What is your favorite sports?
Baseball? Soccer? rugby?
Me? Of course Sumo wrestling!(I like every sports though)
Every Sumo tournament in January is held in Ryogoku.
In our Tokyo Central Bike Tour, we stop at Ryogoku Kokugikan or Ryogoku national sport arena.
If you are lucky, you can encounter Sumo wrestlers during the tournament season.
Tournament last 15days. This year, it will start from 10th January Sunday.
There are about 500 wrestlers from up to down. And there is no weight classes. Which means if you have minimum weight to be qualified Sumo wrestler(which is only 67kg!), you can compete against 200kg guy!
That’s makes Sumo wrestling interesting. Small sumo wrestlers often beat giants by their strategy and foot works.
Originally, Sumo started as a ritual to pray a good harvest of the year about 1500years ago.
And in Edo period(1603~1868), shrine and temples started Sumo wrestling in their compound to collect money for repairing buildings. That was the beginning of Sumo as a entertainment.
Since then, people have been enjoying Sumo over hundreds years.
Now sumo is televised and young and old fans enjoy watching sumo wrestling.
But I recommend you to come and see Sumo fight in the arena. It’s very exciting!
Why don’t you come and join Soshi’s Tokyo Bike Tour and taking picture with them!