Chanko Sumo Hotpot, Live Wrestling, and Public Humiliation

Temperatures hit a high of 21℃ today which is perfect for hanami (花見) or cherry blossom viewing - picnics under the sakura trees! Tokyo is approaching full bloom right now (map here) with March 28th-April 4th given as the best viewing window, surprisingly earlier than Kyoto or even Fukuoka, which are further south. As I wrote in an earlier post, despite the image of sakura as being deeply symbolic for the Japanese, people attending hanami parties are usually more interested in eating and (especially!) drinking than admiring the blossoms. This is captured in the phrase hana yori dango - literally "(sweet) dumplings over flowers," carrying the general meaning that practical things are more important than aesthetics!

Cherry blossom season brings hordes of tourists and some might have been lucky enough to catch the end of the Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament (honbasho=本場所), one of six held each year, which ended on March 22nd (pictured). But for those here for the sakura and still yearning to see some live sumo, but who cannot wait for the start of the next basho at Tokyo's Kokugikan (starting May 10th), there is another option: the newly opened Sumo Live Restaurant Hirakuza Ginza Tokyo (Hirakuza Ginza), a unique restaurant with a professional sumo-size dohyo ring where you can watch live sumo bouts featuring veteran wrestlers accompanied by English commentary while enjoying traditional kaiseki cuisine. There is also a sake bar which offers a selection of high-quality sake. See this article in the Yomiuri Japan News for a good overview. 

The venue itself is impressive, with around 150 stepped seats arranged around three sides of the dohyo and a giant screen at the back. While the flashy sound, lighting, and visual effects were a little too gaudy for this Brit - perhaps more in keeping with the entertainment that that one sees at American sporting events - the audience of (almost all?) tourists seemed to be enjoying it. Personally though, I wanted them to tone it down a bit to reflect that sumo is not just a sport but a sacred, spiritual culture rooted in Japanese values such as respect, discipline, humility, and dignity. The show itself though was certainly entertaining, featuring a drum performance during the meal and then introducing sumo principles, exercises (such as the ceremonial leg raising and stomping known as shiko=四股), training, throwing techniques, and rules before some mock bouts. 

The food, as mentioned above, was kaiseki (懐石), traditional Japanese cuisine featuring a number of courses that aims to balance the taste, texture, appearance, and colours of food using seasonal (shun=旬) ingredients. The hassun (八寸) for example, an appetizer to set the seasonal theme, featured an artistic assortment of three bite-sized delicacies (picture bottom) comprised of dried fruits with a creamy tofu and sesame puree (left), grilled millet gluten with sweet miso glaze and poppy seeds (centre), and spinach and chrysanthemum petals steeped in savoury dashi (right). The importance Japanese place on seasonal foods, even today when supermarkets sell foods from all over the world, stands out for me as a key difference between Japanese and British in terms of attitudes towards food. In contrast, the hot pot in the top right is a year round staple, a protein filled stew of fish, meat, and vegetables traditionally served to wrestlers​ to bulk them up known as chanko-nabe.

At the end of the show, there was a lottery for audience members who wanted to ascend to the dohyo, don a sumo fat suit, and try their hand at wrestling with one of the wrestlers. Much to the embarrassment of his companions, British Prof's named was pulled out of the hat! The video below shows British Prof's futile attempts to grab the leg of his opponent before being unceremoniously picked up and dumped outside the ring. Think I need to eat a bit more chanko stew and work on my throwing techniques! Feel free to comment upon my humiliation or share your own in the COMMENTS below.