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.

Posted on November 21st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, clouds, hakuho, people, sumo. Comments: 4