The sumotori are still out on their PR tour of central, and soon, northern Japan. The summer tour is important as it brings sumo to the fans, and has done a great job of boosting the appeal of sumo across Japan.
With the Aki basho kicking off on September 10th (count down in the sidebar on the right), there are only a few stops left on the summer tour. This includes
Today – August 14th: Off
August 15th – 20th: Aomori & Hokkaido
August 21st – 22nd: Break & return to Tokyo
August 23rd – 24th: Tokyo, Odaiba mini tournament
August 24th & 25th: Kanagawa & Saitama
August 27th – KITTE exhibition in Tokyo / Banzuke Day
The KITTE exhibition is held in a the JP tower in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Just a note – some really fantastic Okonomiyaki is available nearby. It also happens on the day that the banzuke is published for the upcoming Aki basho.
Never fear sumo fans, the next basho is only 4 weeks away!
Anyone out there going to the Odaiba jungyo? We got tickets for Wednesday afternoon through the lottery — and are unreasonably excited!
Perfectly reasonably excited. :) Have fun! If you’re on Twitter, @ me and I’ll retweet them, if you want.
Just got back from Japan! Andy, apologies that I don’t use Twitter but I did document the trip lightly on instagram (@theHDM).
Jungyo was a blast. Super hot outside and the tent was open-air in a concrete parking lot. Spirits were undeterred though. Checkin was simple (although all in Japanese) but for the record ticketholders are free to come in and out of the jungyo at will throughout the day. All four yokozuna showed up to do dohyo-iri (Kisenosato and Hakuho got the biggest cheers), but only Hakuho and Harumafuji did any sumo. We didn’t arrive early for practice or bustukari, nor did we partake of any chanko-nabe on sale. BUT I did get an autograph from a surly Aminishiki… purchased Hakuho te-gata and a Harumafuji t-shirt… snagged a candid photo of Kisenosato holding an interview in his rose-and-valentine-patterned skivvies (naturally — what a ham!)… and got a selfie with Oosunaarashi (which he took!). Sadly, Tochinoshin and Kaisei gave the cold shoulder, but I’m sure they had other things on their minds :)
For those who are traveling to Japan outside the tournament period, definitely check out jungyo. It’s not the same as a basho — the seriousness and the tense competition give way for lots of fun and the chance to get up close and personal with the big men themselves.
Sounds like a lot of fun! Thank you for the update and I’ll try to share your pictures. I’ve got an account but not used it much yet since I don’t get to take Japan-related pictures often. Oosunaarashi does seem very personable.
I’m not sure that jungyo – the domestic ones anyway – can really be said to boost the popularity of sumo…they’re privately promoted commercial events after all, so they tend to be the result of existing popularity. Back six or seven years ago when sumo was not so hot (to put it lightly) due to all the scandals, an entire year would see fewer jungyo dates than August alone does now. They were doing a few more goodwill events free of charge back then, but the positive effects were probably rather limited.