Look what I have! I'm going to my very first Sumo tournament!

And Aya's going to be our Sumo guide.

Yeah!

Sumo guide, teach us!

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

Let me see—what did we find?

Can you put it on? Let's see.

Alright! Mr Mario, all set.

We're going to have fun, huh?

You got the Switch, you got your backpack,

You got your Mario outfit

And we're going to go to Uncle Paul and Tia Pri's. Alright, let's go.

We're dropping Joshua off here at Ruth's brother's house, Paul, and Tia Pri.

And he's going to hang out here while Ruth and I go to Sumo— YES!

We've lived in Japan for seven years, but this will be our very first time to a Sumo tournament.

To help us navigate it, Ruth's friend Aya is going to meet us at the stadium and be our guide.

Sumo is the official sport of Japan, full of tradition and ceremony,

so having our friend with us is a huge benefit to understanding the overall Sumo experience.

We arrived at the station.

I think we found the right station. We did.

We exited the station at Ryougoku and headed towards the stadium or Kokugikan.

The drums and the flags tell you that it's tournament day.

Sumo tournaments last for 15 days and are full of matches all day long.

This tournament, called the Grand Tournament, is typically held in Osaka, but due to the pandemic was moved to Tokyo this year.

It's a perfect chance for us to check out Sumo for the first time.

We've got our papers here

The stickers. Oo stickers, very nice!

Alright!

So you can get different omiyages (souvenirs) for the different players?

So each player has their own omiyage?

The famous... The famous ones?

So all of these are the champions from previous years.

That is your favorite of all time? Yeah, yeah!

Chiyonofuji

So 69 and 71 are still Yokozuna, so the top notch...

And they're still working, but they're absent today.

He got injured yesterday. Oh! Bummer!

This guy's Hawaiian. So is this one.

And he's Hawaiian also.

The stadium was operating at limited capacity, but I was still able to try something I had been wanting to try: Sumo Curry.

Sumo Curry! Sumo curry.

If I eat enough of this, do you think I can get their size?

I hope not.

With a belly full of Curry, I felt a bit like a sumo wrestler

and it was time for the main event: the sumo match itself.

The trophy was awaiting the winner, so it was time to see who would fight for the win.

We're going up up up to our seats.

There are six different divisions in sumo.

Wrestlers move up and down between divisions based upon their record.

If you have a winning record after the tournament, you move up.

If you have a losing record, you move down.

The day starts with the lowest division competing first and moves up in prestige as the day goes on.

So he's calling the next player? Um hum.

Each wrestler is called into the ring and stretches and prepares for the match.

As you move up in divisions, this ceremony becomes more and more elaborate, as we will see.

Normally a stadium is full for a Sumo tournament, but the restrictions due to the pandemic keep the attendance and cheering to a minimum.

What is the goal? What are they trying to do?

To win the match, to win the point?

Going outside... Outside of the ring?

They have to put only here, the bottom of their foot.

So only their feet — the bottom of their feet can touch.

So if they put their hand down, or knee

Or elbow, they're out.

This is one of my favorite wrestlers.

This is one of your favorites? The one on the left or the right?

Yea, left.

What is his name?

Abi.

He was the strongest level but then he moved down.

So since he won, does he stay there then and fight the other ones?

No.

Just one match and you're done. Yeah

Only one match one day?! Oh!! Yeah.

So everyday, one match? Yeah.

Well, I'm glad you saw it today.

They prepare everyday for just one match.

Just some seconds.

So how many different Sumo wrestlers are there?

How many? I don't know.

Many of them? Yeah.

So each of these is a wrestler's name.

Oh my! Yeah.

So that brown little banana-thingy is where the emperor sits when he comes to watch.

Private booth for the emperor. Nice.

Who are the players up on the walls here?

The winners. The winners of each year?

Each tournament.

Each tournament's winners. OK.

How many tournaments in one year? Six.

Are the matches usually very fast? Yeah, usually.

What is the highest level of player?

You mean Yokozuna?

Yeah- how do you, how do they say it?

Yokozuna. Ah, Yokozuna.

We can't see Yokozuna today

Yeah, they're not playing right now.

So today the strongest wrestler is Ozeki.

So you have to reach the top level and win at that level to win the tournament?

Yeah. Ok.

How much do they have to eat? Like, what is their diet?

Sleep and eat and practice.

It looks like he hurt himself.

Is it common for them to hurt themselves? Yeah.

He says "No thank you, I'm going to walk off."

So now what is going to happen, Aya?

So, it's a kind of ceremony.

A ceremony?

Cool, they have special outfits.

Certain traditions are reserved for the higher levels of play, such as these entrance ceremonies.

At this level, a lot more time is taken before the actual match,

with wrestlers sizing up their opponents, returning to the ring side and slapping themselves without reserve.

At this level, water and salt now becomes available to the wrestlers to use.

Throwing salt in the ring is a form of purification before the match.

Wrestlers are able to return a couple of times to do this until the match actually begins.

Up on the wall here, it shows the names of the players and the matches we're on right now.

Whoever wins, the red line stays over them.

So this next one is one of Aya's personal favorites, huh? Yeah.

What's his name?

Him.

The one on the left? The right.

Right? Oh the one on the right.

The man in the red, what is his name?

He was the winner- he was one of the winners of last year.

Let's see how he does today.

Not this time, huh?

And now here comes the top level for this tournament.

The first guy down there— he's Brazilian.

Before the top level plays, they're announcing the matches for tomorrow.

Now the judges are getting into place here.

And at this level, Aya said that all of the players, they get their own cushion to sit on.

Their cushions have their name on it.

It's kind of like...kind of like probably a movie star gets a chair with his name on it.

And the first match is almost ready to go.

Oh, Aya is a true Sumo fan! She has Sumo socks.

Look at those! Those are awesome!

That's a true fan.

Are you going to be rooting for the Brazilian?

Sure. Go Brazil!

Yea, Brazil!

The short guy, what is special about him?

He throws a lot of salt.

Oh, he throws a lot of salt? Yea.

He's sponsored by a salt company? Oh that's ironic.

What's the salt guy's name?

These are quite the prematch warmups.

Look at his hand of salt, Nate!

That other guy's like "Don't need too much more."

More sponsors.

We had a great time learning all about Sumo with Aya,

and even though we had a lot of questions, she was a patient teacher.

We liked it so much, we'd like to go back again.

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Your support makes all the difference! Until next time, we'll see you Life in Japan. Bye bye!