This spring’s Jungyo tour is quite the working holiday. The troupe of warriors will travel to 25 different locations over the course of a month, possibly the most ambitious (or nightmarish) tour on record. I find the prospect fascinating, as if MLB Spring training would leave the comforts of balmy Florida to swing by Durham, NC, Austin, TX, Nashville, TN…
Herouth‘s updatesnot only give me the needed dose of sumo between basho, but also a dose of their personalities and interaction with fans that gets lost in the shuffle during honbasho. Josh has been able to enjoy a jungyo event and I am very jealous. I encourage any Tachiai readers who live in Japan or happen to be visiting these areas to attend a jungyo and share what you can of your experience.
The Jungyo continues through Nara prefecture, and I have to admit I’m disappointed that none of the photos and videos I collected for this report and the previous one contains any deer. 🦌☹️
So let’s get right inside the venue, and take a look at the rikishi practicing. Meisei is having a nice chat with onosho while taping his feet up.
…except, what is Enho doing rubbing his face against Mitakeumi like a cute little kitten? Is that some new kimarite we have never heard of before? “Kawaisugitaoshi” – “takedown by cute overload”?
Takanosho is doing… what? The tweet says he has been repeating this for 30 minutes!
Poor Tokushoryu – doesn’t get the privilege of a Yokozuna or Ozeki pushing him around, and has to contend with Gagamaru’s weight.
By the way, although on the official web site Gagamaru is described as weighing 199kg, it’s a lie. He usually asks for his weight not to be published, but it did leak out last year and it was 212kg. Yep, he weighs more than Kaisei.
So here are some practice bouts: Tomokaze vs. Abi, Onosho vs. Nishikigi.
Yeah, once Nishikigi got his mawashi, Onosho was doomed.
Practice over, it’s time to hit the shower. Or, in Japan, the shower and then the bath. And this means going out of the venue and off to some sento or onsen. And that’s exactly when fans want attention, autographs or photos taken. Takakeisho obliges, but also poses and directs the photographer:
Makuuchi dohyo-iri usually ends with an Ozeki. “And last… shin-Ozeki, Takakeisho, comes from Hyogo, Chiganoura beya”.
Takakeisho said in an interview a couple of days ago that the Jungyo finally made him feel that he is an Ozeki for real. It’s not just the dohyo-iri. Look how he travels these days:
Yes. That’s a limousine. It’s good to be Ozeki.
That’s a mon-tsuki kimono he is wearing, so he is not just arriving from the hotel, though. He probably went on a shrine visit of some sort.
Time for the bouts! And what better time is there to goof around? We are back to our comedy duo from yesterday, Nishikigi and Shodai. This time, Shodai is the one fooling around with Nishikigi’s glasses while Nishikigi is busy signing autographs.
…smear some of the suki-abura from his head on Nishikigi’s glasses’ lenses. Nishikigi’s tsukebito, as you can see, is not going to refuse a sekitori.
When Nishikigi returned, by the way, he put on his glasses, and exclaimed the Japanese equivalent of WTF… then proceeded to wipe them on his tsukebito’s yukata. At that point, Shodai was already near the dohyo, so no way to take revenge… but karma prevails, and Shodai loses his bout with Daieisho. He returns all crestfallen and runs crying into mommy’s arms.
“Mommy” in this case being Tamawashi. “There, there, don’t cry, there’s a good boy”.
Now, this generous Twitter user (her nickname is “stomach ache” for some reason) who took most of the videos both of day 2 and day 3, took some bouts as well this time. We start with Yutakayama vs. Kotoeko. Inexplicably, three kensho flags are paraded for this bout.
So here is the high-quality summary video from Nara TV:
Tokushoryu: “Nara is said to be the birthplace of Sumo, but as there seem to be many people yet who have no idea of it, I will work hard to change the perception”.
Tokushoryu was honored with a Makuuchi bout today (vs. Chiyoshoma, as you can see in that video).
Finally, we are in our pin-up corner. It was a hard choice today. Should I have gone with the standard, namely, Enho?
Still not participating in the matches, but that doesn’t stop him from spreading fairy dust all over the venue. But maybe I should have gone with Arawashi instead:
But I want to introduce you instead to a rather anonymous guy from Nishikido beya, serving, apparently, as Mitoryu’s tsukebito. He’s 20 years old, and this must be his first or second Jungyo. His name is Toshonishiki.
Hello sumo fans. Today I’m back with another addition of learning the lingo, a series where I briefly break down sumo terms in a way that will be accessible for all fans of this wonderful sport. Today’s episode will cover Oshi-zumo, Yotsu-zumo, Oyakata, and Heya.
Before you go, I wanted to make a special announcement. The Liam Loves Sumo channel has officially surpassed 200 subscribers, and I owe each and every one of you a huge thank you for helping me reach this milestone! Thank you for watching and supporting the channel, and I will see you all soon!
You can see Yoshikaze and Enho there, but they are still not participating in any bouts. Yokozuna and Ozeki, by the way, may sleep separately from the rest, and therefore also arrive separately:
If you recall, practice sessions on the dohyo consist mostly of moshi-ai sessions (winner decides who to call next), interspersed with higher-ranking rikishi going on the dohyo and giving all those who practiced in the most recent session some butsukari. So here are Mitakeumi and Shodai in one of those butsukari intermissions:
After the low-ranking rikishi finish their practice, it’s time for the sekitori to take the dohyo. Again, moshi-ai sessions commence – and Takagenji takes his (evil) twin.
…and this is exactly why Takanofuji is going to be out of that white Mawashi come Natsu.
The sekitori moshi-ai sessions are also punctuated by butsukari sessions. Today’s star is Tokushoryu, a native of Nara prefecture. He therefore gets treated to some Yokozuna butsukari. Kakuryu does the honors:
Eventually, noon arrived, and with it the message to the Japanese nation: the new era that starts May 1st will be called “Reiwa” (令和). The whole nation is very excited about it, and head gyoji, Shikimori Inosuke, sets out to write the auspicious characters on a couple of large signs.
Gyoji serve as clerks when they are off the dohyo and out of their shiny outfits and headgear. They practice calligraphy from the moment they enter the sumo world (which, like rikishi, can be as early as age 15). Gyoji are in charge of writing all those signs with rikishi names on them, writing the banzuke, and so on. And of course, the head gyoji is also the head calligrapher.
And so, the Yokozuna were able to pay their respects to the name of the new era:
Kakuryu, “Reiwa”, Hakuho
By the way, the sharp-eyed kanji readers among you may notice that the nobori behind Kakuryu still has “Kisenosato” on it.
The sign (I think actually a second sign) ended up being hung inside the venue in time for the Makuuchi bouts.
Back to sumo activity, it was time for dohyo-iri. And Nishikigi was pestering Shodai incessantly:
So here is a summary video with some actual bouts:
That is, Ishiura getting a mighty wedgie from Toyonoshima, Tokushoryu showing Takagenji why he may not yet make it to Makuuchi this time, and Takakeisho repeating his senshuraku performance with Tochinoshin.
Finally, how about a pin-up boy? I give you… Endo!
What do you mean “how do you know this is really Endo”?
