Today we woke up about 4am to the sound of the heavens opening... It was absolutely chucking it down and I think there must have been a tin roof or something nearby as the rain was all you could hear. We left the hotel about eight thirty ish to catch the train to Ryoguko where the Nihon Sumo Kyokai grand sumo tournament takes place. It wasn't far and despite the rain it wasn't actually cold.

The Ryogoku Kokugikan was only about two mins walk from the station... Although it felt a bit long with the drizzle surrounding us. The Nihon Sumo Kyokai grand sumo tournament happens several times a year scattered across Japan and we were very fortunate to be in Tokyo in January when the
January tournament takes place. Although the tour goes through out Japan, the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo is considered the 'Mecca' of sumo in Japan and tickets are sought after. We arrived early as we were cheapskates and were only buying general admission tickets, which are on a first come first served basis, consist of one row and only released on the day.

We arrived at about nine ish and purchased our cheapo tickets for ¥2100 each (about £15 each). Tickets can go for as much as £100 for ring side seats, although they are very strict on who can sit there as more often than not a sumo will land on you, which we witnessed a lot. We secured our tickets and headed in... We were glad we had decided to watch the sumo today as the weather was vile and we could sit and chill all day. We headed in and chose our seats, we went for a couple in the middle on the back side, which meant the ref had his back to us most of the day but the sumo's completed their rituals facing us... Which is what we wanted.

After we had sat for a little while and claimed our stake on the seats ...we left our jackets and scarfs on them and headed off to explore. There was already matches underway with the novices, but since we had nine hours of sumo ahead we thought we would stretch our legs. We headed downstairs and took a look in the sumo museum... Here you can read up on sumo history (if you can read Japanese) and took a look at past champions and such. After a little look around we found the trophies and took some shots with full size cut outs of sumo wrestlers. We then had a wee peak in the gift shop and then wandered back to our seats and observed a few matches. The sumo wrestlers are divided into two teams... An east team and a west team and they fight one an other. Each wrestler fights and either wins or loses... They fight every day of the two week tournament and then their wins and loses are tallied up to determine the winner of that division.

We watched the Jonokuchi Markus***a division bouts which begin with the lowest rank (Jonokuchi) moving up in seniority to the junior rank (Markus***a). These bouts go on till about two pm before the big boys come on at about two twenty. During this time we went in and out of the arena so we could stretch our legs or get some food... As well as catching a glimpse of a sumo and wow those guys are massive, in height as well as stature. At about twelve we headed out to grab some food downstairs in the main hall. We munched on some chankonabe stew which is the main stable food for sumo's in training, they eat this incredibly nutritious stew and combined with training, are the only two ingredients that create the massive Rikishi frames. It was actually very tasty and constituted of various vegetables such as carrots, onion and cabbage along with various meat like chicken and duck all stewed together with a thin herby broth.... Was very nice.

After eating we headed back upstairs to watch some more of the heats and were flabbergasted to see that outside there was about four inches of snow on the ground and a very thick shower of snow falling. In the three hours we had been in the arena the heavy rain had turned into snow and was heavy enough to have settled on the wet ground and blanketed everything. It was beautiful... And again wasn't too cold. We watched the snow for a while before the grand sumo wrestlers started arriving and everyone got very excited and snappy with the cameras, we didn't really know who any one was but could see they were popular as a few of them got whoops and cheers.

Steven looked to the guy to his right for a bit of direction and saw he was looking through his camera snaps... Steven being curious took a look over his shoulder to see if he had caught any great shots only to see that the guy wasn't looking at his sumo shots. He looked back at me blushing and whispered that the guy was looking at shots of a women in bright pink underwear with her legs open and in the air haha!! Steven looked mortified... And kept calling the guy a weirdo. I don't think he was expecting to see such a thing when he innocently looked over... the guy left shortly after off out in to the snow.

After Steven's traumatic experience we headed back int the arena and took our seats, the show was going to kick off very soon. At about two twenty the intermediate (Juryo) Rikishi enter the dohyo (ring) wearing their ceremonial aprons (Keeshond-mawashi). Once they are at this level the fighters are considered fully fledged professional sumo wrestlers and receive a salary. They enter the ring and the colourful 'dohyo-iri' (entering the ring) ceremony begins. They enter in order of rank and form a circle before doing a short ritual ancient in sumo tradition then leave enabling the other team to repeat it... The ceremonial aprons were beautiful and colourful, they are made of silk which has been intricately embroidered with various designs and then hemmed with a gold fringe. They are exquisite and cost anywhere between ¥400,000 and ¥500,000 (£2500 to £3500).

Before the match begins the Rikishi (sumo) remove the apron and return in just a mawashi (a silken loin cloth), they sometimes have stiffened silk threads hanging from the mawashi but these often become detached during a match. After they enter they perform a series of symbolic cleansing movements, this is said to cleanse the body and mind. The higher ranked fighters often spend more time under taking these rituals and baiting his opponent then actually fighting. I filmed a couple of fights and the lead up was easily three or four mins long and the match was over in about thirty seconds.

Firstly the rikishi rinses his mouth with water then stamps his feet one at a time before scattering salt in the ring, this purifies the ring and insures against injury... This is a privilege given only to the highest ranking sumo's. They then pound their fists on the ground and glare at their opponent... This is known as 'shikiri'. This doesn't mean the match begins though as they then get up... Stamp their feet some more and throw more salt. This is repeated several times and really gets the crowd going lol... They then begin. The fighters have to get their opponent to either get a body part out of the circle they are fighting in or a body part other the their feet must touch the ground. Like I said this often happens with in a minute and the defeated bows and leaves the ring while the winner crouches and has the ref point his ceremonial fan at him, he then leaves to a big cheer and applause.

This continues until the elite fighters enter the ring in the final two matches... These are the 'big nuts' as Steven calls them although they are better known as the 'Yokozuna' and their position is unique and very privileged. Apparently in the past three hundred years only sixty nine fighters have been honoured.. Once at this level the Yokozuna can not be demoted despite how they perform in the ring and will instead be encouraged to retire if they have a bad run. Before a sumo can become a Yokozuna he must have first worked his way up through the ranks to become a ozeki, then he must win two consecutive titles and also prove himself to be a worthy man capable of such a position.

The final two matches were very popular and a lot of spectators merely came for these two fights. They were very well worked up and over quickly lol... But thoroughly entertaining. The crowd then disperses very quickly... On leaving the snow was already melting and slushy. We headed towards the subway and there was hundreds of people everywhere... Just hundreds and hundreds of people. The queues all dispersed quickly though and there wasn't any pushing or shoving... In fact it was the quietest and most friendly crowd I have come across. We queued behind the masses and purchased our train tickets and headed home... Despite the lack of walking we were both pooped and couldn't wait to curl up in bed. We caught the first train and enjoyed the warmth before walking a short distance to a sukiya restaurant. This is another cheap chain and the food was delicious, we had rice with beef and cheese... Yummy! We then headed back to the subway and back to the warmth of a very to shower and the comfort of a very cosy bed.