Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

on January 10th we had our cool Sumo Tour starting here at Sakura Hostel Asakusa.

That was so much fun, it was so great, want to go to Sumo every day, hihi!

For me it was the first time watching Sumo, so I was really curious! ^^

But this time it wasn't a normal Sumo Tour.

Our lovely Steven from Estonia is really really into Sumo (no, no, he only knows all the rules and all the wrestlers and everything about Sumo in general - you have to teach me more, Steven-san! ^^) and in this tournament there's a great Sumo wrestler from Estonia, Baruto Kaito. He's really popular and high ranked (ozeki rank).

So we had a mission..."Speak with Baruto and make a picture!". ^^

But could we make this mission? Or is it more like "Mission Impossible"?

Could we really get in contact with him?
He's really VIP you have to know...
We only had a big big flag of Estonia and our iron will - but would that be enough?

So let's starting with our thriller now. ^^

On this sunny day, here you can see all of us (I had to make the picture ^^), ready to rumble and for the start of our great Sumo Tour! ^^

So we headed together to Kokugikan Arena in Ryogoku, which is around 40 minutes walk from here...but look at this pictures, the weather was so nice and time flews by like nothing! ^^

Hello Annika from Germany! ^^

In front of the arena are many flags - every wrestler has his own flag. ^^

And then we get our tickets, yippie! ^^

One last group picture, before we went in...^^

First we were having some lunch - chanko nabe! ^^
Sumo wrestlers eat chanko-nabe every day to build up strength. Nabe means "Pot" (or a meal simmered in a pot); chanko is the meal eaten by sumo wrestlers.
It tasted totally great! Many ingredients and a little bit curry taste, yummy

So I saw this picture and try to look like the same, lol :D

Does it work? :D

Then we sneaked a little bit round the arena. ^^

Here you can buy nice souvenirs! ^^

And here you can compare your hand size with the hand prints of the real Sumo wrestlers - they have big big hands! ^^

Then we went into the arena.
The flair and atmosphere was great, unbelievable great! ^^
You have to go there!

Look at this! While I thought, chanko nabe didn't work...can you see their Sumo face with the iron will! ^^

Maybe chanko nabe only works with men! :D

We saw the first fights and it was so interesting! ^^

Everyone had fun! ^^

Before the kings of the kings started, I want to look, if I could catch Baruto before his fight, so I looked a little bit more arround! ^^

What's this!!!
Hey, you cutie, let's make a picture together, hihi.

Marius-san, where's your hand! :D

It's the official Sumo mascot and its name is Hiyonoyama, which means "Mountain of a baby chicken". :D

I looked and looked and looked, but I couldn't find Baruto-san anywhere! ^^

But then I see him and he really looks nice and I thought "Wow that must be one of the wrestlers!".
So totally shy I slowly tiptoed around him, get all my bravery together, turned red and asked quietly:
"Shashin wa totemo ii desu ka?"
And he smiled and said: "Daijobu desu."
Great, thank you so much, hihi!

And that's the picture:

Ooooh, he was so nice and such a nice smile! :)
I hope, I can see him again! :)
Unfortunately my Japanese is not good, because I really wanted to talk more to him.
(I really think you're cute...sorry, but I have to write that with all my heart, hihi. Never will forget your smile, hihi).

After that I felt really great and on the way back to inside of the arena, I met some more wrestlers.
Thank you really for the chance, to make a picture with you, even if you were in a hurry!.
Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

The wrestler on the last picture has to give autographs after that picture. ^^

So if you know the names of these nice wrestlers, please tell me, because I'm unfortunately a Sumo newbie and they were all so friendly to me!

Full of happyness and enjoyment I was going back to our floor in the arena, where wrestlers have summarized on the ring for the next big round!

One of the wrestlers did a traditional sumo dance before the next rounds of fights began.

Here you can see on the right side in red a wrestler from the Czech Republic.

Here the wrestler on the right side in light blue is the most heavy weight participant of the tournament with almost 300 kg! ^^

Be careful everyone in the first row - wrestlers in the air! ^^

Once again! ^^

Can you see these flags? And can you see the envelopes in the box in the pictures below?

In every envelope, there are around 90 000 Yen (I hope, I reminded it right).
For every flag one envelope.
Companies spend this money - so the companies name is on the flag before the fight, they want to have it.
The winner of the fight wins the envelopes of the companies! ^^
So, guess, there's much money involved for some winners. ^^

Then it was the time - Baruto was the next.
So Steven-san and me take our huge flag and shouted like crazy! :D
"Baruto - ganbareeeeeee!"
The opponent was a Japanese wrestler and some Japanese have to laugh because we were shouting with all our powers! ^^
And then they shouted the Japanese name and we shouted Barutos name and they shouted and we shouted, was so much fun for everyone, hihi! :D

And it seems, like our good Baruto wishes worked! ^^
Baruto-san is the right one with the light white "trousers".^^

Start.

Fight.

And hepp...won. But it was a great fight and everyone gives his best!

Few fights later, there was the last fight - on the right, you can see the Yokozuna, that's the highest rank. ^^
Many, many envelopes to win!

The Yokozuna has won the fight, hihi, and after that, there was the traditional bow dance which ended this tournaments day.

In a few seconds, they had tidy up the arena...

So we went outside, looking for Baruto again, but then we get told, that he take another underground way out, so we didn't get him.

Mission failed! ^^

But that doesn't matter - because it was such a great day and we gave our best! ^^

Another chance on the 18th! Then there's our next Sumo Tour!

Maybe you will join?

It's really so much fund and the perfect chance for enjoying Japanese traditional sports! ^^

Just write us or ask at the front desk for further information! :)

And Sumo wrestlers are so friendly persons and I'm happy, that I had the chance to meet some of them, so maybe you'll meet some wrestlers the next time, too! :)

(And if somebody knows the name of "my" wrestler - please tell me! ^^).