Festivals

Winter Jungyo, Week One

Andy Festivals, Japanese Culture, Jungyo (巡業), Travel , , , , ,

While a Taylor Swift tour will hop from massive stadium to massive stadium, these tours go out into the countryside a bit more after the main event has ended. Let’s face it, BTS is not going to be playing the Cat’s Cradle anytime soon. But these tours are focused on fan outreach in local communities. With that in mind, let’s check out the first week of the winter tour, galavanting around the island of Kyushu.

The largest city on the island of Kyushu is Fukuoka, site of the recent tournament. So, rather than pack their akeni for Honshu and bigger venues, our top wrestlers climbed into buses and hit the road for a quick tour of the island to stay close to supporters who could not make it to the sold out basho. The Kyokai has a nice webpage, in English, which describes the general “run of show.” Each event loosely follows a similar format, with practice in the morning followed by entertainment and bouts in the afternoon with the featured wrestlers shifting in each location to focus on hometown heroes. (You can read about my experience at Jungyo this past summer, here.)

While the Japan Sumo Assocation and its wrestlers focus on fans and local outreach, the local communities are often focused on the promoting tourism and festivals or local industries or products. Ever since the tour swung by Ukai during the cormorant fishing festival, I like to dig into these places a bit more. Last year, I discovered the Yatsushiro Myoken festival. There is a lot to see in Japan.

I am taking note of these for my future trips so I hope you all enjoy. Pipe up in the comments if you have been to, or lived in, any of these locations and have recommendations. For those of us who want to learn more about Japan outside of Tokyo and Osaka, these tour itineraries are actually a great place to start your research. Where are they going and why is this location trying to promote itself by hosting a Jungyo stop?

Miyakonojo, Miyazaki

“Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.” As I’ve repeated more times than is really necessary, Kotozakura won a head of cattle when he won the title in Fukuoka. That prize is given at every tournament and is sponsored by the government in Miyazaki to promote local produce, especially its famous wagyu beef. But as I have learned, there is more to Miyazaki than delicious, succulent, tender, marbled beef. (Insert drooling Homer emoji here.)

For the first time in eight years, the tour visited Miyakonojo in Miyazaki. Miyazaki prefecture has a great, English-language, tourism website. On this site, I saw many jaw-droppingly amazing photos, including the stunning Takachiho Gorge toward the center of Kyushu and two sites on the outskirts of Miyakonojo, minutes from the Jungyo venue. Below, are the Nagata Gorge and the Sekinoo Falls.

So, I’m showing these amazing pictures of gorges and rivers and forests to my wife and she’s like, “Oh, I’ve never been there but Miyazaki is kind of known for its beaches. They have, like, mango trees and stuff.” So, here are some more pictures of Aoshima and the Miyazaki Seaside Park.

One item that jumped off the page at me when I saw the Kyokai’s program for the day’s activities was the fact that several of the day’s features, including Terunofuji’s rope tying demonstration, were sponsored by “Kirishima Shuzo.” I was familiar with Kirishima Chanko, not Kirishima liquor. It turns out there is a Kirishima brewery and distillery, complete with a Factory Garden and walking tours, right in the heart of Miyakonojo City.

That brings us to the sumo event, itself. Local Makushita wrestlers Nagamura and Kamitani fought and won their bouts in front of the hometown crowd. Nagamura had won the Sandanme yusho in Osaka earlier this year and fights in Kise-beya. Kamitani also has a Sandanme yusho under his belt and fights in Arashio-beya. Miyazaki also produced recently retired Kotoeko, the new Oguruma oyakata, and he took time to address the crowd and thank them for their support. I should mention that Nobeoka, hometown of Kotoeko and Nagamura, is home to this “Pac-Man Rock” place.

Not every jungyo event has “Question Corner,” but this one did. For Question Corner, three wrestlers climb onto the dohyo in their kesho mawashi and answer questions from the audience. At this tour stop, Sadanoumi, Shodai, and Wakamotoharu were featured. Wakamotoharu was asked which wrestler gives him the biggest challenge, and his reply was, “Shodai.” While the Emo King stood next to him and glared — as intimidating as Masayo can get — Wakamotoharu worked up the strength to express his frustration of losing to Shodai even though his chin is always up and his mass is so high. Powerful, inspiring stuff.

See, Shodai, I told you, “You’re too damn high!” Sure enough, when you look at their head-to-head, Shodai has won their last three bouts for a slim 6-4 advantage in their rivalry.

Nishihara, Kumamoto

On December 3, the tour stopped in the Aso district of Kumamoto Prefecture. Mt. Aso is a nearby volcano, the largest in Japan. We are all very familiar with Kumamon, the black bear mascot. Kumamon crops up on kesho mawashi and is frequently at events with Shodai, Sadanoumi, and other Kumamoto-area wrestlers. But the real draw of Kumamoto is the volcano. Mount Aso certainly features highly in the Kumamoto tourism campaigns. There is also a good amount of information in English, targeting foreign tourists.

Aso City is the hometown of Makushita wrestler Asonoyama, not to be confused with the former Ozeki. He and Fujiseiun were the hometown boys for this tour stop and Asonoyama was granted the privilege of wearing an oicho-mage for the first time as he fought in a Juryo bout against Kagayaki. Fujiseiun fought Nishikifuji. Local kids were also able to participate in the practice portion of the event with Shodai.

Nagasaki, Nagasaki

Hump Day brought us the Nagasaki Basho. So, um…Nagasaki is quite well known, particularly in America, for another sort of Fat Man. And in other news, Nagasaki is known for its long history as a port city by the Portuguese. There are a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the area tied to the Christian heritage in the area. Much of the event was brought to fans by Suginaga Kamaboko, headquartered in Nagasaki, timed to coincide with their year-end promotional campaign. If you are not familiar with kamaboko, think of the white and pink fish-cakes in your ramen.

The sumo event was held at Happiness Arena. Thanks to NiB, the local Nagasaki TV station, there is a great video of something we rarely see: the dohyo-matsuri performed for a Jungyo dohyo. This was a much more informal, laid-back affair than what we get before a hon-basho — or even at the heya — but fascinating in its own right. NiB also put together another quick piece covering the event itself, focusing on hometown hero, Hiradoumi.

Question Corner in Nagasaki pulled in fan favorites Hiradoumi, Ura, and Sadanoumi. Hiradoumi also stood in for the oicho-mage demonstration.

Genkai, Saga

Neighboring Saga Prefecture has a great, English-language tourism website, highlighting. Genkai town, with a small population under 5,000 people, does not feature highly on the tourism website but is home to a nuclear power plant. Check the irony at the door, please. Apparently, the tax revenue from hosting the power plant keeps the town pretty well in the black, financially.

Saga features good food and several onsen, as well as beautiful scenery. The real star seems to be the Nanatsugama Cave complex in neighboring Karatsu.

The venue was much more intimate than Nagasaki’s Happiness Arena, with 1650 people coming to the Genkai Gymnasium. Makushita-ranked Chiyotora is from Saga City and pint-sized, 16-year-old viral-video star, Kosei, is from Takeo. Perhaps because of Kosei’s presence, twenty kids from two local day care centers participated in the morning practice with the sekitori.

Omuta, Fukuoka

Omuta is a city in Fukuoka on the border with Kumamoto. The day’s events were sponsored by テレQ, FM FUKUOKA, and the local sports association. Just when you think you found a city to skip over, there’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Miike Coal Mine and its Miyanohara Pit played an integral role in Japan’s industrial development during the Meiji Era. The mine was also the site of a major labor dispute in 1960 (cool NHK video to get a sense of the scale of this lockout). Whenever I see the name, Miike, I always think of Miike Takashi’s “Audition.” Now, I have a much more pleasant association with the name. “Kiri, Kiri, Kiri…“

Beppu, Oita

Beppu is a somewhat regular stop for the Winter Jungyo. The Kyokai has not visited every year, but they do seem to cycle through every two or three years. It’s claim to fame are the hot springs. It is so famous for hot springs that a cuisine called Jigokumushi, or “Hell Steaming” where eggs, seafood, pork buns, and a wide variety of foods are steamed over the mineral-rich waters, gurgling forth from the Earth.

Sadanoumi, Hiradoumi, and Shodai participated in Question Corner. Presumably Shodai’s indimidating presence has moved Wakamotoharu off the bill, replaced with Hiradoumi because of his lightning fast, “anti-Shodai” tachiai.

On To Week Two

Week Two will finish the Kyushu loop of the journey and head back toward central Japan and Osaka. From Osaka, the final leg will be a quick trip out to Okinawa. Meanwhile, many of the non-jungyo wrestlers except for Kitanowaka have headed back to their dohyo. Kitanowaka, on the other hand, has been in London with his shisho. That will be a very interesting tournament.

I have updated the interactive map so that it is in Kita-kyushu, next stop on the Jungyo Trail.

Sumo News Round-up 2024.2.3

Andy Festivals, Japanese Culture, Kotonowaka, promotion, Tochinoshin (栃ノ心) , , , ,

Yes, the tournament is over. Terunofuji won in spectacular fashion against the impressive Kotonowaka. Our coverage from the tournament is collected here. Nevertheless, this week is jam-packed with sumo news.

Shin-Ozeki Kotonowaka

Kotonowaka was promoted to Ozeki, as expected. He came tantalizingly close to a yusho and was understandably disappointed to lose in the playoff. His performance over the past three basho has been of a consistent, high quality. But if we look back further, we can see a reliable, top-level sekitori since May of 2022.

Sumo fans everywhere were expecting him to change his shikona to Kotozakura, the shikona used by his grandfather. However, he has decided to stick with Kotonowaka for the time being, and will change his shikona in May.

Juryo Promotions Released

Along with Kotonowaka’s Ozeki promotion, the Banzuke Committee released the names of those makushita wrestlers who earned promotion to Juryo. This time, four rikishi return to juryo, no debutantes. We finally see the long-awaited returns of Wakatakakage and Hakuoho to the ranks of sekitori, along with journeymen Tsushimanada and Kitaharima.

You will remember that Wakatakakage and Hakuoho were top division wrestlers who suffered unfortunate injuries to the knee and shoulder, respectively, which required surgery and long rehab. In Wakatakakage’s case, he was Sekiwake in March of 2023 when he blew up his knee falling onto the tawara. Hakuoho’s shoulder had been a nagging concern going back to his amateur days. His other shoulder had surgery before going pro and the intense action of Makuuchi seemed to require the same surgery to be repeated on the opposite side after Nagoya 2023.

Both men dropped into Makushita during their rehab but will rise together in March 2024. Wakatakakage won the yusho, following up on his 5-2 in Kyushu. Hakuoho lost one bout to another standout, Onokatsu, to finish 6-1. Onokatsu lost his next match to Wakatakakage and he also finished 6-1, narrowly missing out on promotion.

Setsubun (February 3)

I’ve written about this a few times. Setsubun is a festival to celebrate the coming of spring. You have just cleaned the house at the beginning of January during “oosouji,” so let’s make an absolute mess of things again by throwing beans or peanuts at one of the kids, who runs around the house wearing a devil mask, and shouting “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (“Bad spirits out! Fortune in!”) Brilliant. And, let’s top it off by standing up and eating a long sushi roll (eho-maki) while facing the same direction. This year, for those who observe, it’s east-north-east. With all of the kyujo from January, we need all the help we can get!

Tochinoshin Retirement Ceremony

Tochinoshin had his retirement ceremony at Kokugikan. These events feature exhibition bouts and various demonstrations, building up to the main event…the haircut. Yobidashi perform drum demonstrations while Tokoyama show how they make the infamous oicho-mage hairstyle donned by sekitori during tournaments. The Kasugano stable’s own Jiro is the top-ranked tate-yobidashi, and did the taiko demonstration while Tokotakumi, the level four Tokoyama, used Tochimusashi as his model. This was likely to be a role for Aoiyama but he was kyujo, as was Hokuseiho.

Kasugano-oyakata with the final snip

Gyoji certainly do not get the day off as they officiate bouts as well as participate in the Shokkiri. The comedy duo of Wakazakura and Tochimitsuru teamed up with Nishikido-beya’s Kimura Kintaro to lighten the mood with the famous “How NOT to Sumo” routine. Jinku included Yuki and Kasugano’s Tochigidake. At the end of the makuuchi bouts, Tochikodai closed things out with the bow-twirling ceremony.

Tochinoshin has been one of the most successful foreign wrestlers, reaching the level of Ozeki largely through the brute force of what sumo fans knew as his “sky-crane.” He was particularly known for his rivalry with Ichinojo, with whom he fought several epic bouts, including the famous water-break bout. It seems that many wrestlers have had spectacular comebacks from injury lately, and Tochinoshin’s career is certainly notable for how he overcame a knee injury, dropped out of the professional ranks, and clawed his way back past his previous best rank to reach Ozeki.

A long list of sumo dignitaries took turns with the scissors, taking a snip of his topknot, including Asashoryu, Hakuho, Terunofuji, and his compatriots, Kokkai and Gagamaru. Former stablemate Tochiozan was also in attendance but, as mentioned above, kyujo Aoiyama was not.

Tochinoshin will not continue his career in the sumo association. He has been working with wine makers of his native Georgia to help promote Georgian wine. If one thinks that there are only two major types of wine, red and white, you likely have not had an opportunity to enjoy a Georgian “Amber.” Georgia is famous for being the birthplace of wine — no, not Italy or France. Yes, they have red and white wine, as well. But not many wines from the region (of any variety) find themselves in our shops or restaurants, so there is certainly lots of work ahead for Mr. Sky Crane.

2022: Year of the Tiger

Andy Festivals, Japanese Culture

明けましておめでとうございます。

Happy New Year! It’s that time of year again for mochi-tsuki (making mochi). Here we’ve got Miyagino-beya and in that third video we see Enho’s lightning fast work pounding the mochi there… Kiwotsuke, ne.

Miyagino mochi-tsuki

This year I wanted to offer sumo fans a peek into some of the other New Years’ customs in Japan. These are the same customs that our favorite wrestlers adhere to, so this will provide a bit of context to some of the social media content that the heya share this time of year.

During my old English teaching days, this was a very quiet time of year when most shops were closed and Japanese spent time with family and visited temples and shrines. After getting married, we celebrated with my wife’s family at her aunt’s house…and I ate way too much. The atmosphere reminded me of Thanksgiving – without the Lions’ or Cowboys’ games on TV. Since there are specific dishes for specific days, I’ll break this down by New Years’ Eve and New Years’ Day.

New Years’ Eve

Osouji

New Years’ Eve is usually spent cleaning. Think of大掃除 (Osouji) as “spring cleaning,” but done on New Years’ Eve to get the new year off on the right foot. We know that sumo wrestlers, particularly the lower rankers, regularly clean the stable. Osouji focuses on the periodic, difficult tasks rather than just the weekly or monthly routine. For example, we’ve got a chandelier in our living room which is a bear to clean and this is when we move the biggest, heaviest furniture to get underneath. The kids always laugh when we find beans that were thrown the previous February. Here, we see Asakayama-beya’s deep cleaning.

Companies also perform their osouji in preparation for the new year and do their annual deep cleaning. In the old days, the head of the company was thrown in the air (douage), similar to how the gyoji is tossed at the end of a tournament. This was to shake off the bad spirits and start off fresh. According to this article, in the sumo world oyakata were tossed but they switched to using lighter gyoji.

Toshikoshi soba

Andy’s Toshikoshi Udon

年越しそば (toshikoshi soba) is a special version of soba noodles eaten on New Years’ eve. The term itself uses the same “koshi” from the terms makekoshi and kachikoshi we are familiar with as sumo fans. As we see here from the pictures of Naruto-beya, it features tempura shrimp and kakiage. Kakiage, itself, is a mix of ingredients like vegetables, shrimp, scallops, etc., all mixed together with tempura batter and deep fried. As I mentioned on Twitter, our household swapped out the soba since we prefer udon. Toshikoshi udon may be a bit non-canon, or 邪道 (jyado), but it’s better in my humble opinion.

For a look at the soba version, here’s what Naruto-beya ate. It looks like their kakiage had broccoli, shrimp, carrots and onions.

Naruto Toshikoshi Soba

New Years’ Day

Ozouni

Ozouni is a traditional soup eaten on New Years’ Day. Its main focus is generally the inclusion of mochi, Shodai’s daikon, carrots and chicken but there’s quite a bit of regional variation in the ingredients. In the Kanto region of Tokyo, you’re generally using a rectangular block of mochi and a soy-sauce base. In the Kansai region around Osaka, they usually use a round ball of mochi and include a white miso base to the soup. Jason (of Jason’s Sumo Channel), may be more familiar with a red-bean version in the Izumo region and Bruce may have come across oysters in his ozouni in western Japan. My wife is from Kanto, so we had a soy-base with a rectangular block of mochi, with no daikon because I’m not a big fan of its rather weak tachiai. I’m eager to try the miso version, to be honest.

Osechi

Osechi is the biggest culinary tradition of this Oshogatsu New Year festival. It’s usually served in a three-tiered lacquer-ware set. While you may do fried turkey with sweet potato casserole and pecan (PEE-CAN) pie or cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, your Thanksgiving mix will vary. Osechi is similar in Japan where there are some very common ingredients but each family will often have their own variations.

Sushi, shrimp and other seafood is a central theme with various vegetables, pickles, nimono along side. We usually have a lot of the same components every year, like fish cake (kamaboko), black beans, grilled chicken with carrots, shiitake, and gobo. This year, though, instead of our usual sampling of shrimp and sushi, we had chirashi-zushi with octopus.

Toyonoshima’s delicious-looking osechi is pictured on the right.

*A little-known fact is that Andy’s middle name is Jado.

Tanabata Wishes

Herouth Festivals, Nagoya basho 2018 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post originates in quote-retweets I made of the relevant NSK tweets. Josh suggested I collate them into a post. So for the benefit of those who don’t follow my Twitter account, here is the collation:

tanabata

Tanabata is an ancient Japanese festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month. Nowadays, it’s mostly celebrated on July 7th.

The main Tanabata custom is to write one’s wishes on a small piece of paper called “tanzaku”, hang the wishes from a bamboo – sometimes with other decorations – and then float the bamboo, wishes and all down a river or burn it around midnight or the next day.

This year Tanabata falls on Saturday, July 7th – the day before the Nagoya basho.

A couple of days ago, a rikishi-kai took place. “Rikishi-kai” is both the name of the meeting of sekitori taking place before each basho, and the body of sekitori itself. As a worker’s association, it’s pretty useless. But they have a fun meeting before each basho, sometimes raising money for charity, and sometimes just giving fans an opportunity to meet their idols and get photos.

Given the date Tanabata falls on, it’s no wonder that sekitori attending the rikishi-kai were handed tanzaku, and asked to write their wishes on them. Their wishes will be hung at the Dolphins Arena (the location of the basho) during Tanabata. Here is what they came up with:

Sokokurai: “I wish my injury to heal”. Ouch.

Yago (in an Oguruma yukata): “Promotion to Makuuchi”.

Seiro: “To aim for the top!!”. So, you wish to aim for the top or you wish to get to the top?

Hidenoumi: “Establish myself at Makuuchi”. No moro yo-yo for Mr. Magenta Mawashi, please.

Daishoho (in a Kakuryu yukata): “Promotion to Makuuchi”. Well, if a cute duck-face can get you there…

Takanosho: “Promotion to Makuuchi”. I hate to tell you this, but the gods can only arrange for a small number of promotions each basho. 😁

Takagenji and Shohozan kept their wishes a secret (they are showing the side with their names):

Daiamami (in a Fuji TV yukata? wow): “I want brand new kneecaps”. Ouch.

Up to Makuuchi, Hokutofuji wishes to advance to san-yaku:

Ishiura: “I want to make another child”. Heh, give your wife a little rest, will you? She just had a baby. Or is this just code for “I want to get some”?

Asanoyama (in the ever-popular Chiyoshoma yukata): “Double digit wins”

Nishikigi-mama: “Health above all”. Nishikigi for chairman of the board! Who’s with me?

Kyokutaisei (in a Hakuho yukata): “Have savings!!”. Let me guess, the guy is recently married. 😆

Chiyotairyu: “I need money”. Somebody please give the Kokonoe koen-kai a call. Help a poor rikishi, will ya?

Endo: “Get through the group stage”. Bruce claims this is about the Tachiai Sumo World Cup. I have a hunch he was talking about Team Japan in the FIFA World Cup. And he got his wish, though I wish those last 10 minutes would be erased from history.

(Yeah, yeah, derailed here).

Abi worrying what he should wish for. Yes, that’s his worried face.

Chiyonokuni (in the new designer Kokonoe yukata) wants to advance to sanyaku:

Shodai: “I want a watch”. I’m sure he’s not addressing the gods… You want Japanese make or Swiss make? I’ll bet many of his sashi-ire (gifts to rikishi… or prisoners…) in the coming weeks are going to be ticking.

Mitakeumi: “I want to become handsome”. Well, he is using the word “ikemen” which is a manly man kind of handsome. There has been an argument about this on Twitter, in which some of the ladies claim that he already has his wish, whereas I claim that despite his obvious sumo prowess and good nature, he looks like a carp in a mawashi.

Tochinoshin: “I want the yusho”. Well, duh!

Hakuho: “Win #1000”. He is referring to number of wins in Makuuchi – he wants to pass 1000. He won’t make it this basho, though, as he is still 17 or so short, and I’m sure he doesn’t want the gods to extend the basho to 17 days.

Finally, we end with the leader of the banzuke, the surprisingly genki yokozuna Kakuryu: “I wish not to be injured”. I’ll add my voice to that, Amen. Chuckle for coming up with a wish that requires no kanji (“kega” is written in hiragana or katakana more frequently than in kanji).