Last week I made it down to Tokyo and checked out day 13 of the May Sumo tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan
There are 6 Sumo tournaments every year, each one lasting 15 days. 1 in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka and 3 in Tokyo. Ryogoku is the area of Tokyo and Kokugikan is the name of the building.
Amazing to see the big boys go head to head in the flesh !
At these Sumo tournaments there are many different levels of competition with the lower ranks starting from around 12 pm. The professional division called the Makuuchi starts from around 4 pm.
This panorama was the second last bout of the Juryo division just before the Makkuchi division.
One of the cool things about arriving early is that you can wander around the Kokugikan and take a close look at the ring and watch a few bouts from an empty seat close up – lots of people only arrive to watch the Makkuchi division from 4 – 5 pm. My seat was up on the 2nd floor.
The two Sumo wrestlers ( Rikishi ) in this panorama were just about to fight, when both Rikishi (wrestlers) touch the ground with there hands at the same time they slam into each other and it’s GAME ON – first Rikishi to either step out of the ring ( Douhyo ) or touch the ground inside the ring is the loser.
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LOVE the tilt shift action in image 4. Epic shot!
awesome set buddy – congrats