Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament July 2008

I dragged myself up early and along to the second day of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament.There was a line of people already waiting when I arrived at the ticket office.After standing in an orderly fashion for 10 minutes in the rapidly rising heat I purchased my ticket.And escaped into the air conditioned chasm of the Nagoya Prefectural Gym.In time to see the first bout of the day at 8:35pm.

There were two shock results from the opening day.First Kotooshu,the ozeki from Bulgaria,who won the last tournament and is looking for another Emperors Cup to gain promotion to yokozuna,lost.Not surprisng really considering that his opponent was Aminishiki.His record against him now stands at 0-6 including one loss by default.

The other surprise was Asashoryu's loss to Toyonoshima.Asa's record against him was 5-0 until yesterdays bout when Toyonoshima narrowly avoided touching the dirt before Asashoryu.
The photo above shows a bowl of chanko nabe.Its a key dish in the diet of a sumo wrestler.It contains vegetables such as potatoes and bits of fish and meat.Despite the fact that it was near 35degrees celsius outside there were still many people willing to queue up at 1pm for a bowl of this filling boiling broth/stew.















The Gym didnt really fill until after 2pm when the higher division wrestlers in the juryo and makuuchi division begin.That said,by the final hour it was still only three quarters full.While all of the more expensive seats were occupied there were still large gaps in the cheaper areas.























While the more expensive seats themselves are often no bigger than the size of a cushion or zabaton people still manage to make themselves comfortable in the confined space.












For the record both Kotooshu and Asashoryu won their respective bouts today.Kaio lost his match while the other Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho retains his lead in the race for the Emperors Cup with his second victory.
All in all an enjoyable day out again.A nice friendly atmosphere and on another baking hot day an ideal place to chill out and relax.