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!

As expected, the YDC has unanimously recommended Onosato for yokozuna. Kyokai to approve. I don't think it will be a long discussion https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/05/3ee8518f0156-sumo-presumptive-yokozuna-onosato-felt-no-pressure-on-way-to-title.html?phrase=nhk&words=

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.

Mita juryo yusho! Caught his interview halfway and didn't get much info except he'll gambarize even more. Edit: saw a bit more and he said he's happy to finish a basho without injuries, and has worked on his lower body more, allowing him to push better.

For my own education, is the kensho really such a big part of Kyokai revenue? 2000+ kensho per basho these days equals 2 million yen additional revenue since the Kyokai share increase, so roughly 16 million yen per year. A decent chunk of money for sure, but that's about one maegashira rikishi's yearly pay, isn't it? Or maybe it's enough to give out a few more special prizes. And aren't they supposed to keep the kensho to return to the rikishi at retirement? Though they might make use of the liquidity in the meantime. Anyway, just curious.

Another exciting day setting an almost perfect scene fir the senshuraku. Kusano found the exact right tactics against Aonishiki, not stopping for a moment and not letting Aonishiki settle in to gather his thoughts for a tricky throw. Very well executed sumo. Sometimes I look at Takayasu and weep, because if not for his unfortunately timed injury he would still be ozeki. He definitely has ozeki sumo and poise in him until this day. The way he dumped Atamifuji and stood there unmoved just screams "this is an ozeki" to me. I mean he still is an honorary ozeki in my mind. Kotoshoho is just in the zone this basho. The way he went today from tachiai to grip battle to feint/pull to immediate mawashi grab to send Kirishima out was very sharp. I don't want to jinx anything but he looks like the yusho favourite, not least because he's in the lead Akinomaki's reasoning sounds very logical as well, but I feel Kotoshoho has the upper hand. After his win, Onosato looked relieved more than anything, having gotten his double digits with a strong performance today. Tomorrow should be easy for him, facing a kachikoshi Kotozakura who has not much to fight for.

What an exciting day! Though my initial idea of Kirishima as the yusho front runner got crushed today, there's still plenty of the more unusual candidates in the running. Fujinokawa continues his impressive basho with an emphatic throw on Tokihayate. Just one more win to go until kachikoshi and looking at his sumo I'm hopeful he'll get it before the last day. I was thinking already earlier when is Chiyoshoma going to get easier opponents and sure enough he got Kayo today. There's also Hidenoumi who is likely to become another donor in avoiding an even more embarassing makekoshi. Sadanoumi is in the same boat and actually gets Hidenoumi tomorrow, and probably Kayo a bit later so has a chance to narrowly avoid juryo demotion. You know Takerufuji is not in a good shape when Shodai beats him. On the other hand, sadly it says a lot about the current Shodai when we talk about him as the unlikely victor against even an injured Takerufuji... Kotozakura did arguably his best sumo of the basho against Kirishima, taking a huge step closer to avoiding kadoban. When the bout settled down I thought Kotozakura might run out of stamina first, but he had a great battle plan and executed the pivotal makikae very well. Well deserved, since Kirishima this basho is basically doing ozeki sumo. Onosato got incredibly lucky today. That pulldown was a bad move and only the split second timing of both rikishi falling together spared him from an embarrassment against Ichiyamamoto. In the redo bout the shin-yokozuna did what he should've done right away and went straightforward against his opponent. A wobbly win but most importanly he stays in the yusho race and if he does manage to pick up the cup in the end, the wobbles will be forgotten soon enough.

Is Ichiyamamoto going to fight Abi this basho or will the universe be spared the potential collapse? It's interesting to think that the actual masters of the universe are a bunch of chubby middle-aged Japanese men dressed in ill-fitting blue jackets sitting in a nondescript back office...

What a shocking end to the day! Onosato has looked a bit shaky these few days and let Tamawashi take advantage of that fully. Anyway, I'll try a slightly different approach to arranging my thoughts today. List of rikishi doing reasonably well this basho: Midorifuji, who has a good shot at kachikoshi in already 2 days. Today Kotoeiho was not an easy opponent with his bigger frame but just right as he let Midorifuji get an inside grip and take advantage of that with a heavy throw. Takanosho who I was critical about earlier in the basho. Today he sort of warranted that criticism as his win against Shishi was more down to the shimpan goodwill than his own sumo. However, 7-3 is markedly better than I expected based on his basho start. Kotoshosho at 8-2 is having an easy basho in lower makuuchi. I think his level is higher than the opposition so far so that's to be expected. Fujinokawa looked like a Midorifuji and Asakoryu type, but is putting forth sumo that belies his size. Today he got unlucky in a David vs Goliath battle against Atamifuji, but put up a very good fight and wasn't too far from getting a win. Kusano came to makuuchi with big expectations and with a day 10 kachikoshi can definitely be happy about his first stint in the division. With a similar body and pushing power as Onosato, he looks to me more raw than the shin-yokozuna did at the same time and rank. But he's slightly younger so can still catch up. I wonder if ozeki is attainable for him. After a few disappointing basho Hakuoho is gaining confidence and more importanly wins in the second half of the tournament. If he can continue like this then sanyaku will beckon sooner rather than later. Arguably it's what he's been destined for all his career, if not for the injuries. Rikishi who are performing below expectations: Sadanoumi had a decent start but has faced loss after loss. Provided he's able to stay in makuuchi, I'm looking forward to better results next basho when the bottom of makuuchi could be better suited to his current strength. I didn't expect Chiyoshoma to have a stellar basho but no wins after 10 days is really bad for him. Today he actually put up a good fight but most of the basho he's lost in a very underwhelming manner. Can he bounce back or will he join Takarafuji in the juryo veterans club? Tobizaru is finding himself beaten by rikishi he could actually stand a chance against. It's not his basho, but I'm certain next tournament he will come back and dismantle the lower ranks. Wakamotoharu is probably quite disappointed with his results, considering he was a strong sekiwake not too long ago. Similar to Tobizaru, I expect him to come back with a vengeance. Oho is lacking the strength, aggressiveness and staying power he has occasionally shown before. Usually a solid joi rikishi and potential sanyaku competitor, this time he'll have to accept a makekoshi and regroup. Unless he wins all 5 remaining bouts, which doesn't look likely at this point. Kotozakura did not expect to be grasping at wins to scrape together a bare minimum kachikoshi, and to be honest neither did I. What a turnabout for last year's strong ozeki. Also, he's not even pretending to put his hands down at tachiai anymore. I wonder if that's a sign of his injuries? And then there are the exceptional performers: Mitakeumi, Aonishiki, Ichiyamamoto, Tamawashi, Kirishima. I'm not gonna go in detail over them as anyone can see how well they are doing this basho. I'm still overwhelmed by Mitakeumi's sudden challenge though. And I'm thoroughly stumped who could take the yusho, though Kirishima must be the front runner at this point.

As I said, Onosato made a rookie mistake.

Exactly, so if he has the choice then why would he go for a long and exhausting bout? In the end it's a rookie mistake.

But it's much easier if it does. Can't underestimate the attraction of a quick and easy bout in a 15-day tournament.