The Kyushu Sumo Basho (Practice)

Date: November 13 (Sun) - November 27 (Sun) (15 days)

When flags line the entry to the Fukuoka Convention Center in November, you know it’s time to welcome the November Grand Sumo Tournament to town! This year all eyes are on yokozuna Hakuho, who recently achieved his 20th tournament victory, becoming one of only six wrestlers in history to do so. We’ll also be watching Kotoshogiku of Yanagawa City, who has defeated Hakuho in the past, and who will be formally promoted to ozeki rank for the tournament. Competitors come from a wide range of international backgrounds- Mongolia, Bulgaria, Russia, Czech Republic and Japan are just some of the nations represented in the tournament. Witness the dynamic, traditional sport of sumo with your own eyes!


 On Friday night, Kevin sends me a random text message telling me "We have an early date tomorrow morning, be ready to leave by 7am."  Of course, he doesn't tell me where we are going or what we are doing; just be ready.

The past few nights I had not been sleeping well at all.  At this point, I am exhausted and having to wake up super early to get ready for a "date" that I have no idea about.  I get up to prepare my coffee and "attempt" to wake the little one up.  Any luck the first time? Eh, no.  I quietly wake her.  "Wake up pumpkin.  It's time to get up."  You know what I get? A sleepy look and a quick blanket over her head.  Not one word came out.  She just went back to sleep.  I try to wake her again, I get a grumble.  I wash up and attempt to wake the little one once more.  She finally gets up.  We get ready.  We have breakfast and I get my coffee.  As I am finishing up my oatmeal, Kevin tells me to go downstairs to meet up our friends Max and Vera.

KK and I get downstairs and we see Max in his little white car across the street waving at us.  Ohaiyou!!! We hop in the backseat with Vera.  Off we go?  "So, Kevin still have not told me where we are going today."  Of course, Max and Vera giggles at that.  Max finally told us that we are going to see the Sumo Wrestlers practice for the November tournament that is held in Fukuoka every year.  Super cool yeah?! YEAH!  We go pick up of of Max's friends.  Xiong?  That's how we pronounce it.  It was a 15 minute drive over to the location where the Sumo Wrestlers eat, sleep and practice up until the tournament; which is tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011).  When the tournament starts, they will all stay at the Stadium where they will compete.

At first, I didn't really know what to expect.  What are you suppose to expect to see when you are going to watch Sumo Wrestlers practice?  A bunch of huge men in their Sumo garments go at it?  Yep! It was actually cool to see it with my own eyes.  These guys are huge! You wouldn't expect the big dudes to move so fast!  They were fast and hard hitting.  Each time they charged at each other, my face would scrunch up like I felt the pain.  These guys were up at 5am already practicing.  We arrived at 8am to watch them practice.  They went at it, pair by pair, practicing.  There was this big guy, well they are all big, but yo could tell he was the "big man".  From time to time he would say some things in Japanese to ones who were practicing.  I thought, hmm... coach? Neh.  So Max's dad is one of the sponsors, so we got VIP treatment to go see them practice.  So Max knows these guys pretty well.  He says "These are my friends."  Max says that this guy is one of the top 35 Sumo Wrestlers in Japan.  He amongst 2 others in the group is very famous.  He mentioned, "You see the white belts and the black belts?  The white belts are the professionals."  Ah, then I noticed the 3 wearing the white belts.  They are the 3 professionals he was talking about.  They were, of course, bigger than most of the rest of others too.

These men were very respectful and polite.  As we walked in, they greeted us and brought us tea.  It felt kind of weird being served tea by a big sumo wrestler.  Later, we were joined by 3 other older gentlemen in suits.  According to Max, they were the major sponsors.  We all watched quietly for about an hour.  Usually practice would end around 9am, but it looked like practice was extended.  So the 5 of us walked our to use the restroom and stretch our legs.  We got to check out the "compound".  As we were walking about, the little one mentions food.  Of course, FOOD.  In the next building, you can see the other Sumo Wrestlers cooking and preparing for a meal.  We smelled food and yes it was food.  It was "lunch" time for them.  Vera mentions how the men are still in Sumo uniforms while they were cooking.  I thought, being topless and barely in bottoms + cooking with splattering oil = OUCH!

As the practice was coming to a end, Max was nice enough to ask some of the wrestlers if we may take some pictures with them.  We took some pictures and kind of also observed the "younger" wrestlers.  Apparently, a few of them are just teenage boys at the age of only 15!  Max mentioned that they start training young.  They say bye-bye to their families and go live the life as a Sumo.  They move from city to city every two months up until competition time.  Each match they fight, it will determine your rank.  If you are the one that ranks the top 30, you get paid the big bucks.  If you rank lower than that, you get paid $700 USD a month.  It doesn't sound like much, but everything is sponsored for them.  Sumo wrestlers are well respected in Japan.  It's a National Sport!  Usually it is pretty expensive to watch a actual Sumo match/tournament/competition.  We were happy to be invited to watch the wrestlers behind-the-scenes.

It was very impressive!  It's a must watch when you are in Japan!

You may view the pictures and videos from our visit:
Unable to view? Please click here: Sumo Practice Pictures