Love it or hate it, the Jungyo tour is back. The topic is a particularly polarizing one for fans, especially so many wrestlers were unable to compete at their former level, or even finish the tournament, due to injury. From Hoshoryu’s early withdrawal through Meisei, Hidenoumi, and on down the banzuke to Enho, we often wonder how these guys can stitch themselves together for a grueling, month-long promotional tour.

After a week of partying and packing, most wrestlers will be arriving back in Tokyo to get down to training for the Aki Tournament in September. Most sekitori and their tsukebito, though, will head off on the tour and meet with fans from more distant regions who come out to support their favorite wrestlers and homegrown talents. It also serves as a way to encourage and feature many young, local amateurs. Sumo wrestlers from local schools often come and some even get to strap on their mawashi and participate.

This summer’s tour began today in Osaka. The route will wind its way up into Hokkaido then back south into the Kanto region with another stop at Tachihi, which Andy saw in-person last year, as well as Shizuoka, Chiba, and Saitama.

Tangent

As with most sumo events, it can be a bit tricky to get tickets. I went through the offical process last year, which required a trip to a 7-Eleven and a local telephone number. For folks who wonder why BuySumoTickets exists, that’s why. I don’t imagine many of you have a steady supply of in-laws living in Japan and a Japanese-speaking spouse to help make these things happen.

When you want to get tickets or join a fan club, they often require a local phone number or address. That’s why Tatsunami-beya’s proposed fan club access for foreigners is perking up a lot of ears. I am eager to see more details. Would they actually send banzuke to foreign addresses? Member-only streams and YouTube content would be nice but I bet many folks want tangible merch direct from the heya. But back to the topic at hand, the summer tour.

/Tangent

As many might already know, Osaka is hosting a World Expo this year. It started in mid-April and runs through mid-October. Holup. Judging by the blank stares, I gather you didn’t know. Well, yes, since we last paid attention to Osaka (back in March) they’ve been hosting a World Expo and today they invited the sumo wrestlers back to kick-off their summer tour.

You will be relieved to learn that a dozen wrestlers are kyujo from this particular tour, Hoshoryu, Daieisho, Meisei, Takerufuji, Tobizaru, Endo, Ura, Chiyoshoma, Hidenoumi, Kayo, Shishi, and Tomokaze. In their place are Hakuozan and Kagayaki. Oh, and by the way, Kazenosuke retired.