Grand Sumo

[ichi]

Yesterday Mrs ichi and I went to Las Vegas to watch the Grand Sumo Tournament. We ate a ton of sushi at a great place called Osaka, drank sake for free, and then hit the Mandalay Bay to watch the real guys from Japan.

The current Yokosuna (highest ranking Sumo dude in the world), Asashoryu, participated but he lost in the final to Chiyotakai.

The great Hawaian Yokosuna, Konishiki, was the ringside announcer, but they did the traditional Sumo match with all the good stuff.

Very fun, something I've always wanted to see. The matches last only a few seconds but are exciting and interesting. The crowd really got into it, even in Vegas the old traditional stuff went over well.



This is the ring entrance ceremony with about half of the sumotori.








The final match


ichi

[The Stranger]

those guys are FAAAAAT

[Blodrast]

cool stuff, do you have more pictures ? :)

[Papewaio]

Have you seen those guys slap each other... it is fast, loud and man it would break ribs on anyone bar a lineman... these guys are agile for their size... and they don't even have to wipe their own arse.

[ichi]

cool stuff, do you have more pictures ? :)

This is this Yokozuna Asashoryo doing his ring entrance ceremony. The guy on the left is his sword-bearer, the other guy is also an attendant. The heavy wide belt is a tradition dating back to the 1600's IIRC and signifies his status.

Once a sumitori reaches the rank of yokozuna he cannot be demoted, but is expected to reitre if he can no longer perform at the highest level.




and yes, they slap the $h!t out of each other.

Before each match they stare each other down, one guy even slapped himself silly, I guess as a means of pumping up before the fight.

ichi