The Jungyo doubles back to Mie prefecture where it began. This time to the beautiful city named Tsu. And I was very excited to receive a treasure of photos and videos from this event courtesy of Simon Davies and Blanca Bolea, who got up at 4:55 in Hasunuma and took no less 4 trains and a local bus to get to Tsu. Simon says it was worth it.
There were also many Japanese Twitter users who posted about this particular event, so this may turn out to be quite a long post. Brace yourselves, here we go!
The Jungyo reaches Kyoto, the elegant former capital of Japan. And although this is merely a small town south of the actual city of Tokyo, this means very special spectators:
Local boy Narutaki, pretty boy Toshonishiki, and maiko
These are Maiko, apprentice Geiko (the term for Geisha in Kyoto). Since I’m a bit of a fan of Geisha culture, I can tell you that the rightmost one is a beginner, a “minarai”, in her first year of apprenticeship, while the one standing next to Toshonishiki is a senior maiko who may be only months away from the ceremony that will turn her into a sekitori… sorry… a full Geiko.
There are no sekitori hailing from Kyoto at the moment, and so, much attention went to brothers Narutaki and Kyonosato, born in the city of Kyoto (The “Kyo” in Kyonosato’s name is from “Kyoto”). The brothers got the honor to preach non-violence to the incoming spectators:
Narutaki
Kyonosato
Not sure how anybody allowed Kyonosato to do this without a visit to the nearest Tokoyama.
They were doing this, apparently, at the same time the sekitori were doing their handshake duties. For example, this other pair of brothers:
Wakatakakage – Wakamotoharu
This was apparently a fine spring day, and some of the handshaking took place outside the venue. Mitakeumi was enjoying the sun:
At the entrance to the venue stands this big banzuke, called “ita-banzuke” (board banzuke).
On first glance, you might think it’s just a copy of the most recent basho’s banzuke. And well, the ranks in it are indeed the ranks from the Haru basho. But there are some differences from the banzuke we often see held by rikishi on banzuke announcement day. For example – it doesn’t have the ink frames. And the large “By Permission” in the middle column sticks out of the rectangular design.
But that’s not all. First, in honbasho banzuke, right under that “By Permission” comes the date and place of the basho, and then the names of the gyoji and shimpan. In this one, it starts right off with the names of the gyoji. The place of the event is actually at the bottom of the middle column – where usually it says “Japan Sumo Association”. Here it says “Uji Basho”.
Which means… the gyoji had to write this ita-banzuke, fresh, with brush and ink, especially for this event. And it’s not just Kyoto. They do it again and again – possibly for every Jungyo location.
So now that we are well-immersed in the 19th century, let us proceed to see what’s going on inside the venue. We have Toyonoshima signing autographs:
And at the dohyo, we have… oh, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal has made it to Kyoto, I see. Who is this who is avoiding it so skillfully by wearing his towel over his face?
This is Yokozuna Kakuryu, who has a penchant for silly-looking exercises.
This… doesn’t look any better. The funny thing is he wears an embarrassed smile when he is filmed doing the most sane-looking of his rubber-tube exercises:
On the dohyo… here are the local brothers again, discovering that it’s not all fun and games being local boys. Narutaki gets some butsukari from Toyonoshima:
While his big brother Kyonosato gets butsukari from no less than (still) Ozeki Tochinoshin:
…which is a bit scary, because sumo, or mobility in general, are not his strong side. He was make-koshi at Jonidan 99 the last basho.
So let’s move on to some more balanced practice sessions – here is some Juryo moshi-ai: Takanosho vs. Shimanoumi, Takanosho vs. Chiyonoumi, and Chiyonoumi vs. Mitoryu:
Practice time over. In Kyoto, more often than not, we get to see elimination tournaments. In this case, Makuuchi and Juryo were business-as-usual, but Jonidan, Sandanme and Makushita were in elimination format, and carried prizes.
Suspiciously, though, two of those tournaments were won by local boys. The Jonidan prize was given to Kyoto-born Umizaru, from Miyagino beya:
And the Makushita tournament yusho dropped in the lap of our friend Narutaki:
By the way, “Narutaki” means “rumbling waterfall”.
During the intermission, due to the lack of any local sekitori, the hair-dressing demonstration was performed by the ever-popular Endo:
Imagine him with a Mohawk
I’m sorry to say I have absolutely no bouts from this day. I have a couple of pics – one of Abi pulling the oldest trick in the book on Onosho:
Giving the salty ladle, of course. He promptly scarpered.
The other is this, which tells us that Tochinoshin lost today’s bout:
Hmmm… I think they have been going see-saw pretty regularly this Jungyo. Seriously, anybody who wants to judge how well Tochinoshin is recovering or if Takakeisho is ready for the next level, should not judge that by the results of the Jungyo bouts. Instead, watch out for technique and mobility during practice bouts.
So we come to the close, and our pin-up boy of the day is the oft-overlooked Takanosho:
Today was the second day in Hyogo prefecture – but right on the opposite side of it than Day 4’s event. Early morning, the dohyo is already consecrated from the day before.
And… what’s this parking right in front of the entrance to the venue?
Why, it’s Ryota Hama’s Chanko Nabe bus!
While in Tokyo or Osaka honbasho you rely either on the food supply inside the venue or the regular restaurants around it, events in small towns rely on mobile stalls. So as yobidashi Hiromasa calls the townspeople with his drum, a little matsuri is being set up around the venue.
And early-bird Hama got the most lucrative location, right at the entrance! Mmmm… chanko!
But not yet, the stalls are just being set up. First, it’s time to shake hands with some favorite rikishi. For example, Hyogo local Terutsuyoshi.
Ah, the contrast between the beautiful kimono of those ladies gathering around him, and his own ratty yukata…
Yokozuna in the house!
Low-ranking rikishi practice on the dohyo, while around it some sekitori are starting to stretch and exercise:
This is not the end of the road for Ryuden, who later gets Mitakeumi (for some reason this bout appears twice in this video). Then we can see Mitakeumi vs. Tochinoshin:
Practice time is over, and we can relax and enjoy Shokkiri. Here is the full performance.
Apparently, in this Jungyo, the gyoji is getting creative. When the two performers fall down together, he leaves the dohyo, and consults with some spectator – preferably a child: “I should call that dotai, right?”.
“Dotai” is when both rikishi touch ground at the same time. In a normal bout, the gyoji doesn’t call it – the gyoji always has to point the gunbai one side or the other – and this is settled with a monoii and a torinaoshi. In shokkiri, of course, the gyoji makes all the decisions himself. Or with the help of a child, as it turns out.
Next up is the Jinku performance. And once again I have the full version:
But hey, aren’t you hungry? It’s nearly noon and we haven’t tasted that chanko, yet!
Apparently they also serve Udon. But who cares? Chanko!
There is also a mobile Takoyaki stall if you’re tired of Chanko, as some rikishi are
Both lunch and Jinku over, it’s time for the Juryo dohyo-iri. And Sokokurai is arguing some point with Gagamaru:
Skipping the Makuuchi and Yokozuna dohyo-iri, right before Makuuchi, Takakeisho, the local hero, receives a bale of rice as a gift – and apparently, a large amount of beef.
The area of Toyooka is known for its stork-friendly rice. Apparently, Japanese storks have been on the decline, and the city of Toyooka is making an effort to bring them back, by raising rice that coexists with the creatures that storks feed on to sustain themselves. So Takakeisho got a bale of stork-friendly rice. I don’t know how stork-friendly the beef is, though.
So let’s see some bouts! Here we have a series of bouts from Juryo:
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.
