The Winter Tour has started in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki prefecture. At the bottom of this post, I have an interactive map that will show the path of this particular tour. One can imagine the London event that Josh wrote about yesterday will be very similar, though not a “Jungyo”.
These tours are a popular method of outreach for the Japan Sumo Association and it is a great way for fans to meet and mingle with their favorite wrestlers. I had the fortune of going to one such event this past summer. So, this picture is not from Miyazaki, but from Tachikawa. But I hope it gives a sense of the atmosphere. If you would like to read about my experience there, I wrote about it here. I encourage you to check out that post for background on Jungyo.
The Kyokai posted the schedule for the first event on Twitter. Takerufuji will be sitting for the oicho-mage demonstration and Terunofuji will have his rope tying demonstration and dohyo-iri, though he will not participate in bouts.
＜冬巡業 #都城場所 ＞
— 日本相撲協会公式 (@sumokyokai) November 30, 2024
本日は宮崎県都城市で巡業が行われています。
本日の取組表と会場の様子。#sumo #相撲 #巡業 pic.twitter.com/04YJ2VYSTm
As for this tour, it starts in Miyazaki prefecture and will end in Okinawa. Miyazaki prefecture is a well known agricultural region in Japan. It’s known in particular for high-grade wagyu beef. That beef is celebrated in the Miyazaki Prefectural Government presents the Miyazaki Governor’s Award, which is a trophy in the shape of a cow. The winning wrestler receives the meat from one head of Miyazaki fine cattle, as well as chicken and produce.
This tour will also pass through Oita prefecture, whose Shiitake Cooperative provides the famous trophy filled with mushrooms. It will then go around Kyushu before passing over the Kanmon strait to Shimonoseki and hoofing it over to Hyogo and Osaka before flying down to the sun and sand in tropical Okinawa.
That brings us to the main reason I highlight these tours for foreign fans. They are a great way to get out of Tokyo and to see other areas of the country.
Interactive Tour Schedule
I’ve put an interactive map below with a tour schedule. This version allows the user to page through the Days as the tour progresses. I’ve defaulted to Day 2 so you can see the first leg of the long, circuitous path from Miyazaki to Okinawa. There are arrows on the left side, underneath “Tour Day”. Click on the right arrow to cycle toward Day 15 and the left arrow to go in reverse. Any feedback you have is appreciated.
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Interactive Jungyo Schedule Map is really smart! Thank you for taking the time to do this!
Okinawa must be a nice stop to finish a year of strenous wrestling.
Oh that’s great Andy, as Justme wrote, ‘thank you for taking the time to do this’.
Yeah, Okinawa sounds like a good place to finish up the year Justme ..21°C/70°F, maybe bit humid, sunshine, and far from the madding crowds of Tokyo! I now have to get my maps Japan out to examine this in even greater detail!
I really liked that interactive map, it was a good test of geography for me to figure out if I knew where those cities were along the way
Curious how they’ll get down to Okinawa. JAL flies from Itami and ANA from Kansai. If they had an extra day or two to transit, the ferry would be a wonderful option. Now that concert cruises are really becoming a thing, it would be fun for Japan to do a sumo ferry from the mainland to Okinawa, with activities on board. I’d absolutely take that. Seems of a bit of a shame to go all that way just for one event.
Yeah, I was just looking through the past tour schedules and it looked like they would have 2-4 dates down there in the past.
I didn’t realize there was a ferry all the way to Okinawa! Isn’t that proper heavy seas? When I was a kid, I was on a catamaran that sank in the Galapagos so I get a bit nervous with overnight boat trips.
Yikes Andy, that must have alarming to say the least (sinking off the Galapagos)! Not surprised you’re not keen on certain boat trips.
I’m too lazy to look it up right now but I’m pretty sure it leaves from Kumamoto or Nagasaki or something and then stops off at a bunch of islands on the way to the port in Naha.
I actually go to Okinawa every year now and will be back there in a few weeks for a business conference, but sadly not enough time to test the seas this time. Maybe in 2026!
FWIW, pre-pandemic the Okinawa stop usually comprised two event days. Maybe they’ll get back to that eventually.
Awesome map and info, Andy!
I’d love to get to a Jungyo event. Do they tend to sell out?
Also wondering if the jungyo tours take place between every basho. I have it in the back of my mind that there may be one inter-basho break where jungyo doesn’t take place, but I’m not sure if I have remembered that correctly
You are correct. The tours are not after every tournament. I don’t think there are tours after the January or May tournaments but I could be mistaken.