The past Friday I went to the ceremonial sumo match at the Yaskuni shrine in Tokyo. Based on what I’ve read its the only time this year that you will be able to see a sumo tournament for free in Tokyo and I couldn’t miss an opportunity like that! So, I braved a rush hour train into Tokyo and got there a bit early to snag a good seat - actually there are no seats so I placed my mat on the ground at a good location. The venue was intimate if you can use that word to describe a space that holds six thousand people. Put it this way, I could have paid to go to a basho (Sumo tournament) at the Ryogoko Kokugikan where the cheapest seats are Y2,100 per day and those are nose bleed seats. Here I was in the equivalent of the 10th row,or so, and it was free!

The event started at 9AM and ran until around 3PM. and who knew that I would run into my long lost Japanese Grandpa and his friend? They placed their mat beside mine; Grandpa was deaf in one ear and couldn’t understand a word I was saying but he kept trying to feed me. I tasted dango (grilled mochi balls with some sort of sticky sauce that were pretty good) for the first time and he shared some candy and later on an onigiri (rice ball) which I tried to politely refuse by signaling with my hands that I was full but he would have none of it. I told him ashta (later) and put the onigiri in my bag but only after he checked the expiry date and told me that I needed to eat it today. I really wish we could have communicated as he seemed like a great guy!

Anyway, on to my shots from the day. Here is Yokuzuna (Grand Champion) Hakuho:

Ceremonial throwing of the salt:

Shots of some of the pre-match rituals:

Check out more great shots of the event over at The Tokyo Traveler.