An early start – 7am and in the train to our appointment at The Sumo wrestling. We booked a practice session starting at 8am.
Our guides Moana and Aya met us in a park nearby and explained the session to us.
It’s very formal. No talking or distracting the wrestlers. They are not the higher ranking wrestlers but are training with Master.
It as fascinating to watch the drills they practiced. It all happens within a small ring and each game can take just a minute! If they wrestle them out of the ring or onto the ground they win.
With the session over we had some question time and found out they have to train twice a day, do their own cooking and cleaning and the lower ranks don’t earn a lot of money! We learned some of the nuances of the sport.
Wrestlers here wear black loin clothes but strive to white – that means they are professional. They wore loin cloths in history as they couldn’t conceal weapons.
The throw salt in the ring before starting……. a ritual of respect and they stamp to scare off evil spirits. They grow their hair long to wear a top knot , can’t drive or wear normal street clothes. They eat twice a day and sleep after a meal to allow the weight to increase! Something I don’t want to do especially in this holiday!
They always finish with a prayer and then move around the circle in a line.
We walked back through the rain towards Tokyo tower but it was shrouded by clouds so we didn’t go up. Instead, we had bad coffee and delicious pastries!
Twenty minute walk later we arrived at the Senso-ji temple. It was super crowded. Not the experience of yesterday’s peaceful shrine.
What was fascinating was the number of people dressed in kimonos. Obviously Saturday is dress up day.
Deciding it was too crowded we made our way to the Samurai Ninja museum.
Spread over 4 floors we got to dress up, had a lesson in the history of samurai, learned to throw the shuriken – a star shaped weapon.
Samurai existed from the late 16th century until around 1867. They came from the upper classes. Woman were samurai ! They had different swords. but were quick and dangerous. It was a fascinating visit.
It was still raining so we walked through the covered lanes and side streets. Everyone was out today. Fashion is as big thing in Japan and many of the young girls were out to impress.
There were lots of food stalls. I’d like uk try a few of these food items. But another day !
frans travel tales 