My final day didn't start very well at all. I woke up late again, but the lie-in wasn't planned. I was just very very drained and I woke up with some redness in my lower left leg. I had no idea what it could have been but I felt very dehydrated so headed out and stocked up on drinks from the vending machine and water from a little supermarket close to the hotel.
This was my final day of the trip and I had chosen to finish up by attending the Sumo Basho that was taking place in town. There are around half a dozen major tournaments in the country and I was fortunate to have the biggest taking place at Ryoku Kokugikan. My leg felt quite sore to walk on but I really want to get to the sumo. Fortunately the train journey was only 20 minutes, and about the same to walk across the arena complex from the station to the arena proper.
The day start around lunch with the junior sumo dudes going up against each other before the heavy weights come on later in the day. The arena is really impressive but at the time I arrived fairly empty from a crowd perspective. It did get busier through the afternoon but nowhere near as busy as on the final days when the contest comes to a close.
Something was clearly up with me as I passed out 4 times at the arena, and I'm certain that wasn't due to the lack of audience participation or the ambience of the arena. I made it until I'd seen some of the heavyweight fights before deciding to call it a day prematurely and go back to the hotel. I didn't have my head screwed on because my journey back took almost 3 hours and I don't remember too much of it to be honest. I hit the bed early but struggled to sleep and was in a bit of a state the next morning when I had to get to the airport, but I stubbornly got myself home.
This is the hall at the western end of the Ryogoku complex. The other major building here is a Sumo Museum, which if I'd woken up on time I'd have gone to.
These are the heavyweights doing their pre-fight ritual. The major difference between the juniors and these guys is obviously the size but also the amount of stalling they do. The juniors just go at it. The heavys do all they can to fight only when they want to.
The people who choose to have the ringside seats do so accepting they may get hurt and only basic medical support. One reason for me not picking one of those seats, the other and more likely is that they're kneeling pads and there's no way I could kneel for long.
The place is filling up ahead of the big boy fights.
No comments:
Post a Comment