This POTW is in celebration of Estonian Baruto and his first tournament win the January Tokyo Sumo Tournament. There is already suggestion that if he wins the next tournament he could become one of two top-ranked wrestlers (a ‘yokuzuna’). The only yokuzuna at the moment is Mongolian Hakuho. Currently, all the top wrestlers, who have a chance at becoming top-ranked are non-Japanese. The Japanese media emphasis this point and the media hang their hopes on Japanese Kisenosato.
Estonian, Baruto (Kaido Höövelson; left, blue mawashi), won his first sumo tournament. He is the new kid on the block, an has ascended the ranks of sumo quite fast whilst gathering many fans in Japan. He was undefeated until today when he faced top-ranked wrestler Hakuho (who defeated him), but still Baruto had enough wins to secure the tournament and the Emperor’s Cup. His mother flew from Estonia to sit with his wife in the crowd to see him claim the tournament. Upto this point, everything about Baruto’s win today mirror’s Bulgarian Koto-oshu and Mongolian Harumafuji’s ascents. However, Koto-oshu and Harumafuji have only won one Emperor’s Cup, and haven’t returned to the fiery form they displayed ahead of their first (and only) tournament wins.
Another July summer Grand Sumo Tournament held in Nagoya has come and gone. This was one of the best tournaments yet, and the most unattended. Following the match-fixing scandals, fans did not have the appetite to go to their national sport. There were no reports of TV viewer numbers, but the only sold-out day was the final day. When I attended (day 12), there was less than half of the seats taken, whilst the cheapest seats were sold out, many of the box seats that are normally bought by companies and families remained empty.
Day of upsets
The final day saw the top-ranked Mongolian yokuzuna Hakuho (pictured below) was defeated by Estonian Baruto, leaving Hakuho with one of his worst records of 12-3 (win-loss). Whilst fellow Mongolian Harumafuji (pictured below) who now seems recovered from his injuries was denied his first undefeated record by rival Kisenosato. Harumafuji ended the tournament with 14-1, but had already won the Emperor’s cup yesterday.
For an organisation that is trying desperately to win back credibility and fans, they aren’t very good at delivering on the promise of English language ticket purchasing facilities. The official sumo website for ticket purchasing information would have you believe that it is possible to purchase tickets through English language facilities, but for regular seats, that ain’t true. I think I can do it in Japanese, but I don’t want to tick the wrong boxes and have accidentally ordered express delivery of a premium package with backstage / changing room passes. I’ll wait for the kind assistance of a Japanese person.
Photos will be available on Asia Photo Connection. Special pre-ordering discounts can be made available (please don’t request changing-room photos).
The last day of the “Technical Examination Tournament” was held in the wake of match-fixing and other scandals. This tournament was held in-place of a regular tournament due to a very large number of wrestlers being forced retired (they don’t fire people in Japan), so they don’t have rankings to organise a tournament properly. Hakuho, who is usually undefeated, when faced against lesser opponents seemed to find it tougher to clinch victory. Today he lost against the oldest wrestler who is ten years his senior (extremely unusual). I’m sure there’ll be a few raised eyebrows in the next tournament due to be held here in Nagoya in July. The tickets were due to go on sale on the 19th of May (today’s the 22nd), but are yet to be released, perhaps in anticipation of canceling yet another tournament?
NHK reports that 22 wrestlers and one stable master are to resign for their part in sumo match fixing (or ’bout fixing’), which includes six of the top-ranked wrestlers. Japanese don’t fire people, but expect the offender to ‘take responsibility for their actions’. This confirmation that there had been match fixing will surely rock public confidence in the sumo world, which has already lost fans and saw drops in audience attendance. This action by the Japan Sumo Federation follows accusations of match fixing involving former top-wrestler Asashoru back in 2008 or 2009, as well as the cancellation of the March Osaka tournament, and other controversies in previous years which have also been reported on this blog (see the tags for previous sumo entries). The next question is if this also means that the Tokyo May tournament will go ahead, though this may have no impact on the Nagoya July tournament, which was almost cancelled last year. Parallel to this, the Chinese football league has been accused of the same offences and lacks major sponsors and TV coverage (BBC).
Coming up this Spring are a few important things. Firstly, a 10% discount for all purchases at my PhotoShelter portfolio with a minimum USD$25 purchase, unlimited use, until 30th March, 2011. Coupon code is: SUPERSPRING.
Secondly, the Spring Sumo tournament in Osaka has been cancelled due to match fixing allegations. It is the first time sumo had been cancelled since 1946, which itself was cancelled due to renovations to the Tokyo sumo venue. Here are my galleries, all eligible for the Spring 10% discount: Top wrestler, Hakuho, Sumo Spills, and general Japanese Sumo.
Thirdly, the Tado Horse Festival, is a Shinto religious festival intended to bring a good harvest for this coming growing season. If a horse can make it up the steep slope and over a mound-obstacle, then a good harvest is expected. Only after the event do the local farms begin sowing. The 10% Spring discount also applies to this PhotoShelter gallery.
That’s pretty much the main events that are coming up this Spring.
Mongolian sumo wrestler, Hakuho, of the Japan Sumo Association loses his winning streak on the second day of the Kyushu Tournament. He was on a winning streak at 63 wins, with just 6 more to equal the all-time record of 300 years of sumo set by the legendary Futabayama at 69 wins in 1939. Hakuho faced lower ranked Kisenosato who often loses to Hakuho. Today, Hakuho was literally put onto the back foot and was eventually pushed out of the ring by Kisenosato rolling into the crowd. Whilst Hakuho did not achieve the record, he did get a record: the second longest winning streak in all of sumo history.
The Mongolian sumo wrestler Hakuho gets the second highest unbeaten winning streak in modern sumo today. Hakuho faced the ambitious rising star Kisenosato who fought well. Hakuho did not play his usual style of sumo and appeared nervous. During the bout Hakuho seemed unstable and did not calmly respond to his opponents attacks. Hakuho managed a win, which made him outright the second highest unbeaten wrestler in modern sumo with 54 unbeaten bouts. This record is also fourth highest in about 350 years of organised sumo. It is likely that Hakuho will win at least the next five or six bouts, possibly making him the third highest in sumo. If Hakuho can win all eight of the remaining bouts in the current tournament, then he will be in a very good position to easily surpass Futabayama’s 69 unbeaten bouts in the next tournament.
In a time when fans are turning their backs on sumo due to scandal after scandal, this winning streak is extremely important. Today was also the first day in the current tournament that all seats were sold out. Historically there would normally have been several days of sold out seats already by this stage of the tournament. Further, this is the first time a non-Japanese wrestler is breaking such important records.
My Hakuho Sumo Gallery. Hakuho (below) walking from Harumafuji after defeating him in the Nagoya summer tournament in July.
Some time back I invested in a cheap little Sony Bloggie. It’s an alright camera, as you will see. It is so light that it’s hard to hold steady, as you will see that, too. But that’s not the point. What I want to do is to give you a sample of what I see when I’m at an event, though I don’t see things with shakes and wobbles. Look in the tag cloud to the side for Sumo and matsuri (town festival) pictures
A rather noisy local town festival with portable shrines, drums and cymbals. The lanterns that you see atop of each portable shrine are arranged to be in the same shape as a rice ball (which is not in the shape of a ball, but a kind of Michelin-man triangle).
The second is a sumo bout. This footage was taken at the recent Nagoya Summer Grand Sumo Tournament. Watch out for the bitch-slap.
