Sumo!

haha yeaa the title is a little misleading today.  We didnt actually get to see a sumo match but just a video and some highlights from the last tournament.  It was.......very very.....interesting.  I know what you are all thinking right now Sumo.. nothing more than a bunch of massively overweight men unfortunately wearing nothing more than a singular scrap of clothing which oddly resembles a giant diaper.  I know this is what you're thinking because that was what my perception of the sport was as well.  

I learned that interestingly enough Sumo has a TON of inherently Japanese traditional practices.  This is because Sumo is something that originated from Japan.  It didn't have any basis on Chinese traditions like much of the Japanese culture.  There are many ceremonial type practices before and after each match.  Much of these ceremonies are done in respect to the Shinto religion.  Things such as thanking the gods of East, South, West, and North before accepting prize money.  

The cultural aspects were the only things really keeping me watching the video...as many of you know I have some odd issues with shirtless-ness and nudity...yeaaaa and these weren't exactly men who had been voted "most sexy of the year" if you catch my drift. haha

So Sumo...I'll explain a little...or at least whatever I retained about it. So the main goal is to knock your opponent out of the designated ring.  This can be from a single finger touching the outside area of the ring to a full blown fall of the stage into the crowd knockout.  You are not permitted to kick, punch, or grab hair.  Other than that I think its anything goes.  Its interesting to see all the different techniques used.  Some wrestlers liked using a rapid pushing/ slapping technique, others preferred to do fancy judo-like moves and throw the opponent.  Each match is EXTREMELY short...as in maybe 5-10 seconds long.  not to say there aren't longer or shorter matches.  We saw one were one wrestler immediately charged (somewhat like a bull) into his opponent...but the other wrestler realized and took a small step to the side and the charging wrestler went straight out of the ring and continued to fall right off the stage.  that lasted like 1 second. haha.  

Also being the biggest and heaviest doesnt always mean that you will always win.  The Yokozuna, or most highly ranked sumo wrestler happens to be a pretty average sized wrestler...but he wins all of his matches.  Sumo is based on a ranking system..basically a ratio of wins to losses.  The tournament lasts for 15 days and all the top ranked wrestlers wrestle each of the 15 days to determine a promotion or demotion in rank.  All except the yokozuna...he is never demoted..however after he starts to lose matches it is expected to respectfully resign the position.

Yep and thats all I know about Sumo :)

Afterwards the Shoin language partners had a takoyaki party for us Delawarians.  You remember what takoyaki is right?  Octopus balls? haha yeaaa they also made ones with small hotdogs and even some vegatarian ones.  It was pretty good...except many of us decided to go to a nomihodai bar instead :P

..and yes I was one of them xD