dingo

Hey all, I have to turn to the infinite wisdom of the people here because I'm travelling to Japan again after a long time and would like to visit a heya or watch morning practice. I've searched the forum and googled for some options, and while there are quite a few tour companies willing to offer trips (often for a substantial sum), I thought to myself there must be a better way to find options. Excluding the tours offered by tour companies I haven't been able to find much current information so I thought maybe someone here can offer some tips as to which heya are easier to visit and open to visitors outside tours. I'll be in Japan in the second half of October, mostly around Tokyo. I'm travelling with my family, including two kids (10 and 8 years old) who are also interested in seeing sumo life and practice. I've seen some heya don't allow kids under 11 years or so, is that a common restriction with most heya? If yes, then are there any other alternatives I could consider to show the kids something about sumo life? I guess I could visit the Kokugikan/sumo museum and have chanko somewhere, but are there any activities that I haven't thought of? Anyway, so far I've identified the following options for watching practice: Arashio beya -- free of charge, easily accessible calendar on the website which outlines which days are open for watching practice. However, the second half of October is not populated yet in the calendar. Maybe the info will appear later? As far as I've gathered visitors can watch the practice through a window on the street or something similar, is that the case? https://arashio.net/tour_e.html Nakamura beya -- seems like they've set up an exclusive relationship with one tour company to offer keiko tours both in the morning and afternoon (I know in other heya practice is traditionally always in the morning, so the afternoon option would make it easy with kids who are not particularly happy to wake up super early). There's also an express option which might be good for kids who could get bored watching hours of practice. However it's paid -- 10 000 yen for express and 16 000 for the full practice, and I'm not sure if kids are welcome or not. Also I'm not too keen on paying a hefty amount for 4 people. https://nexspark.jp/ Tatsunami beya -- as recently announced on this very forum by @Vancouver BC Sumo Fan, they have a newly launched international fan club, though the website doesn't mention keiko watching. Would that be an option? I also found this pretty useful short guide, though again it doesn't mention if kids are mostly welcomed or not. A few of the heya mentioned there as visitor-friendly like Musashigawa have updated their policy and don't accept any visitors for morning practice outside the koenkai or introductions. https://blog.gaijinpot.com/how-to-watch-a-sumo-morning-training-session/ So in short, if anyone has recent tips or places for visiting keiko, I'd be very thankful. Alternatively, are there any heya besides Nakamura which are taking visitors in the afternoon for example? I guess not but still would be good to know. Both me and my wife speak Japanese so I could contact some heya myself, but I don't feel comfortable doing so out of the blue so maybe someone has any pointers as to which heya could be willing to accept outside visitors. Any piece of information would be helpful!

Reminds me of all the new entrants who aim for yokozuna. And then occasionally there are a few who are more moderate and aim for sekitorihood or makuuchi.

It's good that Asanoyama still aims high, but top of makuuchi? I have my reservations about that. Makuuchi, sure seems doable but the joi is pretty competitive these days and I'm not certain Asanoyama is up to it anymore.

Also quotes from Musashigawa: the grass used to be greener, the sky bluer and any 1990s jonokuchi could beat the current sanyaku. I would like to see where are the ozeki and yokozuna raised by him. Or any sekitori for that matter.

If he really does that I will eat my pants.

I see you haven't heard about the special maegashira 0 rank created especially for Aonishiki

Out of reactions but thank you! Well deserved top 3 today. I'm impressed the public has picked up Fujinokawa pretty regularly.

A few interviews: Kotoshoho's interview was pretty short, but he's obviously overwhelmed by the occasion and went on autopilot but did well. Haven't realised the yusho yet but happy. Tried to do my best today. After tachiai I didn't think and let my body move, which it did well. Started thinking about the yusho 2 days ago. What went well with your sumo? Managed to do my own sumo every day. Want to repay with the yusho to everyone who has supported me. When asked about winning in front of his parents, wife and son - - Didn't know where they were in the audience but hopefully I showed my good side to them. Did feel support from his brother during the basho. Wanna go for sanyaku and above and keep doing sumo worthy of support. Aonishiki (whose Japanese is very good as others have said) Feel happy about winning sansho (though not with a very happy face). Won the sansho with my own brand of sumo so that was good. Did try to attack but body didn't follow. 15 days was quite full of nervousness. My sumo life is from now on. Want to win a yusho next time. Kusano: Feel happy about the sansho. Good that I was part of yusho arasoi until the last day. Learned about pressure and how to respond to it. Good experience. Wanna go forward in maegashira, improve my tachiai etc.

Kotoshoho's father looks like the stereotypical wise master from a martial arts movie, white beard and all.

11 wins for Onosato as Akinomaki predicted. Kotozakura did a few decent body hits for good measure but then was escorted out.

Kirishima is totally out of steam. Wakatakakage got his 10th to continue on his ozeki quest.

Tamawashi got his 11th win, amazing result for the veteran. Though Oshoma is entirely useless if he can't pull.

Kotoshoho yusho! Easy pulldown as Aonishiki seemed nervous. Well executed plan. Parents in the house and his brother Kotoeiho also won today so good omens perhaps.

Oho had a decent end to the basho, getting his 7th win by keeping Hakuoho from getting close with strong two-handed pushes. Makekoshi is still makekoshi but he did well to limit the damage to his rank.

Fujinokawa got his sansho with a spirited resistance to Ichiyamamoto, ending the bout with a pulldown. Happy to see him get recognition for a good basho. Edit: in the interview he said it was one of his dreams to get a sansho, surpassing his father's achievements.