The 2013 Aki Basho (Grand Sumo Tournament) is coming to a close. I wanted to touch on a interesting and kind of funny topic that I didn't cover in my introduction to Sumo.
When there is an upset of a yokozuna (there are currently two) to a lower ranked wrestler during a tournament, the audience will react by throwing their 1 kg zabuton seat cushions into the the dohyo. It's a three hundred year old tradition, and it's quite the spectacle.
Haramafuji's first lost of this tournament (he hasn't had a good showing thistournament)
Hakuho's only loss of this tournament
Remember, each tournament is fifteen days with a wrestler having one match per day. It is extremely difficult to go undefeated especially at the highest level. A yokozuna wants to finish with as few loses as possible which means they don't want to lose at all!
Every region in Japan has it's own mascot. The mascot is always a cute, cartoon animal and is usually plastered everywhere from billboards to bottles of sake and on about 1,000 different kinds of candies and sweets. The mascots even have their own official songs and dances. For Kumamoto and the Kyushu region around Fukuoka the mascot is a big, black bear named Kumamon.
Delicious!
On Saturday, I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kumamoto. Normally, if would have cost about 10,000 Yen ($100.00) to get to Kumamoto round trip, but JR Japan is running a 50% off ticket to the city! If you ever decide to travel to Japan for an extended period I recommend buying the Japan Rail Pass. Trains are kind of expensive in Japan, and the rail pass lets you have unlimited train rides anywhere in Japan and pretty much pays for itself in a few rides.
Shinkansen
Kumamoto's most famous tourist attraction is Kumamoto Castle which history dates back to 1467 and is considered one of Japan' three great castles. For a history nut like me, going to old castles, monasteries, and historical sites is always one of the best parts of traveling especially in Europe and Asia. The castle area is HUGE. Walking the whole castle ground could easily take three hours.
Kumamoto Castle Kumamoto Castle was one of the three greatest castles in Japan and was built by Kato Kiyomasa in 1607. There used to be 120 wells, 49 turrets, 18 turret gates, and 29 gates. However, many of them were destroyed during the Seinan War of 1877.
What is really astounding about medieval Japanese architecture is that they did not use any nails. Buildings and roofs were constructed by fitting pieces of wood together like a jigsaw puzzle. I've seen this style in other castles in Matsuyama and Kyoto. Here's an example from one of the roofs of the main castle:
On the castle grounds sits an original samurai "mansion" or house built by Okitomo (third generation of the Gyobu family) in 1688 for his outings to Kokai (now Higashikokai in Kumamoto City) and later as a second residence
In 1871, the newly restored Imperial Army located its western headquarters at Kumamoto Castle and orders were given to remove all samurai residences from the castle grounds.
Main entrance to the house that only the lord, high ranking retainers, and important guests could use.
Study
On Sunday, we visited a couple of temples. The first temple we stopped at was the Tochoji Temple built in 806 by the Buddhist monk Kakai. Several famous lords and monks are buried on the temple grounds and the temple also houses the largest wooden Buddha statue in Japan.
Cemetery
Cemetery
The second temple we visited was really beautiful, but I forget the name. I believe is was built around the same time as Tochoji.
Sunday, was our designated shopping day. To be honest, my wife and I spent the whole time in Japan shopping. I actually despise going "shopping", but not in Japan. Everything is so damn cool and everything that you see you will want to buy! I'm a grown man, and even I have to restrain myself from not buying cute looking stuffed animals. It's ridiculous. I got some pretty cool stuff. I bought a mega size Gundam model and a Daruma head among many other things.
My giant sized Daruma head
My love of cats is a sickness
I also dragged my wife kicking and screaming to an
arcade. The nerd in me comes out every time I see an arcade, comic book
shop, or toy store, and I can spend hours inside any of these places.
I took my fifth and final trip to Japan last week and spent five days in Fukuoka. My original plan was to spend this past year in Japan, but things didn't end up working out. This vacation was extra special as it was the last time I will be in Japan for a long while.
The day of my arrival was the final day of the annual Fall Hojoya festival in Fukuoka held at the
Hakozaki shrine. Hundreds of vendors (mostly selling food) line the street leading up to the shrine, and the festival has a fair like atmosphere.
The festival is held so that people can visit the shrine and give thanks for the autumn harvest and pray for personal and business success. People can also pay a little bit of money at the shrine to receive a piece of paper with their fortunes on it.
People getting their fortunes read and winning a prize
Praying at the Hokazaki shrine
Hokazaki shrine
My wife stopped at a palm reader's stall and had her fortune read. For the rest of the night, she was endlessly bombarded by me with questions concerning here "secret admirer":
Love and Marriage
At present you are secretly being adored from afar by a wonderful person. If you are slow in realizing this, you will be deprived of their affection by another. You should observe your surroundings more closely. You won't be given this kind of chance again.
Also, according to her fortune she is in danger of developing a nose disorder.
Take my money, please
The next day, we took a tour of the Asahi brewery.
It was pretty cool to see how the factory works and how all those cans and bottles of beer get packaged. I immediately though of Willy Wonka as I walked through the corridors and saw all the machines. I actually only saw a very, very tiny portion of the factory. It's actually bigger than the size of two football fields.
Welcome!
The coup de grace came at the end of the tour and was an alcoholic's wet dream: 20 minutes to consume all the Asahi beer you could drink from this cup....
I have to admit, I was feeling quite happy by the time I left. I rarely ever drink, but being American, the very thought of passing up free beer is offensive to me and would have surely been an affront in the eyes of my freedom loving forefathers.
On Friday, I visited Axis Fukuoka run by Takeshi Kanda. I arrived at 7:30 p.m., and there was a pilates class in progress. Mr. Kanda wasn't there, and I didn't see anyone that looked like they were getting ready or waiting for the next class. I couldn't ask anyone any questions, because I'm stupid and don't speak any Japanese. I thought that maybe class wasn't going to happen, but everyone ended up showing up at 8:00 p.m.
I had a great time and did a lot of gi and no gi sparring. Mr. Kanda isn't a big guy, so his style of BJJ really fits with my game. He took some time out and let me film a technique video of a sneaky armbar he always catches me with when I visit, and he even gave me an Axis t-shirt! As usual, everyone was really nice.
