Sumo Saturday: Lull Between Bashos

I guess I'll have to fill the void with opera and Dickens

Here’s how the March Tournament (also called Haru Basho… which just means Spring Tournament) ended up:

It was Kiribayama!

It went to a play-off, after Daieisho went running for Kiribayama, and essentially flung himself off the dohyo while Kiribayama got himself out of the way… and in the play-off, it happened again (except on attempt 2, Kiribayama ended up stepping on Daieisho’s hand while trying to avoid stepping outside the ring before Daieisho hit the dirt.)

It went to mono-ii, meaning the judges reviewed the call…. and it went to Kiribayama.

Anyway, the SumoMemes subreddit user ExtensionEar1901 commemorated it thusly:

Plump when you fill them with Sumo Stew (aka Chankonabe)

By the way, Kiribayama looked like this when he started professional sumo (he was just under 19 years old and less than 100 kg back when he started in March 2015):

This is how he looks now, at 140 kg and a championship:

[He’s the guy holding the trophy, if that’s not obvious]

Bonus trading card content:

He plumped up nicely.

Singing Wrestlers

So, while I wait until May for the next tournament (back in Tokyo!), I have to amuse myself somehow. To be sure, I’m reading Brothers Karamazov again (and in the middle of the Aubrey & Maturin series - I’m up to The Fortune of War — they’re at war with America!)

So why not singing sumo wrestlers?

It doesn’t look like substack allows Instagram embeds, but if you want to see some sumo wrestlers singing Sukiyaki, check this out.

Ikioi retired in June 2021, but he’s been known as the best sumo singer in recent years. Here he is singing about… ironing? I have no idea what he’s singing about:

I mean, I know some Japanese language, but evidently not enough.

This one does not require understanding Japanese:

Yes, there is a bunch of Japanese written on top of it, but the katakana just spells Frank Sinatra.

The singer is retired Yokozuna Kakuryu.

Enjoy and Hakkeyoi!