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Another bout of sumo

Later on today I will return to the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo for yet another day of osumo. Frankly, although I went last week, and have watched the “sumo digest” every night on TV during the current basho (tournament), I just can’t get enough.

It will be the last day of the tournament, and yokozuna Asashoryu‘s loss yesterday means that who will claim the yusho (tournament championship) is up for grabs. It’s a possibility Asashoyru, currently 12-2, could end up tied with Kaio (presently 11-3), which would mean a “sudden-death” playoff match to determine the winner (and a rematch of yesterday’s bout, which Asashoryu lost). Wouldn’t that be something? Asashoryu has the tougher battle of the two, going up against Haru Basho winner Chiyotaikai, who won’t be happy he’s out of contention with 4 losses and his dream of yokozuna rank deferred for now.

Rather than chance ticket availability at the venue (there are 500 same-day tickets that go on sale each day), I bought a ticket the other day when I was in Tokyo for work. And although it’s in the second row from the back of the house, I could hardly care less. I’ll be there early too, just to soak up more of the atmosphere, and hopefully take more photos. Speaking of which, yesterday I picked up my photos from last week, and started the slow and tortuous process of scanning the better ones tonight. Below are a few examples, and a few more can be seen in my gallery. These are all wrestlers in the lower ranks, and as such I don’t know their wrestling names (yet).

Sumo, Natsu Basho, Ryogoku, Tokyo, May 18, 2003: click for larger image (23K)

Sumo, Natsu Basho, Ryogoku, Tokyo, May 18, 2003: click for larger image (43K)

Sumo, Natsu Basho, Ryogoku, Tokyo, May 18, 2003: click for larger image (27K)

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Photographing the photographers

Sanja Festival, Asakusa, Tokyo, May 17, 2003: click for larger image (77K)

In her comment on my tourist weekend post, Lil mentioned “the photographers clambering over each other trying to get ‘the perfect shot'” that helps make up the atmosphere at Asakusa’s famed Sanja Matsuri festival. This couldn’t be more true, and one of the “images” from my Saturday at the festival that struck me was the sheer amount of photography that was going on.

From the professionals with multiple camera bodies dangling from shoulders and battery packs fastened to their waists, to the serious (and I do mean serious) amateurs with camera lenses out to here and Lowepro backbacks, to the tourists with all manner of digital and point and shoots, to the students with their Pentax K1000’s and Nikon FM10’s, all the way down to the camera-equipped mobile phones being thrust into the air (mine included), there was a lot of imaging hardware in action. I saw a couple of guys toting around step-ladders (complete with shoulder straps) even.

Speaking of the serious photo-hobbyist contingent, this particular photographer that I’ve captured above had what I thought was an ingenious solution to the I’m-not-tall-enough-to-get-good-shots problem, which was to mount his 2 ¼ Kowa Six camera onto some sort of SLIK clamp/bracket which he then hoisted in the air. It didn’t even dawn on me until later when I looked at this photo that he has mounted the camera upside down so that he can look up into the Kowa’s waist-level viewfinder to compose his shots, which I’ve captured him doing. (He snaps the pics via a long cable release). In the end I’m not sure what’s more bulky to carry around, a step-ladder or this homemade stanchion, but this guy definitely wins the award for otaku creativity.

Interestingly, early on in the day, when I realized one of the day’s “sub-themes” was going to be all the photography going on, I snapped a picture of this guy with his rig, and he flashed me one of the more vitriolic “fuck off” looks I’ve received in a while. (It never fails. These guys can’t take what they have no problem dishing out to others.) So a couple of hours later, when I noticed he was right behind me, my juvenile juices kicked in and I couldn’t resist taking another pic of him. However, I don’t think he noticed me, so engrossed he was with his viewfinder (makes for a better picture at any rate). I find it funny though that a couple of others were staring me down on his behalf, as it were.

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A tourist weekend in Tokyo

Sanja Matsuri, Asakusa, Tokyo, May 17, 2003: click for larger image (70K)

Phew, what an exhausting but exhilirating weekend I had. As readers of the moblog will know, on Saturday, I went to Asakusa’s Sensoji Temple for the Sanja Matsuri, one of the three main annual festivals in the Tokyo area. And yesterday, I went to a Sumo tournament for the first time.

Sometimes it takes a tourist’s view to help put things into perspective. I’ve been feeling a bit down on Japan of late, for a variety of reasons. It may be ephemeral, the high of a non-plebeian, low-responsibility (thank you Naoko!) weekend that will wear off shortly, but as I was returning home last night it occurred to me that there’s no place in the world I’d rather be right now than in Japan.

Seeing a sumo tournament was something I had been looking forward to for a long time, and as I was going into Tokyo I was anxious, not so much in anticipation of the event, but rather that perhaps, like so many things in life, it would not live up to the expectations I had laid on top of it. But it lived up to the the advance billing and more. I think I could sense this the moment I got off the train and saw the large paintings of sumo wrestlers in the Ryogoku train station. And when I entered the arena, and I had my ticket torn by fellow Hawaii-bred Jesse Kuhaulua (now Oyakata Azumazeki, who wrestled as Takamiyama), I knew this was going to be a great day. (I was so in awe and not a little bit nervous that all I could do was mutter “Thank you” when he handed me back my ticket!)

I didn’t shoot much digital on either day, so here are a couple of “token” shots until I get back my film from the lab. I went a bit crazy with the analog, racking up about 25 rolls over both days. I even went out and bought a zoom lens, which came in handy for the sumo.

Natsu Basho Sumo Tournament, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, May 18, 2003: click for larger image (61K)