[sumo] Mongolian Basho (long)

[sumorina at mac.com]

I've been enjoying watching the videos of the Mongolian Sumo Bashoand  
reliving the pleasure of being there, so I thought I might mention  
some of the highlights for me.

The venue, the Mongolian National Circus, seated about 3000 and,  
though relatively small, was perfect for sumo giving everyone a good  
view.  There were large photographs of popular rikishi decorating the  
walls at various places along the outer corridor and many people were  
happily posing for pictures beside them and occasionally there was a  
chance to see a real rikishi, though most of them stayed in the well  
appointed backstage area.

The shitakubeya was large and comfortable and everyone seemed relaxed  
there.  Ample food was provided just outside the dressing room door,  
both Japanese food like sushi and yakisoba and Mongolian dishes style  
dishes as well.  I had some of the grilled meat on a skewer shaslik  
style, which was very tasty, and some sushi, which had a bit of an  
exotic flavour, but was also quite delicious.  I seriously doubt  
anyone went hungry and if the food's good and plentiful the sumo guys  
are happy.

The audience didn't suffer on that score either as there were many  
outlets for food and drink to suit every taste.  There were many tasty  
looking Mongolian dishes on offer but I settled on a meat filled fried  
concoction, served warm, from one place, perfect when washed down with  
a frosty draft beer, and I intended to have a coffee and cake or  
pastry later from a different stall  which caught my eye but was  
preoccupied with the sumo and there were no breaks in the programme.

Then there was shopping.  Stalls were selling not only the traditional  
sumo souvenirs, tegata and banzukes, but you could also buy leather  
wall hangings with pictures of Asashoryu or Hakuho.  There was a  
cashmere stall with sweaters, scarves etc, a book stall - got some  
nice postcards there - a Mongolian handicrafts stall and one for  
Japanese goods like fans and kimono.

As you made your way around the venue there were advertising giveaways  
as well, pamphlets and stickers and such.  Some very beautifully  
attired young ladies, representing Chinggis Vodka, stood not far from  
the entrance handing out small advertising cards which turned out to  
have the Mongolian national anthem printed on the back.  Useful when  
the time came to stand up and sing!

Down the stairs souvenir T-shirts were on sale near the booths handing  
out gift bags to the patrons.  At other venues, such as Hawaii and LA,  
those who bought the most expensive seats were rewarded with a bag  
containing various souvenirs.  Here even the cheapest seat holders  
were presented with a Mongol Sumo Basho paper bag with a programme,  
the tournament draw and some small items.  I'm not sure what each  
level's gift bag contained, but they appeared fuller and heavier in  
accordance with the seating level.  Those for the most expensive seats  
were certainly heavier, they contained, among other things, a full  
sized bottle of Yokozuna Scotch whiskey (distilled in Speyside,  
Scotland).  I was pleased that everybody got something as it made it  
seem that all the audience were valued customers, not just the top of  
the range.

At the opening ceremony everyone was warmly welcomed, but the crowd  
began shouting enthusiastically for Kaio.  Kaio himself seemed  
embarrassed by it and when Kotooshu, who was standing next to him,  
appeared to ask him about it Kaio shrugged his shoulders and looked  
perplexed.  Whenever he appeared on the dohyo Kaio was given rousing  
cheers and applause and after the closing ceremony he was mobbed by  
people wanting to shake his hand or even just touch his arm.   
Chiyotaikai was also popular so perhaps it was respect for the veteran  
ozekis, and Takamisakari was, as usual, a crowd-pleaser.  It was good  
to see the audience cheering for all their favourites, not only the  
Mongolian rikishi, though these of course were very warmly welcomed  
each time.

One particularly delightful feature of this tour was that the Sumo  
Association granted the request to have all 33 Mongolian rikishi take  
part so the dohyoiri was a "Juryo and Makuuchi dohyoiri" to  
accommodate the Mongolian juryo rikishi and there was a special  
introduction on the dohyo for all the lower ranked Monglolian  
rikishi.  As only the upper ranked rikishi appear on the TV broadcasts  
seen in Monglolia, it was a great honour for the young men to be  
presented to their fellow countrymen by name - shikona and Mongolian  
name - rank, heya and - importantly - birthplace.  They were also  
given the opportunity to do sumo against each other as part of the  
preliminary events before the main part of the programme.  As a rule  
only the makuuchi sekitori go on overseas tours, along with a limited  
number of lower ranked rikishi as attendants.  The Sumo Kyokai seems  
to try to take the native sons of the county which they are visiting,  
Nakanokuni from Minatobeya for example went to the Beijing Jungyo in  
China, but usually they play only a small part.  This time the  
Mongolian boys were made a proud feature of the event.  On a personal  
note, those who lived in Ulanbaatar were allowed to stay with their  
families instead of at the hotel with the sumo group.  Most heya do  
not allow the rikishi to return home until they reach a certain level,  
juryo in many cases, so being able to return to Mongolia and see  
family was a very meaningful thing for the younger rikishi and being  
treated with such warmth and respect by the audience at the tournament  
must have been a great encouragement for them.

On the first day Asashoryu carried his son, clad in a miniature white  
mawashi, with him at the yokozuna dohyo iri.  His daughter, being a  
girl and not allowed on the dohyo, looked on enviously from the  
wings.  Hakuho, Ama and Asasekiryu also honoured youngsters by  
carrying them up to the sacred dohyo.

The basho was a knockout style tournament and the Mongolian rikishi  
particularly tried hard to win in front of the home crowd.  Tokitenku  
received a special award from the Mongolian government and this seemed  
to spur him on to an even greater effort.  He was proudly wearing the  
medal pinned to his kimono after the day's matches were over.

The closing ceremony was wonderful as always.  It's great to see the  
sekitori lose their serious faces and smile and wave at the crowd but  
this time I was particularly moved by the farewell message from  
Asashoryu.  Of course I couldn't understand what he said in Mongolian,  
but I'm sure it was more than the usual "Thank you very much.  See you  
again."  Finally, when he raised his arms above his head and said, as  
I assumed and later had confirmed, "Thank you very much!" the audience  
bellowed back "Thank you very much."  This happened three times, until  
Asashoryu was overcome by tears.  It was a very emotional moment and I  
was very glad that I had been there in Mongolia to experience it.

I have been to many of the overseas tours, London, Paris, Vienna, Hong  
Kong, Vancouver, Australia, Beijing, Seoul, Hawaii, LA.  The  
atmosphere at each was different, reflecting the national  
characteristics I suppose.  In Ulanbaatar there was a special  
atmosphere of warmth and appreciation which I hadn't felt at any of  
the others where sumo was more of a spectacle or an entertainment.   
Talking about it with TV Asahi's Mr Yamazaki, one of the commentators  
of the currently in recess Sumo Digest, he said he had noticed  
something similar at the Brazil Jungyo, where so many Japanese  
Brazilians felt a strong bond with sumo.  Perhaps it was something  
similar with the Mongolian audience.  They have a respected "Mongolian  
sumo" tradition and it was wonderful to see some of the champions of  
this sport in the audience in their champion's regalia.  I was excited  
to be able to recognize a few of them from a great calendar of  
champions given to me some years back by the Mongolian (amateur) Sumo  
Federation (Asashoryu's older brother, Sumiyaabazar, was November.)   
Japanese sumo has a big TV viewing audience in Mongolia, someone  
actually stopped me in the stadium to say he had listened to me on the  
TV, though how he recognized me I don't know,  was I speaking loudly  
in that familiar Aussie voice??  and now, of course, there are both  
many and successful Mongolians involved in the sport.  I met some of  
the Japanese press people on their way to the airport after the basho  
and asked them about their impressions of the Mongolian Basho.   
Everyone spoke well of it and said that the Sumo Association members  
had been pleased too saying it was better than they had expected.  In  
my case I would rather say far exceeded my expectations, which had  
been fairly high to begin with.