With five days to go before the action starts in Tokyo, the build of the Aki dohyo is in full swing. According to reports by the NSK on twitter, the rough form of platform was completed by the end of the day Tuesday, with construction of the tawara progressing well.
Over the course of the next few days, the dohyo will take its ultimate shape, and be ready for battle by the consecration ceremony on Saturday.
UPDATE: Seems there is a “day of sumo” with none other than the legend Konishiki! It will be September 19th, and if any of our readers are or will be in Tokyo, I strongly encourage you to try to go. Konishiki is the reason I took notice of sumo to begin with, and seeing as it day seems to include a meal (like Chanko!), you can’t miss.
Apropos the dohyo construction, the Kyokai made a decision recently that from now on, the dohyo for the non-Tokyo honbashos will be made from the same type of earth which is currently used at the Kokugikan. Apparently, until now, the dohyo was made from local materials, and rikishi complained that it was slippery. Also, there was that incident in Nagoya where the dohyo simply crumbled. So now it will be the same standard both in Tokyo and away. Let’s hope this reduces injuries at least to some extent.
So the photo series on Twitter show them starting by beating the daylights out of the old dohyo with picks and shovels. They mash it all back to more or less clay powder and then re-form it into a new platform.
In fact, I have seen that for the Kokugikan, that whole dohyo is on a hydraulic platform that can be lowered beneath the floor for events other than sumo.
Are you sure they mash it back? Because the tweets seem to imply that the old earth is loaded to trucks, and the article I quoted in my comment implies that 45 tons of earth are being brought in every time from Saitama.
I thought so too! But there is this thing from today (last night)
https://twitter.com/sumokyokai/status/904944750641373184
Clearly showing them pounding the snot out of the old dohyo. Maybe to cart it off?
Yes, I believe so:
There is a permanent “base” at places like Kokugikan and my wife was telling me they are planning to ship that Saitama material to all jungyo starting in the next few months. How much of the Kokugikan material, or other honbasho material is permanent vs replenished would be interesting to uncover.