For fans of amateur sumo, especially those of you in Texas, mark your calendars for June 13, 2020. I’ll post reminders as the date comes closer but our friends at Dark Circle Sumo are hosting an Amateur Sumo Tournament with the Austin Japan Community. The tournament is sponsored by the Texas Sake Company. There will be multiple divisions for female and male competitors. They’ve got a great website with more information here. #TexasSumo
NHK Fukushi Sumo Event Tomorrow (2/11)
Fresh off the Fuji TV tournament, Kokugikan will host another sumo exhibition tomorrow (2/11) afternoon. This time the even is hosted by NHK. The program starts just after noon with some Taiko drumming. I have a video here of some Taiko drumming from the Shinshun matsuri (New Spring Festival) that was held here in DC two weekends ago.
The program continues with a comedy sumo routine (Shokkiri), Jinku singing, the Makuuchi Dohyo-iri, and some exhibition bouts. A great sample of some Jinku singing is in the video below from Inside Sport Japan. *Update via Herouth below, the professional singers featured on the brochure and on the website will compete with makuuchi wrestlers in a singing competition. Your guess is probably better than mine as to who, other than Ikioi, will be participating.* There won’t be a tournament with a purse, and no shot at a Hakuho-Enho bout, but it should still be a fun, relaxed sumo event.
Fuji TV Tournament Video!
Huge thanks to Kintamayama for coming out of retirement for this one. Lots to enjoy here. Some of the Hatsu basho stars carried over their strong form. Some of those who struggled in January showed amazing recovery, while others continued to look helpless. Many fun bouts. Will we see Hakuho vs. Enho? Watch to find out!
Matsumoto Kota, New Shikoroyama Recruit, to Join Stable at Harubasho
Shikoroyama-oyakata welcomed Matsumoto Kota, a 3rd-year middle school student to his heya.
He comes over to the stable with the six years of judo experience he’s gathered since he was a third grader in elementary school. As Herouth noted, Shikoroyama wants to ingrain oshi-style skills in his young recruit to avoid injury. A versatile toolset is very important and we wish young Matsumoto well and look forward to covering his maezumo debut alongside the Ukrainian Sergey Sokolovksy.
This Twitter thread highlighted a very interesting point about whether throws and a throw-heavy style (perhaps like Enho’s?) leads to injury any more so than an oshi-style. I was also very interested in the fact that this youngster has elected to skip high school in favor of entering the sumo world. The article mentioned his father’s support and reminded me of the story of my great-grandfather, whose father told him one day that he needed to leave school (at 14) and take a job as a clerk in the local bank.
It’s obviously a big step and a big commitment from such a young kid but he will likely have more of a safety net in “The Heya Life” than what was available to my ancestor. Sumo seems to be a viable lifestyle for young Japanese boys who are not interested in going to join the corporate world and really makes me wonder if such options could be developed in the US, and obviously available to boys and girls.