV from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. Of course, I wasn’t usually home to watch it for 4 hours a day, but it was nice to know that I could. On the 15th day I got to see sumo live and in person. Now that the tournament is over I’m going through withdrawals. It’s disappointing to turn on the TV at 5 and not have sumo as a choice. Oh well, in 45 more days the next tournament will begin in Osaka.

I’ve shown pictures and discussed Yamamotoyama before. You never know what you’ll see when you watch his bouts. Sometimes he is overpowering. Other times he looks laughable, losing to someone less than half his size because of poor technique and/or a lack of agility. On the final day of the January tournament his opponent, Nakanishi, a makushita (lower division) with only three wins in the tournament, should have been an easy rikishi to defeat. However, at over 580 pounds (264 kilos) Yamamotoyama was tossed out of the ring by Nakanishi to end the tournament with a losing 7-8 record.

Yamamotoyama, getting back into the ring in order to bow to the victor, is not the prettiest sight.

Here you can see the scoreboard after a few more bouts took place. Yamamotoyama’s name (山本山) does not have the red light next to it. This indicates that he lost. Tamaasuka (玉飛鳥) won, as did Masatsukasa (将司). Masatsukasa is one of my favorites, in part, due to the large amount of salt he always throws into the ring.

I liked Tamaasuka’s outfit so I asked him if I could have our picture taken together and he agreed.

The first video below is of the entrance of the Juryo ranks from the east. Tamaasuka is on the far left when they are standing and his foot is about to hit the ground after stepping down from the ring at the very end of the video.

This second video is of the entrance of the Juryo ranks from the west. Yamamotoyama should not be hard to spot in his orange keshomawashi.

Posted on January 31st, 2010 under Japan. Tags: sumo, video, yamamotoyama. Comments: 1