Tokyo Basho Playing Nice Sumo, the ancient art of gentlemanly combat. Having been through sumo cram school (offered by our friends Mark Brown and Mary-Claire VanLuenen), we jumped at the chance to go when Makiko Ogawa invited us to the 7th day of the 14 day September Tokyo basho. And it was a ton of fun! To Sustain Ourselves Makiko had arranged lunch at a sushi restaurant that prepares the fish in the manner of the Edo Period. Today the restaurant is run by generation number 6. If this lunch is any indication, the Edo-ians ate very well! The Commute Even sumo wrestlers have to get to work. We were surprised, however, to see them taking the subway and just walking down the street. No limos, just workers headed off for the daily grind with their pink lunch buckets. Fan Base Before taking our seats, we stopped by the locker room door to see the wrestlers arrive. Their fans were on hand, including this little guy, who got autographs from nearly all of the stars. Battle Field The matches take place on a packed dirt platform with a straw ring, into which wrestlers toss purifying salt. Doing The Wave Sumo is loaded with traditions and pagantry. These wrestlers make up one side of the championship level matches. They aren't a team -- they are just presenting themselves as the men who will be taking the West side of the ring. For important matches there are corporate sponsors. They pay for the chance to advertise, meaning a person parades around the circle once carrying the corporate banner before the match, and the winning wrestler gets an envelop with cash after the match. We recognized the banner of our favorite yoghurt company as one of the sponsors. In The Ring The matches begin with stretching and many tradition-based formalities. The actual wrestling is very brief. This match took less than 4 seconds. The final match, between Hakuho and Baruto, was comparatively very long because both men are superb wrestlers. But it was still over in much less than a minute. The winner: Hakuho, wearing black. Post Game The sumo was exciting, and going into the second week, Hakuho was leading. [He would eventually win it all before the final night!] Time to celebrate! The Ogawas took us to dinner at a restaurant run by a former sumo. The specialty is chanka nabe, the food served to sumos in training! Cooked at the table, it is a multitude of meats, sea foods and vegetables cooked in a broth. It was so good, we tucked into it as if we weighed 150 kilos, or would soon! We have been told that some sumo champions, when they are in the embrace of their opponent, close their eyes, relying on their sense of feel to determine how to adjust their grasp or leverage their power. In this, wrestling parallels the appreciation of sculpture -- Helen Keller said "I sometimes wonder if the hand is not more sensitive to the beauties of sculpture than the eye. I should think the wonderful rhythmical flow of lines and curves could be more subtly felt than seen." And as we arrived at the station, we, like many before us, caressed the granite statue of these sumo combatants.