Osaka Basho Just Days Away
Today via twitter, we get images of the crew in Osaka beginning to task of building the clay platform that will, within a few days, become the dohyo for the 2017 Haru basho.
Building a dohyo is labor intensive, back-breaking work. As you can imagine, it is crafted by hand each and every time, by people who take this sort of thing quite seriously. Each of the straw bales are bundled by hand, and the entire platform is shaped and compacted using hand tools.
In a few days, it will be consecrated, and the basho will begin!
If I’m not mistaken, dude is using a bottle of Asahi to beat those tawara into shape. Any bets on whether it’s full, empty, or on its way to being empty?
I am guessing that they have determined that you have to use an empty bottle, and that each bottle is only usable for 100 strikes, then you must use a fresh one. This makes sure that things are built quickly, and the builders are well lubricated.
That’s my kind of quality assurance program, right there.
Nice job reporting this, Bruce. And a shout-out to you (and Andy) for naming the site tachiai.org! I was wondering when ya’ll were going to changed it.
In keeping with the dohyo construction theme, I hope you don’t mind if I post this YouTube link from Araibira Sumo Coverage on the making of the sumo dohyo. It is fascinating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C9kCScVr5k
The sumophiles may like this edited video a lot! Enjoy.
Frankly, I really am fascinated by the construction of these things, so thanks for posting it.
I really want to do this. Maybe I’ll practice in the back yard.